URB 120 — Discover Role Am Civ Life NYC
The American national narrative proclaims democracy and freedom as universalrights—yet throughout history, these ideals have not been equally accessible to all.Today, as questions of birthright citizenship, democratic participation, human rights,and justice dominate public discourse, we find ourselves, again, at a crossroads. Ourcountry continues to decide who counts as an American and to whom the full promisesof democracy should be extended. In this course, we will examine the evolving idealsof American civic life through the lens of New York City—a metropolis shaped bywaves of migration, activism, exclusion, and belonging. We will explore how thepromise of equality has been both extended and denied to various communities, andhow civic knowledge can empower us to build a more inclusive, just, and harmonioussociety. We will use fundamental questions to help us understand our experiences androle in civic life. How has our nation, founded on the promise of equality, evolved andchanged with time to provide greater access to larger groups of people and to get closer to the promises of the Declaration? How can civic knowledge help create a nation ofgreater belonging, justice, and inclusion? Together, we will navigate the tensions andpossibilities of civic life as we seek to understand our place in New York City and in thenation we call home.