African American Studies

Online courses helping students to gain knowledge and understanding of the history, culture, and political issues of African-descended people in the United States

Reasons why the CHS African-American elective courses are right for you:
CHS African-American Elective courses at a glance

Engaging lessons designed by subject matter experts to better provide you with a solid academic foundation

Lessons allow students to navigate principle impactful events and moments in black history

Learn from validated authors who have perspective of African American history

Focus on individuals who have been shaped by modern African American struggles for freedom

Travel back in time with the authors and see the world of injustice, struggle, racism and deliberation

Study at your own pace and on your own terms with 24/7 access to courses

All online course electives are accredited, taught by teachers who are available to assist

Get started in one of our diploma tracks with a focus in African-American Studies

Online Individual Courses
18 CREDITS

$99

Per Course
Per Month

Transfer credit to your local high school. 

Diploma for College
24 CREDITS

$149

Per Month
Per Course

Fulfills basic high school diploma requirements 

African-American Studies Courses

African-Americans and U.S. History

African-Americans in Sports

African-Americans in the Civil War

African-Americans and the Civil Rights Movement

African-Americans in the Modern Day

African-Americans in Culture

Slavery and Reconstruction in the United States

Special Topics- Conversations on Confronting Racism - Dual Credit

For almost 40 years CHS has provided accredited High School Diploma pathways to thousands of students.

CHS is accredited and a trusted name in online high school education.

Any student – public, private, or homeschool – can augment their local school academic needs. You can think of CHS courses as simply additional courses to your local school catalog. Explore the African American Studies online electives available to you in the CHS Course Catalog.

More about our African-American Studies elective courses

The African-American Studies Pathway examines the experiences, history, and culture of people of African descent in North American countries. Our courses explore the innovative, complex, and distinctive social structures and cultural traditions that African-Americans have created. Our growing number of elective courses provide an engaging and flexible curriculum to students which allows them the academic freedom to explore the history and culture of a unique population.

Through innovative course design, the African-American Studies Course Pathways offers 7 electives that are proven to strengthen the educational connections for young African-American students, their families, and communities. Through project-based learning, experiential learning, and varied assessments students will learn, apply, and demonstrate knowledge of the African-American society.

Students can use the African-American Studies course by supplementing their education to fit their life experiences by understanding the culture, background, and knowledge of African-Americans.

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African-Americans and U.S. History

Every great legendary figure finds power in the origin story, the story of where a person or group came from. Even a civilization finds power in understanding its roots, whether that story comes with pain or triumph or both. 

In this directed reading course, students examine the understudied history of African Americans and the impact they have made in American society. The first part of the course presents the rise of the slave trade and the suffering of slaves up to the Civil War. The second part of the course covers Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, achievements and innovations by African American artists and scientists, the Civil Rights Movements, and the Obama presidency.

Over the course of U.S. history, how have African Americans helped shaped American culture? This African American History course answers that question by tracing the accomplishments and obstacles of African Americans beginning with the slave trade on up to the modern Civil Rights movement. What was it like during slavery, or after emancipation, or during the years of discrimination under Jim Crow? Who were some of the main figures who have shaped African American history? In this course, you’ll learn about the political, economic, social, religious, and cultural factors that have influenced African American life, come face to face with individuals who changed the course of history, and explore how the African American story still influences current events today.

Benefits of Our Classes Include:

African-Americans in Sports

In this directed reading course, students examine the impact that African-American athletes have had on their sport, race relations, and culture as a whole.  Students will follow the historical paths of African-American athletes during the time of segregation, as well as the breakthrough of athletes in both professional and collegiate sports.  From there, the course will look at the expansion of roles for African-Americans in sports such as coaches, administrative roles, and ownership.  Finally, the student will examine some current issues facing African-American athletes and the voices that are shaping those issues.

African-Americans in the Civil War

In this directed reading course, students examine the impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on African-Americans. Students will analyze the political, social, and economic transformation of the Union, review the policies of Lincoln and Johnson presidencies, the evolution of federal policies of Unionist loyalty and slave emancipation, the development of Union military leadership, and the tragically unsuccessful post-war attempt to provide justice to the African American people.In this directed reading course, students examine the impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on African-Americans. Students will analyze the political, social, and economic transformation of the Union, review the policies of Lincoln and Johnson presidencies, the evolution of federal policies of Unionist loyalty and slave emancipation, the development of Union military leadership, and the tragically unsuccessful post-war attempt to provide justice to the African American people.

African-Americans and the Civil Rights Movement

After nearly one hundred years of struggling for equal rights, with progress and backlash becoming the cycle that African Americans had both learned to live with and fear in equal measure, the time had finally come. The civil rights movement, after the efforts of the NAACP in the courts during the 1930s and small steps toward desegregation during World War 2, had reached a point where real change could happen. But how would it happen—and what would be the result? If you’ve ever heard of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the lunch counter sit-ins, this is that chapter in the incredible history of African Americans.

In this directed reading course, students examine the history of the Civil Rights Movement. The course introduces the origins, development, and legacies of the African American civil rights and black movement in America focusing primarily on the period between 1945 and 1980. Additionally, the course will examine the current status of the Civil Rights Movement in modern-day America.

Benefits of Our Classes Include:

African-Americans in the Modern Day

In this directed reading course, students examine the impact and contributions of African Americans in the modern day. This course presents the build-up to today’s pop culture (music and film industries) and view the impact that it has among all age groups. Students will review the African American artist making the largest impact such as Spike Lee, Denzel Washington, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Beyonce, Kanye West, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson, and John Legend.

African-Americans in Culture

In this directed reading course, students examine the development of literature and jazz in the African American culture. This course presents various rich and diverse works of literature throughout African American history. Some of the authors include Maya Angelou, W.E.B. DuBois, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and Alex Haley.  

Students will examine the historical impact and contribution of jazz music to society. The course will create awareness of the social, geographical, and cultural contributions that were made through the development of jazz music. Students will study some of the major innovators of jazz music such as Miles Davis, Louie Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and John Coltrane. This course will also expose students to various styles of jazz music.

Benefits of Our Classes Include:

Slavery and Reconstruction in the United States

In this directed reading students examine the historical impact of slavery within the United States. The course presents the experience and struggles of African Americans who were held in slavery. Students will assess slavery during three distinct time periods: the rise of the slave trade, the growth and spread of slavery during colonial and antebellum periods, and the Civil War and abolition.

The Civil War ended in early 1865, but the real work had just begun. Suddenly, four million African Americans were now free, with generations upon generations of slavery as their history and an uncertain future before them. The United States had quite a challenge ahead of it—how to completely change a society that, for generations, had only known a deeply divided North and South and slavery. Deep racial divides and an uncertain economic future led the South to pass restrictive black codes and to grapple with violence, while Northern industrial workers worried about job competition. Through it all, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., worked to knit the divided nation back together. Would they be successful?

Benefits of Our Classes Include:

Special Topics: Conversations on Confronting Racism - Dual Credit

This course focuses on facilitating difficult, but necessary, conversations between friends, family, and strangers. The course uses videos from the Truth & Reconciliation Conversations (TRC) Global Summit. The summit uses five key commitments: Compassionate Empathy, Courageous Listening, Painful Conversations, Social Reckoning and Spiritual Reconciliation, to provide students with a blueprint for how these conversations can take place. Participants will watch each video and reflect as a group using the discussion questions provided. Students will then document what they have learned by creating a blog or vlog.

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