ASA logo
Race and Ethnicity Syllabi and Assignments
Race and Ethnicity Syllabi and Assignments
November 17, 2023

The Race and Ethnicity Syllabi and Assignments highlights 20 resources for courses on race and ethnicity. This collection includes activities that use novels, streaming shows, and government data for instruction. There are syllabi for a fully online course and for a course on Black Sociological Thought. 

A Black Lives Matter protest sign above a crowd of protestors
Emma-Claire LaSaine
Ethnic Movements in the United States
July 8, 2025
Subject Area(s):
Asians/Asian-Americans, Collective Behavior/Social Movements, Latina/o Sociology, Political Sociology, Race, Class and Gender, Racial and Ethnic Relations
Resource Type(s):
Syllabus
Class Level(s):
College 200
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:

This course sociologically analyzes historical and recent ethnic/racial conflict and movements in the U.S., including the relations between European Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans. The class introduces...

Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
An arial view of suburban neighborhoods
Elizabeth Klainot-Hess
Class Activity: Analyzing Residential Racial Segregation Using Census Data and an Interactive Map
July 8, 2025
Subject Area(s):
Demography, Introduction to Sociology/Social Problems, Public Policy, Race, Class and Gender, Racial and Ethnic Relations, Social Change, Urban Sociology, Visual Sociology
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
College 100, College 200, College 300
Class Size(s):
Medium, Small
Abstract:

In this classroom activity students will use an interactive map based on 2020 Census data to identify and analyze residential racial segregation across the United States.  Using the black-white dissimilarity index, students will describe and analyze residential...

Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
The exterior of a museum
Alyssa Lyons
Experiential Learning in Sociology: Exploring the Role of Settler Colonialism in Museum Education
January 31, 2025
Subject Area(s):
Education, Knowledge, Race, Class and Gender, Visual Sociology
Resource Type(s):
Assignment, Essay
Class Level(s):
College 300
Class Size(s):
Medium
Abstract:

Experiential learning helps students apply sociological concepts to the social world (Holtzman & Menning, 2015). This experiential project was developed for an upper-level sociology course exploring global and cross-cultural perspectives on education and...

Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
A vaccine
Deeb Kitchen
Ethics, Race, and Deception: Analyzing a Historical Medical Study
September 23, 2024
Subject Area(s):
Medical Sociology, Racial and Ethnic Relations
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
Any Level, College 100, College 200, College 300, College 400
Class Size(s):
Medium, Small
Abstract:

This class activity engages students in a critical exploration of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, a notorious example of unethical medical research. The activity is particularly well-suited for courses on race and ethnicity, research methods, or medical sociology,...

Cover Page Requires Subscription PDF
An arial view of Los Angeles
Robert Thomson
Teaching Race and Gang Violence Using the Documentary Crips & Bloods: Made in America (Peralta 2008)
September 4, 2024
Subject Area(s):
Criminology/Delinquency, Deviant Behavior/Social Disorganization, Law and Society, Public Policy, Race, Class and Gender, Racial and Ethnic Relations, Urban Sociology
Resource Type(s):
Assignment, Class Activity, Essay, Film List
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:

In this class activity, students wrestle with the causes and consequences of gang violence through a series of activities including lectures and assignments organized around the documentary Crips & Bloods: Made in America (Peralta 2008). The film...

Cover Page Requires Subscription PDF
ariel view of a subdivision
Rachel Sullivan
Examining Redlining- Historical Origins & Current Impacts
August 8, 2024
Subject Area(s):
Introduction to Sociology/Social Problems, Racial and Ethnic Relations, Urban Sociology
Resource Type(s):
Assignment, Class Activity
Class Level(s):
College 100
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:

This activity provides students with an opportunity to review redlining maps and consider the historical and present day impacts that this practice has had. Students select a city of their choice and access digitized copies of redlining maps through a publicly...

Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
A farmer in a tractor spraying their field
Andrew R. Smolski, Abbey E. Piner, Angel Cruz, Rebecca Shisler, Emma Brinkmeyer
Systemic Racism and the Food System
September 28, 2023
Subject Area(s):
Race, Class and Gender, Racial and Ethnic Relations, Rural Sociology, Stratification/Mobility
Resource Type(s):
Assignment, Class Activity, PowerPoint
Class Level(s):
College 100, College 200
Class Size(s):
Medium, Small
Abstract:

Racial inequality is (re)produced in a multitude of ways, reflective of the different components that make up social systems: structure, institution, culture, and agents. In the United States, we are socialized to focus only on the agent (personal/individual)...

Cover Page Requires Subscription PPTX Requires Subscription DOCX
Pedestrians and a taxi cab crossing a city street
Peter Kent-Stoll
The Erasure of Indigenous People from the Urban Imaginary: Understanding Settler Colonialism and the Logics of Elimination
August 22, 2023
Subject Area(s):
Race, Class and Gender, Racial and Ethnic Relations
Resource Type(s):
Class Activity
Class Level(s):
Any Level
Class Size(s):
Medium, Small
Abstract:

This activity introduces students to thinking critically about settler colonialism, specifically within a US context, and how it operates through a logics of elimination by examining how take-for-granted assumptions about race, space, and history reproduce...

Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
W.E.B. Du Bois
Cody Melcher
Race Scholars Denied Syllabus
August 19, 2023
Subject Area(s):
Race, Class and Gender, Racial and Ethnic Relations, Sociological Practice
Resource Type(s):
Syllabus
Class Level(s):
College 200, College 300, College 400
Class Size(s):
Medium, Small
Abstract:

This course is designed to introduce students to the sociological theories of major sociologists of color who have been systematically denied mainstream influence in the discipline. The course provides a general overview of sociology as a formal discipline in the...

Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX
A drawing of the author, Juan Martinez
Juan Martinez
Online Race and Ethnic Relations Syllabus (Quality Matters Certified)
July 5, 2023
Subject Area(s):
Racial and Ethnic Relations, Teaching and Learning in Sociology
Resource Type(s):
Syllabus
Class Size(s):
Any
Abstract:

Race and Ethnic Relations is an online course that has earned Quality Matters (QM) certification (June 2022) at Northeastern Illinois University. It examines U.S. race and ethnic relations through a critical sociological and intersectional lens. The course begins...

Cover Page Requires Subscription DOCX Requires Subscription DOCX

Our website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience, to increase the speed and security for the site, to provide analytics about our site and visitors, and for marketing. By proceeding to the site, you are expressing your consent to the use of cookies. To find out more about how we use cookies, see our Privacy Policy .