This was the perfect class all-around. You have to submit a discussion post every week and the grading is very fair with that. The exams follow really closely with the class materials. We were given about a week to do them so you could split them up which made it stress-free. Lectures are pretty short and are very well-done. The class teaches you very important lessons about African American history and the challenges they face in society today. My TA, Mauri, was very fair with grading and had a lot of passion for the subject. So, I highly recommend her.

This is a great class that teaches valuable material! The grading consists of a midterm, final, discussion posts, and a one page mini essay. The mini essay is great as the prof gives you 3 opportunities throughout the quarter to submit the mini essay, so if you have a lighter week 3 you can get the assignment out of the way early, or you can wait til week 9 to submit. While tedious, the readings are interesting and informative. There are 2 discussion posts you have to answer every week with a brief 4-5 sentence response. Then you must respond to 2 discussion posts in 3-4 sentences, so not a huge time investment. The midterm and the final are short answer and essay based, but if you did the discussion posts you’ll be set. The lectures are filmed and edited by the UCLA film dept, so lectures seem more like mini documentaries. And they are SHORT. Most were under 30 minutes. If you are good at managing time then this asynchronous class is for you. Sucks to not have more communication with the prof and TA tho. Wish it hadn’t taken til week 10 to get my midterm back from week 5

I adored this class. Prof Pierre is an interesting lecturer and the actual material taught in the class I found super intriguing. There is a fair amount of reading but you don't really have to read all of it. Is is helpful however to read the two required books, which were overall both good reads. I would absolutely recommend this class as an easy GE, as well as if you are interested in this area of study.

I took this class asynchronously even the discussion were asynch. It was a great class though. The prerecorded lectures were precise and informative. Quite a bit of writing for the class and discussion section. But def doable.

I learned so much more than I was expecting to about the history of the United States through this class, and believe that this class should be required for every college student! The professor Dr. Pierre was incredibly kind as well, considering the hardships a lot of students have faced during the pandemic. The workload is manageable and the class was asynchronous! Definitely would recommend this as a GE to fulfill one of your requirements!

I never had the chance to interact with Dr. Pierre personally as all lectures were prerecorded BUT this class was AMAZING. It was very easy yet also very engaging. There was a variety of lecturers who all offered unique and personal perspectives on a variety of topics. The material was all super interesting and very eye-opening as well. I saw another review that suggested this class be required for all students and if that was ever possible I would agree 100%.
Overall: easy, interesting, and very manageable workload. Best possible GE you could take IMO.

This class is an easy GE, but it is a little tedious in regards to the readings/ lectures we had every week. It was interesting in the beginning, but I felt so disconnected halfway through the quarter because it felt as if I was watching/ reading the material simply to get it done and I did not gain much from it. This class is essentially self-paced, so I eventually stopped reading the material and only really watched the lectures. I only read the material when required for the discussion forums that we had + midterms/ finals.

Your grade is made up of weekly discussion forums, one paper, midterms, and finals. Your midterms and finals are simply short answer + long answer questions to the material that you should have read/ watched within the previous weeks. So pretty easy!

The only complaint I have about this class is that it is literally impossible to reach the TAs + professor of this class. I am 99% sure that they read our emails but choose not to reply to them which is honestly so unprofessional of them. So good luck with that! Your best bet in getting your questions answered is asking your peers in the class. Be sure to join the GroupMe or create one if there isn’t one already!

This class has been one of the most interesting classes I've taken at UCLA. This was my first Black Studies class and just when you think you are educated on topics like racism and Black History, this class shows how we don't really know much about African American studies, but the surface of it. For this class, you do have to read articles, but I didn't mind reading them because they were so intriguing. My TA was awesome as well and you can tell that everyone is so passionate on this topic and I have never seen a more passionate professor than Pierre and the other professors that helped her teach this topic. I would take this class again, it isn't much work. You watch the lectures, you have two discussion posts each week and one discussion post in the week of your midterm and final. If you watch the lectures and do the reading and take detailed notes, you are good to go for the midterm and final. Got a perfect score on my discussion post, midterm, and final!

This class is pretty interesting and informative and you get to learn a lot about black studies. If you take it during summer there are three lectures per week with readings accompanied and sometimes there are also screenings to watch, which can be a lot of work so it's very important to stay on track. The grading consists of 30% discussion board questions, 35% midterm and 35% final. Midterm and final are short answer and long essay questions, both open book. The lectures are done by multiple professors so it's really nice to get different perspectives. I definitely recommend this class for everyone!

This class was online and super easy GE. Just had weekly discussion posts and then an open note midterm and final that was based on the lectures that were posted. Also had to write an essay for a novel, but not a ton of work and interesting information