Electives Centered Around Black History

Reclaiming the Black Body

Taught by Stuart Robertson ’11 H’18 & Cameron Brickhouse

          A popular interdisciplinary course, “Reclaiming the Black Body: A Cultural History on the Representation of Black Bodies in the African Diaspora” focuses on understanding what it means to be a Black person. The course is co-taught by the Dean of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement Cameron Brickhouse, and Artist-In-Residence Stuart Robertson ’11 H’18. According to Robertson, the class focuses on essential questions such as “what is Blackness, how you define Blackness, [and] what is a Black body?” Students in the course juggle ideas they believe could be part of the answer—the concepts range from “Black heritage [and] ethnicity” to “religious and political consciousness” said Robertson, while considering the complexity of this question is rooted in the fact that “there are billions of people that [they] need to account for to fit within the Black body definition.” As Robertson puts it, the class is “dedicated to unpacking that [concept]…and understanding the ways in which historians, cultural commentators, philosophers, and writers really think about Black identity.” The course, according to Robertson, places “a bunch of students together in a space where they discuss the voices who have never been the majority.” On top of providing them with this new point of view, it also, as Robertson says,  “puts others in a situation to look around and [understand] what it feels like to not have full control of a room.” Eventually, Robertson hopes that “students can feel comfortable leaning into spaces where they can claim and assert some kind of space…but still knowing that just because they’re Black doesn’t mean they know everything [about Blackness].” Robertson emphasizes that “it’s important to think about [Black History Month] all year long…[and] the month is just a time to remind everyone,” associating the themes the course explores as rather a  “year-long issue.” 

Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X

Taught by Zaheer Ali

          Zaheer Ali, the Executive Director of the Hutchins Institute for Social Justice, teaches the interdisciplinary course “Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.” As the name suggests, the class is centered around exploring the lives and legacies of activists, leaders, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Ali explains that “King and X represent two sometimes competing, sometimes overlapping, and sometimes complementary trajectories of the Black freedom struggle in the 20th century United States.” The Winter Term course “overlaps [both with the anniversaries of] King’s birthday and Malcolm X’s assassination,” as well as Black History Month. As Ali puts it, “[his] course is about as ‘Black History’ as one can find…considering that the class explores the lives of two leading figures in history who were Black, as well as their communities, philosophies, ideologies, and, etc.” As a result, Ali notes the curriculum does not specifically reference Black History Month, because “to do so would be like fish specifically identifying the water they are swimming in, or for [people] to specifically identify the air [they] are breathing.” This, however, is not a fault but “how Black history should be—so integral to everyone’s understanding of our past, present, and future.” His course, specifically, “challenges [students] to think beyond the oversimplification…of Black History Month into a collection of commodities,” Ali adds following the theme of combatting misrepresentation, Ali says a “main objective of the class is to complicate and challenge any binary or singular framing of King vs. X as though it were some epic battle of two icons.” As such, Ali hopes that students taking the course can understand that “Black histories are multivocal, multilayered, and filled with the drama, tensions, conflicts, and joy, community, and collective action that characterize the human experience,” and bring these lessons into the broader-Lawrenceville community. 

Radical Love in African American Literature

Taught by Victoria Stitt

          One of the most sought-after V Form English electives, “Radical Love in African American Literature,” taught by Victoria Stitt, revolves around non-fiction pieces about love or social justice, advocacy, self-advocacy [and] memoirs. According to Stitt, through these texts, students investigate the “essential question…[of] what it means to love radically…and how we can change ourselves and therefore our greater communities in loving radically.” Stitt emphasizes that her course is “primarily about queer Black love…in the sense that it inherently will talk about or address issues of recognition or lack thereof of Black people, of dehumanization and marginalization.” The class also focuses on dynamics within the Lawrenceville community, reflecting on “gender dynamics…and sexual orientation on campus” but primarily focusing on what is “beyond” the School. As Stitt puts it, celebrating Black History Month means “centering and celebrating the voices and accomplishments of Black people while also acknowledging the severe struggle that Black people have had over centuries in [the United States] and also outside of [the U.S.].” They understand Black history as “not just about what is public, but also what is individual…personal, and interpersonal.” Nevertheless, Stitt does not “see the mission of [Black History Month] being embodied or practiced beyond courses.” Their “Radical Love” course and the majority of other V Form electives, face limitations by being a one-term elective, as the coursework centers only on a small group of students in the class each year. However, Stitt explains that “the work [their] students do and the conversations [they] have [with each other] might carry with them [outside of the classroom].” Beyond the month of February, Stitt sees Black History at Lawrenceville as “more interpersonal and abstract than…immediately tangible.”