This course will introduce students to an array of thinkers who scrutinize the history of rhetoric and communication from the standpoints of critical race studies. Over the last decade, scholars working in the field of rhetorical studies have dedicated a great deal of attention to the importance of race to critical interrogations of communication. Black and Indigenous scholars, in particular, have been at the forefront of thinking about communication through the lens of race. From persuasive oratory to recent calls for a rhetoric of sovereignty, the rhetoric of race takes up the intersections of communication, justice, and history. This course provides students with an opportunity to reflect on traditional rhetorical concerns about persuasion and influence in relation to colonialism, systemic racial prejudice, and conceptions of social justice.