Spring 2027

The Long Black Freedom Struggle From the Civil War to the Present

The Long Black Freedom Struggle from the Civil War to the Present explores African Americans' efforts to achieve full citizenship and equity in the U.S. from post-slavery to the present.

offering recorded3–4 credits

Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Simon Balto3.9/5

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.56 GPA, 84.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.69 GPA, 84.4% A/AB (n=32 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

Identify important events, movements, and people, in African-American history since 1865
Evaluate and formulate arguments about how racial dynamics in the United States and strategies for achieving racial equality have changed over time
Determine what constitutes reliable and valid evidence when it comes to the history of inequality and social movements in African American history
Interpret, compare, and contrast primary sources
Think critically about how the narratives about the past are constructed and told
Explain how racial conflict, inequality, and movements against the same in the past have shaped American society in the present
Discuss their social position relative to history, as well as how other people’s pasts and experiences perhaps don’t align with their own
Identify ways to operate in a pluralistic, multicultural society – one in which their own experiences are not the assumed default

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗

average GPA
letter grades

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Course details

Credits3–4 credits

Typically offeredNot Applicable

Subjects

History

About this course

Explores the generations-long effort by African Americans and allied forces to achieve full citizenship in the U.S. and equitable footholds in American society. Forged in a history of enslavement and in many ways ongoing, this freedom struggle encompasses the history of abolitionism to the struggle for civil rights to the fight for Black Power to the effort to make Black Lives Matter. Introduces the history of African American people in the U.S. from the end of the era of slavery to the present day; explores how that history has been shaped directly by the actions and activism of Black people and their allies; considers how that history intersects with, shapes, and is shaped by other historical moments and movements; provides opportunities to think more actively about issues of belonging, citizenship, difference, and interpersonal and structural power; develops skills in historical analysis and argumentation.

Professors

Spring 2027

Simon Balto

Adjusted rating

RMP difficulty

captured reviews

About this rating

Raw average: 4.21/5 from 19 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.56 GPA, 84.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.69 GPA, 84.4% A/AB (n=32 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

SIMON BALTO is recorded teaching in Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

Section	Mode	Enrolled / capacity	Waitlist
LEC 001	Classroom Instruction	0 / 45	0

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.56 GPA, 84.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.69 GPA, 84.4% A/AB (n=32 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

Abolitionism, civil rights, Black Power, and Black Lives Matter
African American history from the end of slavery to the present
Belonging, citizenship, difference, and structural power

Skills

Historical analysis and argumentation
Interpreting, comparing, and contrasting primary sources
Evaluating reliable and valid evidence in African American history

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

HISTORY 155 · Spring 2027

The Long Black Freedom Struggle from the Civil War to the Present

Recorded 2026-10-14

Raw records

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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:448:026894",
    "course_id": "HISTORY 155",
    "course_uid": "course_e3b22675684ace76b940aaa3",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "026894",
    "source_subject_id": "448",
    "title": "The Long Black Freedom Struggle from the Civil War to the Present",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  }
]

Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Model outputs & technical records

Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B

LLM outputs across runs

Download part 1

Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1

Model & dataset provenance

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  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "6d99481c33acdc00b0ea5612689b2b0c9393440ed695c05855ea5bf1cad191ad",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}

The Long Black Freedom Struggle From the Civil War to the Present

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

Grade history

Prerequisites

Professors

Simon Balto

Calendar & sections

Student experience

the class

difficulty & workload

Topics

Skills

Grades

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

Grades over time

Where this course fits relative to

Sources & history

Catalog & offerings

Student reviews

Grade history

The Long Black Freedom Struggle From the Civil War to the Present

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

Grade history

Prerequisites

Professors

Simon Balto

Calendar & sections

Student experience

the class

difficulty & workload

Topics

Skills

Grades

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

Grades over time

Where this course fits relative to UW–Madison

Sources & history

Catalog & offerings

Student reviews

Grade history

Where this course fits relative to