Is President Barack Obama a black leader or a leader who happens to be black? This course will help students understand where the nation\'s first African-American president fits in a long stream of black political thinkers, activists, and leaders. Black elected officials, such as Barack Obama, are among the most recent leaders in the historic black struggle for civil rights and political and economic equality in the United States. Other sources of black leadership include preachers, scholars, and community organizers. In this course, we will systematically examine the strategies, agendas, and styles of black leadership from the 19th century to the present. We will attempt to answer the following questions: What is black leadership? Who are black leaders? And, how are leaders held accountable and to whom? We will consider black leaders from Booker T. Washington to W.E.B. DuBois, Martin L. King, Jr., to Malcolm X, Septima Clark to Ella Baker, and Jesse Jackson to Barack Obama.

Is President Barack Obama a black leader or a leader who happens to be black? This course will help students understand where the nation\'s first African-American president fits in a long stream of black political thinkers, activists, and leaders. Black elected officials, such as Barack Obama, are among the most recent leaders in the historic black struggle for civil rights and political and economic equality in the United States. Other sources of black leadership include preachers, scholars, and community organizers. In this course, we will systematically examine the strategies, agendas, and styles of black leadership from the 19th century to the present. We will attempt to answer the following questions: What is black leadership? Who are black leaders? And, how are leaders held accountable and to whom? We will consider black leaders from Booker T. Washington to W.E.B. DuBois, Martin L. King, Jr., to Malcolm X, Septima Clark to Ella Baker, and Jesse Jackson to Barack Obama.