Cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, asthma... Not only are Black Americans at higher risk for developing these life-threatening conditions, but they are also at higher risk of dying from them. In fact, Black race, unlike other racial identities, has been so consistently associated with poor health outcomes that "Black" is considered a risk factor--a characteristic that increases the likelihood of developing a disease--for many diseases. Can one's race alone determine their health trajectory? If race is socially constructed, how can race be a risk factor for health outcomes? This class will take up the tensions, contradictions, and seemingly illogical public health practices related to health outcomes for Black Americans and the impact of these practices on the broader community. Students will make sense of our present by examining our past--race science, eugenics, medical apartheid--and learn to disrupt the social reproduction of inequities to create a healthier society for the future.