RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT

Coordinators: Sandy Kessler, Bob Gottfried

We will explore the controversial subject of race relations in America by considering some classic and contemporary writings by American political thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson, George Fitzhugh, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Isabel Wilkerson, and Glenn Loury.

Questions for discussion include:

Why was slavery a “monstrous injustice,” as Lincoln called it? How did Southerners defend the institution?
What is the legacy of slavery? How does it shape American life today?
How can we now best achieve racial justice and reconciliation?

Other Classes:

JAZZ AT NOON
WORLD OF THEATER
THE SCARLET LETTER
THE GREAT GATSBY
TOCQUEVILLE’S DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: A CLASSIC FOR OUR TIME
MEXICO: SOUTH OF OUR BORDER
HISTORY OF MEDICINE
THEATER TALKBACK
SOCIAL EVENTS
FOOD: BEYOND JUST CALORIES
TONI MORRISON: THE LEGEND
INVISIBLE MAN BY RALPH ELLISON
SIXTIES
ELIZABETH GASKELL
WEEK IN PARIS
CREATIVE WORKSHOP
EMILY DICKINSON CIRCLE
SYMPOSIUM
RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHY
CONTEMPORARY BRITISH CULTURE
AUSTRALIA – THE LAND DOWN UNDER
HUCKLEBERRY FINN
AGING
FASCINATING ISLANDS
BLACK WOMEN’S VOICES
THE NOBEL PRIZES
READING EDITH WHARTON
WOMEN IN GREEK DRAMA
THE NEAR EAST
HISTORY OF GERMANY
A PASSAGE TO INDIA
INDIE FILMS
SLAVERY’S ROLE IN U.S. CAPITALISTIST DEVELOPMENT
RISE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
READING THE RABBIS
MYTHOLOGY
LITERARY HEROINES
HOWARDS END
HOUSE OF MIRTH
FABULOUS FIFTIES
COMEDY CENTRAL
READING BLACK LIVES
BORDERS AND BOUNDARIES
MOZART’S WOMEN
ANTISEMITISM: PAST, PRESENT, FACTS, MYTHS
AFRICAN CONTINENT
PRESENTER’S SHOWCASE
INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
ACTING CLASS
LAW & ORDER
POINT OF VIEW
MODERN OPERA
MOVERS & SHAKERS
SOCRATES AND THE PROBLEM OF PHILOSOPHY
GREAT CONVERSATIONS
ORAL INTERPRETATION OF POETRY

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