About the Course
Contents
Introduction [edit]
Social Stratification in the American (DEEP) South is an innovative, experimental course that has been developed over the last 5 years. Beginning with a “scouting” trip in the summer of 2002, we taught the first iteration of the course in the summer 2003, we made a return “scouting” trip in the summer 2004, and we taught the second summer course in 2005. This summer (2007), is our third Deep South course.
This course is constantly changing. There are changes in the social and political economy, there are changes in historical events, and there are opportunities for changes in the availability of local experts and scholars to work with our class.
For example, the summer 2005 marked the 50th anniversary of the lynching of Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi. The case was re-opened, interviews were conducted with the remaining living witnesses, and a series of new documentaries were released. When we visited the Tallahatchie County courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, the courthouse where the killers were acquitted, it was a very moving experience. In addition, we met with individuals who had attended the trial. Indeed this was a momentous summer in which to visit Money, Mississippi.
Perhaps the most significant event that has shaped the development of the 2007 course is Hurricane Katrina. The impact of Katrina on New Orleans as well as the entire gulf coast region is still not fully realized. Furthermore, as our research (published in the Journal of Poverty) demonstrates, the impact of Katrina was significantly shaped by race and social class. Thus, the aftermath of Katrina provides a virtual laboratory for students of social stratification. In response, our summer 2007 course will focus more intensely on New Orleans and southern Mississippi in order to take advantage of this learning environment. These sorts of changes in both historical events and contacts make this course not only different, but potentially more impactful than the course we taught in either the summer of 2003 or 2005. These examples serve to illustrate the fact that this course, though it has been taught before, is, by design, new each time it is taught. Features of the course that makes it unique at Wake Forest.
Domestic Off-Campus Course[edit]
This course is unique in that it is the only credit bearing course that is offered off-campus in the United States (as opposed to abroad). This is important for two reasons: first it highlights the neglect of innovative courses focused on particular regions of the U.S. Second, because this course is taught in the summer, student-athletes are afforded an opportunity to study off campus and receive credit.
Diversity[edit]
The concept of diversity permeates all aspects of this course. Diversity starts with the co-instructors. As well, the subject of inquiry, social stratification, is, by definition, organized around diversity. In this class we focus on inequalities of race/ethnicity, social class, gender, religion, and region of the country.
The student body of the course is diverse in many dimensions. As noted, we have sought funding for this course in order not to pass on the costs of off-campus study to the students. This allows us to recruit a class that is significantly more socio-economically diverse than the typical course on the Wake Forest campus. Similarly, the Wake Forest student body is approximately 16% multicultural, and only 6% are African American. Yet, through deliberate and intentional recruiting, as well as because of the course content, our classes (2003 and 2005) were each 50% minority, with the majority of the non-white students being African American. This is significant in that it provides a very different learning environment for both the African American and White students. We further capitalize on this unique quality of the course by extending diversity in the learning environment to the living environment such that all roommates are assigned with attention to creating a maximally diverse experience (by race/ethnicity and social class).
Because the South is such a unique region of the country, we also recruit students such that the class will be a good mix of students who are from the South as well as those who are from different geographic regions of the country. We recruit students from different majors and fields of study. Furthermore, because religion is such an important study of stratification in the South we intentionally recruit students with different religious backgrounds.
Finally, in 2005 we were able to include a student from Winston-Salem State University (an HBCU) and we have already made plans to include students this summer from institutions other than Wake Forest.
Service Learning & Experiential Learning[edit]
The DEEP SOUTH course offers unique opportunities for both service and experiential learning. As is the case with the service learning trips, the unique nature of this course, living together off campus for 2 weeks, with no other distractions (other courses, Greek Life, etc) facilitates the opportunity to engage our students (and our selves) in service and experiential learning. Second, so many of the places that we study have serious needs. Thus, in each iteration of the course, we have sought to match the needs of various communities with the talents and skills that our students bring. Teaching our course in the wake of Hurricane Katrina offers a plethora of service learning opportunities. A project focused on the rehabilitation and improvement of libraries in low-income, pre-dominantly minority communities with the help of the WFU library staff. This final project is collecting oral histories and compiling scrapbooks for the residents of Waveland, Hancock County, Mississippi. Some of the time in Hancock County may involve rebuilding a devastated library!
In addition to service learning, this course offers daily opportunities, both organized and spontaneous, for experiential learning. In many communities we rely on local residents as “teachers”. These many individuals talk with the students about their experiences with church bombings, bus boycotts, life in Jim Crow America, marching with Dr. King and so many other things. In addition, by living in communities, eating in local restaurants, doing laundry in local laundry mats, etc, the students have opportunities each day to meet local residents and learn more about real life in these communities. For example, after a long day at Parchman Prison we stopped to do laundry and students shared machines with women whose brothers, sons, and husbands were doing hard time in Parchman. The impact of these conversations is extraordinary.
Religion[edit]
Religion and religious institutions have historically played an important role in Southern Life. Religious institutions provided time and space for social movements (the SLCC, etc). They were often significantly involved in working for civil rights and social change. Religion in the South has also provided much of the ideological justification for inequality, particularly inequalities of race, class, gender, and religion. The links between Klan violence and the southern white church are strong. (See for example the case of Edgar Ray Killen who was convicted in 2005 of the killing of the 3 civil rights workers in Philadelphia, MS more than 40 years ago.)
In previous iterations of the course, religion and religious institutions have been important. For example, because churches often provided the meeting place for civil rights organizing, we have frequently met with local residents in their churches. In Philadelphia, Mississippi we have developed a relationship with Mrs. Steele. She invites us into her church, Mount Zion Methodist, which was bombed the night before the murder of the 3 civil rights workers.
Preparations are being made for the 2007 course to broaden our examination of the role of the church in the southern social, political economy by including a discussion of and visits with white churches, many of whom were directly involved in the Southern Civil Rights Movement.
Vocation[edit]
As with so many other unique student experiences like service learning trips, this course provides a significant opportunity for students to explore vocation, often through conversation with Wake Forest Alumni. In both 2003 and 2005 we ate dinner with Cameron Cole of Birmingham, Alabama. Cameron started the XCEL program at Wake Forest and has since had many different experiences in social justice work. He shares with the students how he has discovered his calling since graduating nearly seven years ago. In 2005 we met with Reverend Charles Goodman at his church in Salem, Alabama. Chuck had been a student-athlete at Wake Forest, and a student in many of our Sociology classes. Since his graduation 6 years ago he has entered divinity school and is pastoring his own church. He shared so generously his time and honesty about the impact of Wake Forest on his life. This experience provided another opportunity for reflection on vocation and “calling”.
To enrich this component of the course, collaboration with the Office of the Chaplain is expected. Rev. Marcus Ingram, Assistant Chaplain, will accompany the group and create space to constructively consider the notion of vocation. As Wake Forest continues to challenge her students to use their education to live out the spirit of Pro Humanitate, conscious partnership between the academy and the Chaplain’s Office is helpful. Rev. Ingram will facilitate the daily reflections as well as the post-course reflection required of the class.
In addition, this course also includes the components typical of a Wake Forest course: we use a textbook as well as a series of readings; we require daily reflection papers, several projects that require the analysis of census data, oral presentations (usually on the bus) and a final exam. We meet for 2 ½ weeks during the summer, 2 full weeks “on the road” where instructional time often stretches to 10 or 12 hours per day.
We believe this course not only offers an incredibly unique look at social stratification as it plays out in the DEEP South, a region of the US with a torrid history, but it also is a course that allows students to examine and reflect on their own individual relationship to this system of stratification.