Professor Masuoka is amazing. Her lectures were very engaging. For this class, our grade was made up of our midterm, final, and final paper. The midterm and final were 8 ID terms, and we could choose 6 to do. The questions were just to define the term, give an example, and state the significance using the readings and lectures. At first, on the midterm, I didn't do the best and got a low B. However, on the final, I was able to get an A, and on the final paper too, so I was able to finish the course with an A. The final paper (6-8 pages) was based on one of the main topics of the course (you get to pick), and you basically had to interview two people, use these interviews, and relate them to the topic. It was not bad at all. Also, my TA Erica Riray was the best. She was so sweet and understanding. She made the course that much better. This was one of the best classes I have taken in the poli sci department. I would retake it again in a heartbeat.

Professor Masuoka is certainly knowledgeable and passionate about racial politics. The biggest issue with the class is the lack of rubric and structure. The professor and TA didn't exactly specify what they were looking for in terms of the midterm so a lot of people got lower grades, iirc the average was around a low 80%. However they definitely gave us more support for the final paper and the final exam, I went to office hours and the TAs were really helpful. I think the final paper and exam averages were around a 90-95%, so that helped bring up the overall grade for most everyone after the low midterm grades.

This class definitely had its pros and cons

Pros:
Professor Masuoka is an experiences lecturer and her subject matter was very informative, useful, interesting, and powerful at times. She provided all her students with the readings which were of no cost, and she also provided students with lots of support whenever they needed academic guidance with the course material.

Cons:
Professor Masuoka does make attendance mandatory, and missing just one class will have you behind on the lecture topics needed for the in person, on paper, closed note exams. Missing discussion sections were also penalized after one absence. The worst part about the class is the lack of rubric and structure that the course needs, and we never really knew how we were being graded. Her TA Tricia was extremely defensive and passive aggressive in her discussion sections, making me and my fellow peers afraid of even being able to talk to her because the way she taught was so arrogant and rude. She was also so unhelpful with any concerns we had regarding the exam and final paper.