If you are trying to get a history GE and this class doesn't genuinely interest you, don't take this class. The course material for this class in itself was really fascinating. However, the professor made it extremely confusing. Most people in the class had never learned anything about the history of Africa, yet she operated as though we had a baseline knowledge that most people did not. The structure of her lectures weren't very coherent. She would jump across time periods and countries, making it difficult for us to understand the bigger picture historical contextualization of the continent. This class is also a lot of work. She assigns many busy work assignments for us to complete and there are quizzes every week. The midterm and final are essay based questions, but focus more on a book we read in class than content surrounding the history of Africa. The professor was in general pretty annoying, assigning us 2 hour long documentaries/assignments late, not allowing phones, and making participation mandatory (the grading for participation was really strict- I went to every single lecture and participated in every section and got a B for participation).

To preface I am a history major. In class she is strict about the use of phones in class and she will call you out if you are not engaged. Weekly in-class quizzes that require lockdown browser and password so attendance is essential. The class was very interesting to me. The professor was also very lenient about assignments and attendance due to the encampment and campus closure. Lectures consisted of slides with mostly excerpts and or pictures and she would describe them and connected them to the main topic of the lesson, so most of the info you get will be directly from her speaking. I would take this class again.