Race and Gender in the U.S.
By: Beth Berila
Course Description: An interdisciplinary introduction to the study of women and men of color in the U.S.
Examination of the diversity of their experiences, cultures, and historical and contemporary issues.
Course Activities/Assignments: Large and small group discussions, projects in which the student
research the contributions of particular women and men of color in the U.S. (historical and
contemporary), papers in which students research and analyze institutionalized racial and ethnic
oppression alongside the racial and gender formations that shape those issues; opportunities to connect
with related campus and community events; an activist/applied project.
Note: This description of the course outline is an example of a course outline. The particular issues
covered are possible selections, but there are other issues to be covered as well. The course will
discuss how race and gender intersect for both men and women of color around these issues, often in
different ways. Greater emphasis will be placed on the inclusion of women of color, since their
experiences are often underrepresented in other courses throughout the curriculum.
I. Racial formations and Gender Theory (20%) SLO2, SLO3, SLO4, SLO6

Critical race feminism—basic concepts

Intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality

How sexism can operate both within communities of color and between whites and
people of color.

Matrix of domination

What is American? Who gets to define that? Who is included and excluded from that
definition?

Race and Gender as Social Constructions

Ethnicity

Define Institutionalized Oppression, Discrimination, Power/privilege (white privilege,
male privilege), Resistance, Cultural Assimilation SLO6

Biracial, Multiracial Identities

Transnational, Diasporic identities,

Immigrants in the U.S.
II. Stereotypes and Particular Images of Women and Men of Color: (5%) SLO1. SLO3, SLO4, SLO6

Mammies, Matriarchs, Welfare Queens, Exotification, Mother Earth, Hyperspiritual,
Orientalism, Baby Mama and baby Daddy (Motherhood and fatherhood stereotypes),
Model Minority, Hypersexual men of color, gangster stereotypes, etc.

Immigrants (the majority of them women) in the service arena
III. Historical and Contemporary Institutionalized Oppression toward Women and Men of Color (60%)
SLO1, SLO 3, SLO4, SLO6
Selected Issues (Not the only ones that could be covered, nor specifically in this order):

Japanese American Internment Camps

Slavery

Violence against women on Native Nations (tensions between tribal laws and federal
law enforcement)

Changes in traditional Native community and gender roles because of imposed
patriarchy

Racial Profiling of men of color

Economic Inequality, discrimination in the workplace

Welfare policies (including those that exclude immigrant men and women)

Communities of color and the health care industry

Forced Sterilization and reproductive issues state control over the bodies and rights of
communities of color,

Access to resources and health care for both men and women of color

Immigration policies and laws

Public Policies: Citizenship and naturalization laws

Anti-miscegenation laws

Immigration and Migration

Hate Crimes and Communities of Color

Immigrant men and women and the issues they face (labor, naturalization policies,
discrimination, etc.)

Environmental Justice (i.e. Access to land and resources, Tribal rights, Women of Color
on the front lines fighting environmental racism.
VII. Resistance and Contributions of Women of Color (15%) SLO4, SLO5, SLO3, SLO6

Issues of voice, speaking for oneself

Tensions and contributions with Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, Gay and Lesbian
Movements; why feminists of color often insist on intersections of oppression rather
then compartimentalizing their experiences (i.e.: focusing exclusively on gender in one
movement, race in another movement, when women of color experience them
simultaneously).

Key contributions by Feminists of color (Research Project/Presentation by students on
prominent women of color activists)

Creative, Social, and Political Contributions of Feminist of Color Activists

Feminist Critical Race Theory: How to Work Toward Social Change