2024-2025 Course Flipbook v2 - Flipbook - Page 42
HISTORY PRACTICUM: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS
What are international human rights? Where do they come from? Who and what de昀椀nes
these liberties and freedoms? Do all humans bene昀椀t from these protections? Who
is left out? International Human Rights is a course that tackles the complexities that
surround the liberties and freedoms enjoyed by people around the world. The course
explores the historical evolution of human rights principles, starting from their ancient
philosophical origins, through their development in the early modern period, and up to
their incorporation into contemporary international frameworks, organizations, and justice
systems. Students dive into these questions through an intensive reading, writing, and
discussion-based curriculum that involves engaging with fundamental texts such as the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, as well
as relevant jurisprudence from international courts and tribunals. They then apply this
historical and textual understanding to real-life case studies of human rights abuses,
including but not limited to Germany and Japan’s crimes against humanity in World War
II, the Rwandan Civil War, Pinochet’s coup in Chile, Taliban control in Afghanistan, and
Myanmar’s military atrocities. The students utilize this deep historical understanding to
better understand modern-day human rights abuses, culminating in a policy paper and
presentation on an ongoing human rights case study.
HISTORY PRACTICUM: AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES
HISTORY
This course dives deep into a comprehensive exploration of African American history,
aiming to uncover narratives that have often been overlooked throughout civil rights
history. Embracing a broader timeline, the curriculum explores primary sources from
a diversity of voices throughout African American history, including those of writers,
intellectuals, artists, and everyday individuals. Spanning from life in Africa to the
arrival of the 昀椀rst Africans in America in 1619 up to the present day, the course
traces a continuous pattern of black liberation as well as social and political
movements within the entire spectrum of African American history. This course
covers key historical periods such as the Abolitionist movement, Reconstruction
leadership, the Harlem Renaissance, the birth of the Civil Rights Movement, the
Black Power Era, Black Women and Politics, and 21st-century youth activism.
Through this curriculum students gain a holistic understanding of the African
American historical experience. To build this contextual knowledge, students
critically examine Jeanne Theoharis’s insights through her book The Uses and
Misuses of Civil Rights History and delve into DC history by studying the text
Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital by
Chris Myers Asch and George Derek Musgrove. In the 昀椀nal product of this course
students critically examine how Washington DC (Chocolate City) contributed to
African American history/culture throughout the United States, and they unveil the
narratives of often overlooked personal histories of Washingtonians.
