Perspectives on anti-racism in the HKS curriculum
Excerpt from the HBS MBA Voices Blog
In fall 2020, the Harvard Kennedy School incorporated a
new module on Race and Racism in the Making of the United States as a
Global Super power into the MPP core curriculum. The module was created in
response to calls by the student-led HKS Equity Coalition for a course on the
history of race and inequity. Led by Professors Khalil Gibran Muhammad and
Sandra Susan Smith, the course was designed to ensure a consistent
understanding of the race and racism not as tangential to U.S. history, but “at
the heart of the American project.”
Two HBS/HKS joint degree students, Morgan Brewton-Johnson
and Austin Boral, shared their thoughts on the course for the HBS blog, MBA
Voices.
Why was the course so
important?
Morgan: The course was essential
because racism and structural inequality have been essential to the
construction of policy and power in the U.S., and it would be impossible to
learn policy at Harvard without a comprehensive understanding of that reality.
How effective was the course?
Austin: In providing a foundation
for all first-year MPPs, the course ensured that conversations about race and
racism could continue throughout the semester on common ground.