How did Americans learn to visualize race? How did they resist others' efforts to depict them? Who were the first Americans? Was the United States a nation of many races, one race, or an idea that transcended race? How did artists address these issues in the century of Manifest Destiny and Civil War? These are the questions our seminar will address as we study paintings, drawings, illustrations, photographs, and even some buildings designed in the Nineteenth Century. We will work with archival sources on campus and visit the Detroit Institute of Arts; our readings will include primary documents as well as recent interpretations.

Estimated cost of materials: $1-50.

Required text: Barbara Groseclose, Nineteenth Century American Art (Oxford University Press), online readings.

Assignments: Students will keep a weekly journal of readings, write a brief "looking assignment," and complete two written assignments based on work with archival materials.