HIS4640 Food and Civil Rights
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
Napoleon said that an army marches on its stomach. His comment causes one to ask the question: What is the relationship between food and political stability—or instability—during important periods in history? That is to say, what role does food play in starting and sustaining a movement? And what important takeaways do we gain from looking at the role of food in social movements? Food and Civil Rights delves into movements for progressive change focusing on the 17th through the 21th century. This course shows that there have always existed movements for social justice around the world among marginalized groups of people. And food has been at the center of civil rights movements in one way or the other. The course looks at the organizations and individuals, home cooks and professional chefs, who—with the food they donated, cooked, grew and distributed—helped various activists continue to march and advance their goals for progressive change and self-determination. The course also looks at movements to end discrimination in the restaurant industry for customers and would-be employees. Through this exploration, this course addresses questions such as: How did progressive organizations raise the funds necessary to pay for their programs, staff, and campaigns? How have striking workers fed their families? What individuals and groups made important food-related contributions to movements? Where did organizers meet and strategize? The course focuses on the North American context, but student projects and our discussions do not need to be limited to that context. The materials for this class will include primary and secondary sources.
Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)