How does racism get under the skin? That is, where and how do African Americans experience racism, and at what cost to health and well-being? In what ways do Black persons expend psychological resources to negotiate a social context permeated by racial inequalities? In this course we will attempt to answer these questions using a novel about 1940s Harlem as our focal point, allowing us to connect the historical and contemporary Black experience. We will draw on a wide range of sources to interpret the Black experience, including social science, humanities, and public health scholarship; quantitative data (e.g., survey data); film; popular media; and more. We will pay particular attention to the structures that perpetuate inequalities and the extent to which inequalities have changed over time.
