THEA 321 - History of Black Theatre

Units: 3 ; Breadth Area: GE-UD-C; Diversity
The influence of 400 years of African Diaspora on North American theatre traditions. The African American influence on playwriting, music, slave narratives, minstrel shows, The Harlem Renaissance, The Civil Rights Movement, The Black Arts Movement, and contemporary African American theatre.

Strongly Recommended Preparation: Upper division status (greater than 60 earned semester units) and completion of lower division Area C requirements.
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Areas A1, A2, A3 and B4 with grade C- (CR) or better.
Possible Instructional Methods: On-ground or Online-Asynchronous.
Grading: A-F or CR/NC (student choice).
Breadth Area(s) Satisfied: GE-UD-C - Upper Division Arts or Humanities, Overlay - Diversity
Course Typically Offered: Variable Intermittently

Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Use play texts, recordings, essays, and live performances to dissect the ways in which black playwrights have contributed to theatre and drama;
Use black plays to critique race, gender, class, and sexuality;
Explore the ways in which sociopolitical issues and events, including but not limited to, the Middle Passage, Slavery, Minstrelsy, the Great Migration, Civil Rights Movement, Black Power Movement, Hip-Hop culture, Gay Rights Movement, and Black Lives Matter Movement have shaped black theatre and drama;
Analyze how Africana culture(s) have influenced and shaped black theatre in America through exploration of the themes and historical context presented in the plays, videos, films, and other material explored in the course; and
Describe the relationship between African American history and the development of African America theatre.

UD-C. Upper-division Arts or Humanities Learning Outcomes

demonstrate an understanding of and ability to apply the principles, methodologies, value systems, and thought processes employed in the arts and humanities;
analyze cultural production as an expression of, or reflection upon, what it means to be human; and
demonstrate how the perspectives of the arts and humanities are used by informed, engaged, and reflective citizens to benefit local and global communities.

Diversity Overlay Learning Outcomes

Describe the histories and/or experiences of one or more U.S. cultural groups, and the resilience and agency of group members.
Identify structures of oppression and the diverse efforts and strategies used by U.S. cultural groups to combat the effects of oppressive structures.
Analyze the intersection of categories of race and gender as they affect U.S. cultural group members lived realities and/or as they are embodied in personal and collective identities.
Recognize the way that multiple differences (including, e.g., gender, class, sexuality, religion, disability, immigration status, gender expression, color/phenotype, racial mixture, linguistic expression, and/or age) within U.S. cul