IMPORTANT NOTE

The requirements below apply to those students with a 2023-2024 catalog year. Students are required by college policy to follow the major (and minor) requirements found in the catalog in effect at the time they declared their first major. To find your catalog year, please visit your Grades and Academic Records found in myOxy and access the catalog that matches your catalog year.

Although students are encouraged to take BLST 101 before enrolling in higher-level BLST courses, first-year students are welcome to enroll in any 100- or 200-level BLST course. As an interdisciplinary field, there is no structured path for completion of the Black Studies major or minor. After taking BLST 101, students must complete courses in each of the three clusters that comprise the major/minor: Expressive Forms, Historical Perspectives, and Politics and Theory.

Placement Information

No placement exams are specifically required for the Black Studies major.

Sample 4-Year Plan


Fall

Spring

Year 1

  • Fall FYS course

  • Foreign Language

  • Core Requirement

  • General Elective (4 units)

  • Spring FYS course

  • BLST 101 (CPUD)

  • Core Requirement

  • General Elective (4 units)

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

  • Additional Elective

  • General Elective (4 units)

  • General Elective (4 units)

  • General Elective (4 units)

Transfer Credit Policies

The Black Studies Program accepts online courses for general elective credit, but will not accept online courses for major or minor credit. No more than two courses taken outside the college (including but not limited to study abroad) may count toward the major. These may only fulfill the elective requirement. No more than one course taken outside the college (including but not limited to study abroad) may count toward the minor. Transfer students should consult with their adviser and the department chair on how work completed prior to matriculating at Occidental may be counted toward the major or minor. Students should reference the Transfer Credit section for more details.

Contact Black Studies
Johnson Hall 113