This site started as the brainchild of 15 people engaged in a Wake Forest University sociology course called Race and Ethnic Relations. Some of the primary organizing themes in our journey this semester include the shifting construction of race in US history, theoretical explanations for persistent racial inequality, and the promises and limitations in our movement toward racial equity.
We created this website as a way not only to acknowledge the prevalence of racial injustice in the United States, but to explore how race and racial inequality are recreated and perpetuated at our own institution, Wake Forest University. We did this by analyzing data and statistics, conducting interviews, and examining the history of Wake Forest. While the Office of Diversity & Inclusion works to relieve some racial tensions on campus, this website seeks to highlight how persistent racial inequalities shape the academic and social experiences of Wake Forest students and the overall university narrative.
Each page of the site draws from our analyses and from academic research to show the constructed nature of race and to unpack white supremacy and racial inequality at Wake Forest University. Together, these pages reveal the myriad ways race matters at Wake Forest. Moreover, they show Wake Forest as a microcosm of the racial oppression that happens beyond the gates of this institution.
Suggested Uses
The content on this website is designed to serve as an educational tool for the general public and for prospective and current students, faculty, and staff to learn and teach about race and racial inequality at Wake Forest. Each page is accompanied by a student-created tool-kit. The tool-kits contain learning objectives for each page and provide additional resources for readers, students, and instructors wishing to learn more or to use our created content to further discussion about race and racial inequality.
