This course traces the development of identity politics in America. Identity politics primarily grows out of the black nationalist, Black Power, and women’s liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s. While it has not fully conquered the public’s mind, the core assumptions of identity politics now seem to reign almost unchallenged among American elites, all of whom worship at the altar of diversity. Is the triumph of identity politics good for American democracy? Or does identity politics pose a grave threat to republican self-government by corroding patriotic ties and demanding special treatment rather than equality under the law?