Black Queer Studies is an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach to LGBTQ+ Studies and Black Studies. In this course, we will center Blackness to meditate upon the overlapping and interwoven categories of race, gender, and sexuality with the goal of decoupling whiteness from LGBTQ+ studies and decoupling heterosexuality from Black studies. We will look at texts from the humanities and social sciences as well literature and film in order to trace topical trajectories of Black queer thought. We will explore the meaning of queerness in relation to blackness, touchupon moments in black queer history, analyze questions of black queer representation and erasure, and press upon hot button topics such as queer identity and the black church, African and global queer and trans identities, Blackness and homophobia, white LGBTQ+ racism, and Black queer pleasure. Throughout we will consider how Black queer liberation can andhas provided tools and a guide for our collective liberation.