Itinerary
A page within HIS 202/300 - Legacies of Segregation: The United States & South Africa
HIS 202 & 300 Itinerary
Legacies of Segregation—The United States & South Africa
May 25–June 11, 2019
May 25, 2019 |
|
| Arrive in Washington, D.C. Take train to accommodations Check into accommodations |
|
May 26, 2019 |
|
| Instructional briefing regarding tour and course expectations | |
| Acclimate in Washington, D.C. | |
May 27, 2019 |
|
| Walk the National Mall | |
| Visit National Museum of American History | |
May 28, 2019 |
|
| Visit National Museum of African American History and Culture | |
| Visit National Museum of the American Indian | |
May 29, 2019 |
|
| Visit U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum | |
| Fee choice of museum | |
May 30, 2019 |
|
| Visit Newseum | |
| Free afternoon and evening | |
May 31, 2019 |
|
| Depart Washington, D.C. | |
| Arrive in Atlanta, GA | |
June 1, 2019 |
|
| Visit Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change | |
| Visit National Center for Civil and Human Rights | |
June 2, 2019 |
|
| Visit CNN | |
| Visit Coke Museum | |
June 3, 2019 |
|
| Depart Atlanta, GA | |
| Arrive in La Crosse, WI | |
June 4, 2019 |
|
| UWL-La Crosse campus acclimation | |
June 5, 2019 |
|
| Contact Session 1: Incarceration —John Grider, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, UW-La Crosse This segment of the program will examine the historical contexts of the United States and South Africa in regards to the nations’ legalized segregation (apartheid) systems. The lectures, discussions, writing assignments and interactive activities will examine the historical similarities and differences between the United States and South Africa. Contact sessions will cover the origins and implementation of the systems, rationalizations used to justify them, the implications of the systems for people subject to them, resistance and counter-resistance to the systems, the human rights policies and philosophies that fuelled resistance, tactics used to challenge apartheid, how each apartheid system was eventually toppled and the success and failures of post-apartheid racial justice. Students will read a variety of texts and articles written by American and South African scholars, activists and policy makers and discuss the implications of racism, both historical and current. Students will be expected to use historical perspectives learned during the course to contextualize various monuments, museum exhibitions and student-to-student interactions in order to better understand how conceptions of race and the legacy of racial segregation on their societies. Student learning will be assessed through participation in discussions and excursions, short writing assignments and journals recording their experiences and learning process during the course of the class. Students will also be required to conduct preliminary research on a topic related to race and racism in either the United States or South Africa. When the student tour concludes, students will write a longer paper in which they will incorporate their experiences during the course, the content knowledge learned, and the research conducted to express their understanding of current racial issues in global context and how those issues can be actively addressed and improved. The overall goal for the course is to provide students with the understanding that historical processes and circumstances shape current perceptions and realities and often hold the answers for solving current problems. |
|
| Contact Session 2: —Daniel Green, Lecturer, UW-La Crosse The popular images of Native America have patterns that include primitivism, savagery, sex objectification, buffoons, anachronisms, and stereotypes. The prevalence of these images can be found in commercialism, sports, movies and television, literature and magazines, toys, the military, and endless entertainment celebrities dressed as Native Americans for fun (not roles). This presentation examines the ‘‘cause and effect’’ of this phenomenon that is ubiquitous worldwide. The misinformation, lies, stereotypes, and myths about Native Americans have resulted in an image, held by both Natives and non-Natives, that is archaic at best and psychologically harmful at worst. This (mis)perception of indigenous peoples has become American schema due to pervasive and myth borne legacy. Numerous scholars over the last century have measured the effects of related oppressive societal qualities, always with the results harming the psyche of those so poorly portrayed. |
|
June 6, 2019 |
|
| Contact Session 3: —Richard Breaux, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Ethnic and Racial Studies, UW-La Crosse This lecture will explore the re-emergence of protest among African American athletes and their teammates against police shootings and brutality of unarmed black people. The February 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watchman in Sanford, Florida, sparked a Twitter response by NBA-star LeBron James which included a photo showing himself, Dwayne Wade, and other members of the Miami Heat, hoodies up, standing in solidarity with the slain victim of racial profiling. Similarly, the August, 2014 police-shooting of an unarmed teen named Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the subsequent show of police force during community protests, prompted five members of the Saint Louis Rams football team to make a “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” gesture during official introductions during their game in November of that same year. Additional police shootings of unarmed black people led to protests by individuals and teams across the United States, culminating in players like American football player Colin Kaepernick and others in the National Football League kneeling during pre-game performances of the US national anthem to protest police brutality. Yet, according to many white Americans, these generously paid athletes have nothing to protest, should choose a venue other than the athletic field or court to protest, and are unpatriotic for doing so. This lecture and discussion explore such questions as, “What is patriotism?” When is the proper time to protest? Should we mix politics and entertainment? And whether the racial, gendered, class and other social identities of those protesting influence the larger acceptance or repudiation of these expressions? |
|
| Contact Session 4: —Ariel Beaujot, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, UW-La Crosse Hear, Here, a place-based oral history project in downtown La Crosse, Wisconsin, launched in the spring of 2015 during a rash of shootings of black men by police across America. This lecture/walking tour explores the local context of race panic in a former sundown town—or a city that has purposely maintained itself as white—after two black narrators shared stories of their experiences with racism. The lecture/walking tour explores the role of public historians doing social justice work in modern America, the issues that some publics have with such work, and ways in which to deal with controversies and criticisms. After the lecture students will discuss readings about white privilege and apply it to aspects of this case study. |
|
June 7, 2019 |
|
| Contact Session 5: Dignity, Equality and Freedom: From Homelands to a Home for All? —JC van der Merwe, Director, Institute of Reconciliation and Social Justice, University of the Free State The Civil Rights Movement and the Anti-Apartheid Struggle were both driven by a demand for dignity, equality and freedom. In this component of the course the historical origins of these three concepts will be tracked and the way in which it was realized, or not, will be analyzed. In 2007, an extremely offensive video was made by white students from a male residence at the University of the Free State, involving white students and black custodial staff parodied integration and transformation efforts at the university. This video, that became known as the “Reitz video” will be used as a case study. Students will be introduced to the Dignity Model developed by Donna Hicks and required to apply it to the Reitz video. This will be followed by a discussion on racism, non-racialism and anti-racism and how these concepts feature in the post-Civil Rights and post-apartheid contexts. |
|
| Contact Session 6: Segregated Sex: Examining 'Miscegenation' and 'Immorality' —Dionne van Reenen, M.A., Director, Assistant Researcher, University of the Free State This component of the course deals with a comparative analysis between the types of laws used in segregated eras that prohibited interracial marriage, interracial co-habitation and interracial sex. These were termed ‘anti-miscegenation laws’ or ‘miscegenation laws’ in the United States and cover practices that were legislated in South Africa under the ‘Immorality Act’. We briefly trace the developments of these laws from the colonial era, examining formal legislation during the segregation eras in both countries, as well as how repealing these laws impact modern understandings of sex and gender, now operating very differently, with both countries firmly situating themselves within a constitutional, democratic framework and significantly influenced by international human rights developments originating in the last century. This has possibly culminated in constitutional courts providing for same sex marriage in South Africa (2006) and in the United States (2015) under the banner of civil rights and equal protection. The aim of this class is to situate the struggle for sex and gender equity within the socio-political network that surrounds it. Formal legislation, and the ideologies that inform it, does not operate in a bubble, rather, it functions in a set of inter-connected institutions which have less to do with the wellbeing, rights or freedom of the individual and more to do with enforcing (largely unquestioned) received norms used to regulate behavior in order to better manage people and groups. The reasons for, and goals of, this kind of people management forms the basis of the problematic which we will address in a comparative analysis against background concerns of nature, knowledge, power and personhood. |
|
June 8, 2019 |
|
| Prepare presentations | |
June 9, 2019 |
|
| Student presentations & blocked dialogue | |
June 10 , 2019 |
|
| Free day | |
| Dinner together | |
June 11 , 2019 |
|
| South African students and Faculty depart U.S. | |
Attend an information session to learn more!
| Date | Time | Location |
| Wed., Feb. 20 | 5 p.m. | 2200 Centennial Hall |
| Thu., Feb. 21 | 6 p.m. | 3200 Centennial Hall |
| Mon., Feb. 25 | Noon | 2200 Centennial Hall |
Contact us:
For program content inquiries:
John Grider, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, History
608.785.8361 or jgrider@uwlax.edu
For travel and payment inquiries:
UW-La Crosse Extended Learning
220 Morris Hall
608.785.6500 or ex@uwlax.edu
For university credit inquiries:
Briana Meuer
Credit Coordinator
608.785.6513 or bmeuer@uwlax.edu