Students in “SOC 3705: Race, Class, Gender, and Politics” visited Burlington’s African American Cultural Arts and History Center.
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Students in “SOC 3705: Race, Class, Gender, and Politics,” taught by Associate Professor of Sociology Raj Ghoshal, consider how inequalities by race, class and gender have impacted American politics at various points in history. This semester’s students recently stepped out of the classroom to gain deeper historic knowledge of these connections in Alamance County by visiting Burlington’s African American Cultural Arts and History Center.
Burlington’s African American Cultural Arts and History Center collects, preserves and presents Alamance County’s African American history. Its exhibits address conditions during slavery and segregation, resistance movements against these forms of oppression, the civil rights era and the movement of some local Black individuals into politics and government from the 1960s onward. Center manager James Shields, Jr., led students on a tour of the site and fielded questions from the class.
Students were enthusiastic about the experience. Kate Rutledge ’27 noted that the center provided local historical information that was valuable to her as an out-of-state student. Jeanne Blau ’27 similarly noted that the center was “cool and unique because it was so specific to the area.” Alex Hartman ’26 called the site “the most intentional museum I have been to.”
The tour was made possible by Elon’s election grants, which fund opportunities for Elon students to learn about politics and civic engagement.