About This Resource

Lehman College, The City University of New York · Department of Sociology

SOC 250: Racial and Ethnic Communities in the United States

Spring 2026 — Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Annotated Syllabus

This is an instructor-facing Open Educational Resource (OER) syllabus for SOC 250: Racial and Ethnic Communities in the United States, taught at Lehman College, CUNY, in Spring 2026 as a 15-week online synchronous course. It is designed primarily as a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) pedagogy demonstration, not only as a course plan: each major writing assignment is followed by a short "WAC Pedagogy Note" explaining how the assignment functions in service of writing-to-learn objectives.

A complementary, unannotated version of this syllabus — featuring zero-cost readings and an adaptable course framework — is available through the CUNY Graduate Center OER series. This Lehman OER edition is the substantive complement: it documents the writing pedagogy that animates the course and offers fellow instructors a working template for integrating writing into a content-heavy sociology course on race and ethnicity.

Adoption Notes for Instructors

• The syllabus is fully adaptable. The thematic modules and weekly readings can be substituted; what travels is the assignment architecture (low-stakes weekly posts, writing-for-speaking, formal metacognitive essay, structured analytical worksheet) and the pacing of writing across the semester.
• The four assignment genres are deliberately diverse. Together they give students sustained practice in different writing situations, scaffolded across the term rather than concentrated at the end.
• The WAC Pedagogy Notes appear in callout boxes immediately after each assignment description. They are addressed to fellow instructors and are not part of the student-facing syllabus when the document is taught from in class.
• Course readings include works under copyright. The syllabus document itself is openly licensed; the readings are referenced (not reproduced).

Introduction

This WAC-annotated syllabus for SOC 250: Racial and Ethnic Communities in the United States documents how a sociology course on race and ethnicity in the United States can recenter writing as a tool for thinking, learning, and engagement with course materials. The course is organized thematically across four modules, progressing from foundational concepts of race as a social construct through analyses of institutions, inequality, and historical movements for change. Each major writing assignment in the course is annotated with a brief WAC Pedagogy Note explaining how the assignment functions in service of writing-to-learn objectives — making this a useful template for instructors wanting to integrate writing into content-area courses. Drawing on theoretical perspectives such as intersectionality, critical race theory, and racial formation theory, the course emphasizes critical thinking, analytical writing, and evidence-based inquiry. The aim is to develop students' capacity for sociological analysis, engagement with multiple perspectives, and application of theoretical frameworks to contemporary social issues.

Course Information

Term: Spring 2026

Credit Hours: 3 Units

Class Dates: January 26 – May 26, 2026

Instruction Mode: Online Synchronous

Instructor: Hart M. Zhang

Course Description

Catalog Description: Sociological description and analysis of a specific racial or ethnic community.

Welcome to SOC 250!

This course offers an introduction to the sociological study of race and ethnic relations in the United States. It emphasizes that race and ethnicity are social constructs — created and maintained by society — that influence all aspects of social life. These constructs are deeply embedded in social structures and institutions, and they change over time and across places.

Key themes:

• Race and racism are not just issues for minority groups; they reflect broader power dynamics that affect everyone every day.
• Racial and ethnic categories, including "white," can be understood as outcomes of historical conflicts over economic resources, political power, and cultural identity rather than as biological differences.
• The institutional racism rooted in the nation's history did not end with the civil rights legislation of the 1960s; it continues to shape social institutions today.

Writing is the way we will think together. You will write a short analytical post on Brightspace each week, a 300-word reflective essay at the midpoint of the semester, and a final documentary analysis at the end. You will also have one chance to co-lead class discussion of a reading you choose. None of these assignments are designed to be intimidating. They are designed to be steady — to give you regular practice writing about race and ethnicity in your own voice, so that by the end of the semester you can speak clearly and confidently about questions that matter.

If you are struggling or feeling pressured in this course, please do not turn to AI chatbots as a shortcut. AI can help you think, but it should not think for you. Your final work needs to reflect your own analysis and voice. There are plenty of resources available to you, and I believe you can succeed here. Please contact me anytime and let's talk about it — I will work with you to support your success in this course.

Course Materials

No textbook is required for this course. All course materials are accessible at no cost to students through the Brightspace site.

Course Objectives

• Use sociological concepts to examine how the identities of a specific racial and ethnic community in the United States are shaped and contested within systems of power and inequality.
• Develop critical thinking and quantitative reasoning skills by analyzing empirical evidence on a specific racial and ethnic community in the United States.
• Discuss histories of policies and practices of institutions and their impact on a specific racial and ethnic community in the United States.
• Identify key sociological figures and engage with changing perspectives over time in the context of theorizing a specific racial and ethnic community in the United States.
• Describe the roles of social movements in shaping the experiences of a specific racial and ethnic community in the United States.
• Evaluate how a specific racial and ethnic community has shaped the development of the United States.

Grading Policy

The final grade is based on four assignments, each described below. Grades are posted on CUNYfirst using the following scale:

Weekly Discussion Posts (50%)

Low-stakes, in-progress writing.

Due: Every Sunday at 10:00 PM.

Weekly forum posts serve as the online equivalent of classroom discussion, and consistent participation throughout the semester is crucial. Each week, compose a reflective and analytical post (approximately 200–250 words) in the discussion thread on the Brightspace course site, based on the week's assigned readings and media materials. Posts should offer analysis rather than summary alone — for example, consider what questions you have about the arguments raised in the readings and whether you find those arguments convincing. These posts are designed for you to process course materials and practice active reading skills.

WAC Pedagogy Note. Posts ask students to engage with the week's readings and media — moving from summary to analysis — and to formulate a discussion question for class. The pass/fail rubric foregrounds engagement with assigned materials, critical analysis, clarity, and academic integrity. These posts are low-stakes, high-frequency writing: they are where students develop the habit of reading sociologically and writing analytically about race and ethnicity, week after week.

Co-Leading Class Discussion (10%)

Writing-for-speaking.

Once per semester, each student co-leads class discussion of one selected reading from a chosen week, alongside two or three peers. Co-leaders prepare and present the main argument, key evidence, critical questions, the reading's connection to weekly themes, and at least two open-ended discussion questions for the class.

WAC Pedagogy Note. This is a verbal extension of the forum-post genre — students write notes, slides, and discussion questions, then translate that written preparation into oral facilitation. The activity treats writing-for-speaking as a distinct genre and gives students supervised practice in academic facilitation.

Midterm Reflective Essay (20%)

Formal, metacognitive writing.

Due: Sunday, March 22, 2026 (Week 8) at 10:00 PM.

A 300-word reflection essay graded pass/fail on five criteria: comprehension, self-reflection, engagement, word count, and timeliness.

This essay asks students to take stock of how their understanding of race and ethnicity has evolved over the first half of the semester. Rather than summarizing course content, students reflect on their own learning journey — considering whether and how their perspective on a specific racial or ethnic community has shifted, particularly as the course has explored how intersecting factors like social class, gender, sexuality, and ability shape the racial formation process. Students identify specific moments, readings, videos, or peer contributions that challenged their thinking or introduced new insights about racial dynamics in the United States, and look ahead to articulate questions or topics they want to continue exploring, along with concrete steps they will take to deepen their engagement with the course material.

WAC Pedagogy Note. The essay asks students to take stock of their evolving understanding of race and ethnicity at the semester's midpoint — naming specific readings, videos, or peer discussions that shifted their thinking, and articulating a plan for continued engagement. This is metacognitive writing: students analyze their own learning rather than course content, which strengthens their capacity to do so for the rest of the semester.

Final Project: Documentary Analysis Worksheet (20%)

Formal, analytical writing.

Due: Tuesday, May 26, 2026 (finals week) at 10:00 PM.

A structured 600–800-word analytical worksheet. The final project invites students to apply an analytical lens to a documentary of their choice from the course. Students complete a documentary analysis worksheet that connects key concepts covered in the weekly modules.

WAC Pedagogy Note. In the worksheet, students will complete three sections: situating the documentary within the assigned week's sociological framework, conducting close analysis of one pivotal scene with course readings as evidence, and synthesizing the analysis into a clear argument about racial equity. This assignment replaces the prior policy proposal option. The structured worksheet form scaffolds analytical writing for first- and second-year students who may not yet be comfortable with open-ended essay prompts. The redesign was informed by the Spring 2026 WAC program's emphasis on writing as a tool for moving students from summary toward argument.

Course Agenda

Module 1: Foundations of Race, Ethnicity, and Belonging

Week 1 — Course Orientation and Introduction

• Course Syllabus
• "Race and Racism in the US" — American Sociological Association (2023)
• Selected chapters from Making Hispanics by G. Cristina Mora (2014)
• Case Study: "Who You Calling 'Hispanic'?" — NPR (2021); a podcast debriefing activity
• Interactive Timeline: "What Census Calls Us" — Pew Research Center (2020)

Week 2 — Eugenics, Biopolitics, and the Making of Citizens

• "Eugenics and Scientific Racism" — National Human Genome Research Institute
• "Birth Control or Race Control? Sanger and the Negro Project" — The Margaret Sanger Papers Project (2001)
• The Eugenics Crusade — PBS (2018); a documentary analysis exercise
• Case Study: Controversies of Margaret Sanger
• "History of Planned Parenthood" (2022)
• "Opposition Claims About Margaret Sanger" (2018), cited by the U.S. Supreme Court

Week 3 — Migration, Borders, and the Politics of Exclusion

• Selected chapters from The Third Net by Park et al. (2024)
• Selected chapters from Surviving the ICE Age by Joanna Dreby (2025)
• "Know Your Rights Under the U.S. Constitution" — National Immigration Law Center (2024)
• Case Study: Selected chapters from Drawing Deportation by Silvia Rodriguez Vega (2023); a virtual gallery walk activity

Week 4 — Whiteness, Hegemony, and Histories from Below

• "Sociology of Whiteness" by Monica McDermott and Annie Ferguson (2022)
• "Cultural Identity and Diaspora" by Stuart Hall (1990)
• Introduction from Race Rebel by Robin Kelley (1996)
• Interview: "Speaking Freely — bell hooks" (2002)
• Case Study: Representation, Race, and Media (e.g., the "model minority" myth)

Module 2: Theories on Race and Ethnicity

Week 5 — Identity Politics, Intersectionality, and Critical Race Theory

• Introduction from Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory by Patricia Hill Collins (2019)
• Selected chapters from New Growth by Jasmine N. Cobb (2023)
• "The Urgency of Intersectionality" — Kimberlé Crenshaw TED Talk (2016)
• Case Study: "CRT Forward Tracking Project" — UCLA School of Law (2024); a policy analysis small group activity

Week 6 — Black Geographies and Racial Capitalism

• Selections from The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois (1903)
• "Notes of a Native Son" by James Baldwin (1955)
• "Gentrifying Blackness" — 1919 Radio podcast with Brandi Summers (2021)
• Case Study: "Black Space Manifesto" — Black Space Urbanist Collective

Week 7 — Policing, Prisons, and Racialized Surveillance

• Selected chapters from Building the Prison State by Heather Schoenfeld (2018)
• 13th — Netflix documentary (2020); a documentary analysis exercise
• "The United States of Incarceration" — The Marshall Project (2020)
• Case Study: "Visualizing Abolition: Making Art as a Form of Resistance" — Mural Arts Philadelphia
• "Removal of slavery exhibit at Independence National Historical Park" (2026)

Week 8 — Midterm

Midterm Reflective Essay due Sunday, March 22, 2026 at 10:00 PM.

Module 3: Systemic Racism

Week 9 — Colorblind Racism and the Politics of Silence

• "Color-Blind Racism in Pandemic Times" by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (2022)
• Selected chapter from Race for Profit by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (2021)
• "Color Blind or Color Brave?" — Mellody Hobson TED Talk (2014)
• Case Study: The Myth of Post-Racial America — "Woke-Washing Your Company Won't Cut It," Harvard Business Review (2020)

Week 10 — Embodiment, Performance, and Resistance

• Selected chapters from Redface by Bethany Hughes (2024)
• Selected chapters from Talking Back by Alejandra Dubcovsky (2023)
• He They — short film by Ronnie Braithwaite (2022)
• "How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance" by Vanessa Díaz and Petra R. Rivera-Rideau (2026)

Week 11 — Property, Laws, and Displacement

• "Introduction" from The Residential Is Racial by Adrienne Brown (2024)
• "Rural and Racialized" — The Law and Political Economy Project (2023)
• The Color of Law book talk by Richard Rothstein (2017)
• Case Studies: New York City's Stories of Gentrification and Resistance

Week 12 — Third Space, Hybridity, and Queer of Color Critique

• Selected chapters from The Location of Culture by Homi Bhabha (1994)
• Introduction from Brown and Gay in LA by Anthony Ocampo (2022)
• Podcast: "Book Talk: Hip Hop Heresies with Shanté Smalls" — Fantastic Blackness (2022)
• Case Study: "Queer Aesthetics in New York City," drawn from Hip Hop Heresies by Shanté Smalls (2022)

Module 4: Movements and Resistance

Week 13 — Machine Biases, Innovation, and Technology

• "Introduction" from Is Artificial Intelligence Racist by Arshin Adib-Moghaddam (2023)
• "Algorithms of Oppression" with Safiya Noble — Databite (2018)
• "Ruha Benjamin: Is Technology Our Savior — or Our Slayer?" (2023)
• Case Study: "Joy Buolamwini and the Gender Shades Project" (2020)
• "Machine Bias" — ProPublica report (2016)

Week 14 — Black Wall Street and Reparations

• "1921 Tulsa Race Massacre" — Museum of Tulsa History
• Digital Storytelling: "The Massacre of Black Wall Street" — The Atlantic (2019)
• Tulsa Race Massacre: 100 Years Later — PBS (2021)
• Case Study: "Reparations Toolkit" — The Movement for Black Lives

Week 15 — The 1619 Project and Abolitionist Futures

• Selected essays from The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story (2021)
• "The Transatlantic Slave Trade" — The Equal Justice Initiative (2022)
• "Conversation with Nikole Hannah-Jones on The 1619 Project" (2021)
• Case Study: "1776 Project Foundation Files Lawsuit Against Los Angeles Unified for Discrimination Against White Students" (2026)

Week 16 — Class Review and Final Project Workshop

• Final Project Q&A and Workshop
• End-of-Semester Survey

Finals Week

Final Project: Documentary Analysis Worksheet due Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at 10:00 PM.