The Graduate School Bulletin
African American Studies Program
200 Foust Building
(336) 334-5507
Graduate Program: Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in African American Studies, 15 hours
African American Studies Homepage
Admissions Information
AFS African American Studies Courses
Graduate Faculty:
Program Director
Tara T. Green, PhD, African American literature, gender studies, Civil Rights and Black Power movements.
Assistant Professor
Sarah Jane Cervenak, PhD, women’s and gender studies.
PBC - Post-Baccalaureate Certificate
in African American Studies
The Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in African American Studies requires 15 semester hours of course work. At least half of the total hours of course work must be at the 600 level or above. Curriculum requirements consist of a core course (3 hours) and 12 hours of AFS-related electives. Students who are also enrolled in a degree program must take at least 6 hours of course work outside the degree-granting department. Course work must be successfully completed within five academic years. Courses fulfilling the certificate program may be used to meet the requirements in a degree program in accordance with the policies of The Graduate School.
Application and Admission
In addition to the application materials required by The Graduate School, applicants must submit a 500-word statement.
Certificate Requirements
Required Core Course (3 hours)
AFS 610 African American Theoretical Perspective (3)
Electives (12 hours)
With the approval of the program graduate advisor, students choose 12 hours of electives from the following:
AFS 554 Black Populism in the New South (3)
AFS 650 Topics in African American Gender Studies (3)
AFS 652 Topics in Black Performance Studies (3)
AFS 653 Perspectives on the African American Experience (3)
ART 501 Topics in the History of Art (3)*
ART 618 Topics in the History of Art (3)*
ENG 650 Modern Literary and Cultural Theory (3)*
ENG 663 Postcolonial Literary and Cultural Theory (3)*
ENG 705 Cultural Studies (3)*
ENG 729 Postcolonial Literatures (3)*
ENG 730 Studies in American Literature (3)*
ENG 735 Studies in African-American Literature (3)
ENG 737 Studies in Multi-Ethnic American Literature (3)*
GEO 522 Seminar in Population and Urban Studies (3)*
HIS 502 African American History: Selected Topics (3)
HIS 520 Southern History: Selected Topics (3)*
HIS 546 American Cultural History: Selected Topics (3)*
HIS 581 African History: Selected Topics (3)*
HIS 710 Colloquium in the Atlantic World (3)*
HIS 712 Slavery in the Americas (3)
HIS 713 African Americans after Slavery (3)
HIS 715 Atlantic World: Selected Topics (3)*
HIS 723 Selected Topics in Nineteenth-Century United States History (3)*
MUS 625 Music and Culture of Sub-Sahara Africa (3)
MUS 638 Exploring Musical Cultures (3)*
MUS 663 History of Jazz (3)
PSC 520 The Urban Political System (3)*
PSC 620 Urban Development Policy (3)*
SOC 526 Comparative Minority Relations (3)*
SOC 628 Social Movements (3)*
SOC 643 Urban Society (3)*
SOC 651 Criminology (3)*
WGS 650 Feminist Theory: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Class (3)*
WGS 651 Feminist Research Analysis (3)*
*when relevant
AFS African American Studies Courses
554 Black Populism in the New South (3:3)
The history of Black Populism in the New South in the period following Reconstruction and before Jim Crow.
610 African American Theoretical Perspectives (3:3)
Historical and theoretical approaches to analyzing race, gender, and class as related to African Americans.
650 Topics in African American Gender Studies (3:3)
Constructed gender identity of African Americans and intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality. Politics of African American gender construction, historical notions of gender performance, and aspects of black sexuality.
652 Topics in Black Performance Studies (3:3)
Implications of historical displays of Black people in relation to contemporary black performance, particularly as it involves a shift in bodies and terms.
653 Perspectives on the African American Experience (3:3)
Investigates selected individuals, events, and social and cultural movements that have fundamentally shaped the course of African American advancement in mainstream society.