(same as BL_STU 2425, CNST_DEM 2425). This course represents a collaboration between the University of Missouri’s Department of Black Studies and the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy. Building upon the existing Citizenship@Mizzou program, the course aims to carry forward the goals of the Citizenship program and to further solidify and magnify its impact on campus. In so doing, the course will also serve as a model for improving diversity education on campuses across the country and contribute to a more informed and unified national culture. The core syllabus will consist in readings that tell the story of the confrontation between American political principles and the practice of racial injustice throughout our history. Students will read and discuss the Declaration of Independence, the slavery clauses in the Constitution, the poetry of Phillis Wheatley, and the speeches of Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr., among others. They will achieve a greater understanding of how diversity relates to humanity, and will learn to dialogue productively and civilly with others who may not share their background or opinions.