About the Course

African American urban studies is a vibrant area of intellectual inquiry.

This course will acquaint you with a variety of disciplinary tools for studying African American life in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, our urban neighbor just 25 miles away. We will start with a broad survey of the city’s history that began when William Pynchon and a company of Puritan men from Roxbury, founded Springfield in 1636 at the confluence of three rivers. Pynchon established a trading and fur-collecting post and enslaved Africans became a vital part of its labor force. Springfield officially became a city in May of 1852, but by then slavery had ended and the city had developed a reputation as a Underground Railroad depot thanks to antislavery freedom fighters like Thomas Thomas, Eli Baptist, and John Brown. Springfield’s location at the crossroads of New England is the most significant reason for its economic progress as an industrial city. In 2010, Springfield was a city of 156,060, that was 22.3% Black or African American, and 4.7% from Two or More Races (1.5% White and Black or African American). Latinos of any race made up 38.8% of the population (33.2% Puerto Rican). It is a multicultural community, and is the regional center for banking, finance, and courts. Field trips to important sites, interviews with Ms. LaJuana Hood, founder of Springfield’s Pan African Historical Museum USA, as well as other important culture bearers, will be special facets of the course. Community engaged research will be emphasized.

Inspired by its vintage name, Black Springfield is a course in New African urban studies that is grounded in the twofold mandate of Africana Studies: (1) to produce “knowledges of resistance” and to create (2) “agents of transformation.” Springfield, Massachusetts is our ground zero from which we will examine its social totality beginning with its history and political economic reality. We will ask a series of questions about the experiences of Afro-descendant people and pursue answers to them in a way that requires us to be active learners. 

Learning Objective 1:

Have the boundaries of Black Springfield always been defined by police brutality? Brother Johnnie of WTCC helped to give a microphone to those who demanded Justice for Charles Wilhite. Mr. Wilhite won a new trial and has his conviction of murder overturned. Why did the police manufacture a case against an innocent man? Why has this police department killed, beaten, falsely arrested, coerced confessions, and maintain a pattern misconduct toward black and brown people in the city of homes? How do the origins of Africans in this area in slavery over four centuries ago relate to the racialized patterns of today?

Learning Objective 2:

Do [Have] African Americans ever engage[d] in political struggle in Springfield?  What does Ms. Ruth Loving teach us about that question? Video: http://www.americancenturies.mass.edu/activities/oralhistory/loving/

Learning Objective 3:

Is “exploitation” a feature of the economics of Black Springfield? Mason Square, named in memory of Primus Parsons Mason (1817-1892), an industrious local entrepreneur, landowner and businessman, is placed within what kind of community? Is in a neighborhood that is regarded as safe, clean, and an ideal place to live? What is the image of the city itself? Why is “Springfield ranked 12th ‘most dangerous’ city in U.S.” in the media?

Learning Objective 4:

Is “exploitation” a feature of the economics of Black Springfield?

Finally, you the student will be co-creators/designers of this course. We can tailor the research and manh of the learning activities to your specific interests and strengths.