This course offers a thematic introduction to the study of Black Conservatism in the United States, from the 19th century to the present. It considers the evolution of conservative political thought among African-Americans as both a separate intellectual tradition and in relation to mainstream American conservatism. Among the questions posed are: To what degree was American conservatism structured by race? How did African-Americans respond to patterns of discrimination and exclusion while forging their own versions of center-to-right ideologies? And, how did the “desegregation” of mainstream conservatism in the civil rights era and the coming of a “New Right” in the late 1960’s and 1970s impact Black conservative thinkers and activists? Together we will survey some of the key figures associated with Black Conservatism, including Booker T. Washington, considered by many to be the “father” of Black Conservatism; the Reverend J. H. Jackson (president of the National Baptist Convention from 1953 to 1982); Roy Innis and other members of the Congress of Racial Equality; Mildred Jefferson, the first African-American woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School and a major leader in the early pro-life/anti-abortion movement; and others. Required coursework includes regular response papers, a midterm essay, and the completion of a final project that uses political biography to create a historical narrative that explores the meaning(s) of Black Conservatism.