Exploring African American History in the U.S. Capital
HIST 334 | 3 credits
This course is led by Dr. Crystal Webster, Department of History
- African American History 1450-1850 | HIST 334 | Summer Term 2
- July 1 - July 19, 2024
- Travel dates: July 8 - July 19, 2024
- Location: Washington D.C., United States
- Approximate program fee: ~$2250-$2500 (Go Global Fee, tuition and flights are not included)
- Funding available Go Global Award
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Information Session Recording from Nov 27, 2023: Passcode: NE=9u3T@ |
This program has been postponed to 2025. Applications will open again in October 2024.
“If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.” -Carter G. Woodson
In “Exploring African American History in the U.S. Capital,” students will examine historic sites and public spaces in Washington, D.C.—a city with a rich history for studies of slavery, emancipation, and the Black freedom struggle. Washington, D.C. was built using slave labor, held a number of plantations, and became a battleground for Civil Rights activism. It is a significant and an important site for both American history broadly, and African American history in particular. In this fertile ground of the nation’s capital, students will witness how democracy and freedom emerged alongside, and as a result of, the bondage and subjugation of African Americans.
As part of the course, we will read a survey text in Afrian American history and a number of relevant lectures and videos. This material will familiarize students with many of the most important developments and issues in African American history focusing on themes of African culture and community, the evolution of African American identity, the development of “race based” slavery, the experiences of Black women and children, and Black resistance and political activism.
Through the experiential element of the course, students will visit sites of slavery and emancipation including memorials for important figures in the Black freedom struggle, slave plantations, preeminent museums including the Smithsonian’s Museum of African American history, and a number of research archives. Finally, we will critically engage monuments within the context of growing concern over how to properly alter, remove, or contextualize problematic memorials.
Week 1 July 1-5: Hybrid or Zoom classes:
Students will complete the readings and lecture as part of the preparation for the trip and meet as a seminar (Vancouver, B.C. or hybrid)
July 6 or 7, students travel independently to Washington D.C.
Week 2 July 8-12:Physical Sites and Memorials (Washington, D.C.)
- Day 1: Main Mall
- Day 2: History of Slavery Walking Tour
- Day 3: Frederick Douglass Historic Site
- Day 4: African American Civil war Memorial
- Day 5: Mary Mcleod Bethune House
Week 3 July 15-19: Museums and Archives (Washington, D.C.)
- Day 1: Smithsonian African American History Museum
- Day 2: National Gallery of Art
- Day 3: National Archives
- Day 4: National Archives
- Day 5: Library of Congress
Shared hostel or dorm-style housing
Approximate program fee: ~$2250-$2500*
*The final fee depends on the number of students in the program. All Global Seminars only run if there is a minimum number of students enrolled.
Included in the program fee:
- Accommodation
- Excursions and entrance fees
- Some group meals
- On-site guest lectures
Not Included in the program fee:
- Go Global Fee ($415)
- Flights
- UBC tuition for credits
- Visa/country entrance fees
- Health or travel insurance
- Personal spending money*
*Some examples of personal costs include: mobile communication, personal transportation that is not related to the learning outcomes of the program, additional meals that are not already identified as part of the Program Fee, immunizations, Visas, etc.
General Global Seminar requirements
To participate in a Global Seminar, students must:
- Be in good-standing in their faculty (as defined by home faculty)
- In the year leading up to the Global Seminar, have full-time student status (as defined by home faculty, minimum of 9 credits per term in Arts, for example)
- Have completed at least 30 credits and 1st year requirements before the start of the program (i.e., eligible for 2nd, 3rd or 4th year standing by Summer 2024)
- Have at least a 70% academic average in your last full-time academic session before applying
- Maintain a 70% academic average leading up to the program
There are no specific pre-requisites for this program. All students meeting the requirements above will be considered.
Final selection will be done by the lead faculty program directors. Spots in the program may be limited.
Students who wish to participate in the summer after graduating may be eligible on a case-by-case basis.