American Cultures is the one campus requirement that all undergraduate students at Cal need to take and pass in order to graduate. The requirement offers an exciting intellectual environment centered on the study of race, ethnicity and culture in the United States. AC courses offer students opportunities to be part of research-led, highly accomplished teaching environments, grappling with the complexity of American cultures and society.
Students may satisfy the requirement by passing, with a grade not lower than C- or P, an American Cultures course.
| AFRICAM 142AC | Race and American Film | |
| AFRICAM 156AC | Poetry for the People: Introduction to the Art of Poetry | |
| AFRICAM 158A | Poetry for the People: The Writing and Teaching of Poetry | |
| AFRICAM 158B | Poetry for the People: Practicum | |
| AFRICAM 173AC | Gandhi and the Civil Rights Movement in America | |
| AFRICAM 190AC | Advanced Seminar in African Diaspora Studies | |
| AFRICAM 27AC | Lives of Struggle: Minorities in a Majority Culture | |
| AFRICAM 28AC | Globalization and Minority American Communities | |
| AMERSTD 101AC | Examining U.S. Cultures in Time | |
| AMERSTD 10AC | Introduction to American Studies | |
| AMERSTD 110AC | Special Topics in American Studies--American Cultures | |
| AMERSTD 138AC | From Civil Rights Era to the New Gilded Age: Struggles for Racial Equality and Economic Equity from 'Double Victory' to 'Occupy' | |
| AMERSTD 139AC | Civil Rights and Social Movements in U.S. History | |
| AMERSTD 170AC | Race and Representation in US Culture | |
| AMERSTD 178AC | Race and Ethnicity in American Culture: Film, Music, and Advertising | |
| AMERSTD 179AC | Representing Race and Ethnicity in American Culture | |
| AMERSTD C174 | Visual Autobiography | |
| ANTHRO 10AC | The California Frontier | |
| ANTHRO 121AC | American Material Culture | |
| ANTHRO 124AC | Hawaiian Ethnohistory | |
| ANTHRO 124B | Hawaiian Ethnohistory | |
| ANTHRO 160AC | Forms of Folklore | |
| ANTHRO 172AC | Special Topics in American Cultures | |
| ANTHRO 174AC | California Historical Anthropology | |
| ANTHRO 2AC | Introduction to Archaeology | |
| ANTHRO 3AC | Introduction to Social/Cultural Anthropology (American Cultures) | |
| ARCH 110AC | The Social and Cultural Processes in Architecture & Urban Design | |
| ARCH 180AC | Prison | |
| ART 23AC | Foundations of American Cyber-Culture | |
| ART W23AC | Data Arts | |
| ASAMST 128AC | Muslims in America | |
| ASAMST 132AC | Islamophobia and Constructing Otherness | |
| ASAMST 143AC | Asian American Health | |
| ASAMST 145AC | Politics, Public Policy, and Asian American Communities | |
| ASAMST 151AC | Asian American Women: Theory and Experience | |
| ASAMST 190AC | Seminar on Advanced Topics in Asian American Studies | |
| ASAMST 20AC | Asian American Communities and Race Relations | |
| CHICANO 180AC | Topics in Chicano Studies | |
| COLWRIT 150AC | Researching Water in the West: Its Presence, Its Absence, and Its Consequences for the Peoples of California | |
| COLWRIT 192AC | Advanced Composition: Community-Based Ethics | |
| COLWRIT 25AC | Reading in and about U.S. Education Institutions | |
| COLWRIT 50AC | Researching Water in the West: Its Presence, Its Absence, and Its Consequences for the Peoples of California | |
| COM LIT 60AC | Topics in the Literature of American Cultures | |
| COM LIT N60AC | Topics in the Literature of American Cultures | |
| CY PLAN 118AC | The Urban Community | |
| DEMOG 145AC | The American Immigrant Experience | |
| DUTCH 171AC | From New Amsterdam to New York: Race, Culture, and Identity in New Netherland | |
| EDUC 131AC | Classroom Interactions in Science and Mathematics: A Focus on Equity and Urban Schools | |
| EDUC 140AC | The Art of Making Meaning: Educational Perspectives on Literacy and Learning in a Global World | |
| EDUC 182AC | The Politics of Educational Inequality | |
| EDUC 182AC | The Politics of Educational Inequality | |
| EDUC 186AC | The Southern Border | |
| EDUC 190AC | Critical Studies in Education | |
| EDUC 30AC | Race and Ethnicity inside Schools | |
| EDUC 40AC | Experiencing Education: Diversity and (In)Equality in and Beyond Schools | |
| EDUC 52AC | Understanding Language in Society | |
| EDUC 75AC | American Sports, Culture, and Education | |
| EDUC N140 | Literacy: Individual and Societal Development | |
| EDUC N40AC | Experiencing Education: Race and Ethnicity Inside Schools | |
| EDUC W140A | The Art of Making Meaning: Educational Perspectives on Literacy and Learning in a Global World | |
| ENGIN 157AC | Engineering, The Environment, and Society | |
| ENGLISH 135AC | Literature of American Cultures | |
| ENGLISH 165AC | Special Topics in American Cultures | |
| ENGLISH 166AC | Special Topics in American Cultures | |
| ENGLISH 31AC | Literature of American Cultures | |
| ENGLISH C143V | Visual Autobiography | |
| ENGLISH N135 | Literature of American Cultures | |
| ENGLISH S135 | Literature of American Cultures | |
| ENVECON 140AC | Economics of Race, Agriculture, and the Environment | |
| ESPM 155AC | Sociology and Political Ecology of Agro-Food Systems | |
| ESPM 160AC | American Environmental and Cultural History | |
| ESPM 163AC | Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Equity, and the Environment | |
| ESPM 50AC | Introduction to Culture and Natural Resource Management | |
| ETH STD 10AC | A History of Race and Ethnicity in Western North America, 1598-Present | |
| ETH STD 11AC | Theories and Concepts in Comparative Ethnic Studies An Introduction | |
| ETH STD 122AC | Ethnicity and Race in Contemporary American Films | |
| ETH STD 144AC | Racism and the U.S. Law: Historical Treatment of Peoples of Color | |
| ETH STD 147AC | Women of Color in the United States | |
| ETH STD 159AC | The Southern Border | |
| ETH STD 173AC | Indigenous Peoples in Global Inequality | |
| ETH STD 181AC | Prison | |
| ETH STD 182AC | Race, Rights, and Citizenship | |
| ETH STD 190AC | Advanced Seminar in Ethnic Studies | |
| ETH STD 20AC | Introduction to Ethnic Studies | |
| ETH STD 21AC | A Comparative Survey of Racial and Ethnic Groups in the U.S | |
| ETH STD 41AC | A Comparative Survey of Protest Movements Since the 60's | |
| ETH STD C73AC | Indigenous Peoples in Global Inequality | |
| ETH STD N130 | Racial Inequality in America: A Comparative Historical Analysis | |
| ETH STD N144 | Racism and the U.S. Law | |
| ETH STD N41AC | A Comparative Survey of Protest Movements Since the 60's | |
| FRENCH 142AC | The Cultures of Franco-America | |
| FRENCH 42AC | The Cultures of Franco-America | |
| GEOG 159AC | The Southern Border | |
| GEOG 50AC | California | |
| GEOG 70AC | The Urban Experience | |
| GEOG N50AC | California | |
| GPP 150AC | Special Topics in Global Poverty and Practice (American Cultures) | |
| GWS 100AC | Women in American Culture | |
| GWS 116AC | Queer Theories: Activist Practices | |
| GWS 130AC | Gender, Race, Nation, and Health | |
| GWS 132AC | Gender, Race, and Law | |
| GWS 133AC | Women, Men, and Other Animals: Human Animality in American Cultures | |
| GWS 50AC | Gender in American Culture | |
| HISTART 187AC | Race and Representation in the Twentieth Century in the United States | |
| HISTART 192AC | Undergraduate Seminar: Folk Art in America | |
| HISTART 87AC | Visual Cultures of California | |
| HISTORY 100AC | Special Topics in the History of the United States | |
| HISTORY 120AC | American Environmental and Cultural History | |
| HISTORY 122AC | Antebellum America: The Advent of Mass Society | |
| HISTORY 124A | The Recent United States: The United States from the Late 19th Century to the Eve of World War II | |
| HISTORY 124B | The Recent United States: The United States from World War II | |
| HISTORY 126A | The American West since 1850 | |
| HISTORY 126B | The American West since 1850 | |
| HISTORY 127AC | California | |
| HISTORY 131B | Social History of the United States: Creating Modern American Society: From the End of the Civil War to the Global Age | |
| HISTORY 134A | The Age of the City: The Age of the City, 1825-1933 | |
| HISTORY 136A | The History of Women in the United States before 1900 | |
| HISTORY 136AC | Gender Matters in 20th Century America | |
| HISTORY 136B | Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century US History | |
| HISTORY 136C | Defiant Women: Gender, Power and Violence in American History | |
| HISTORY 137AC | The Repeopling of America | |
| HISTORY 7A | Introduction to the History of the United States: The United States from Settlement to Civil War | |
| HISTORY 7B | Introduction to the History of the United States: The United States from Civil War to Present | |
| HISTORY C139B | The American Immigrant Experience | |
| HISTORY C139C | Civil Rights and Social Movements in U.S. History | |
| HISTORY C139D | From Civil Rights Era to the New Gilded Age: Struggles for Racial Equality and Economic Equity from 'Double Victory' to 'Occupy' | |
| HISTORY N124A | The United States from the Late 19th Century to the Eve of the World War II | |
| HISTORY N124B | The United States from World War II to the Vietnam Era | |
| HISTORY N131B | Social History of the United States: 1914-Present | |
| IAS 157AC | Engineering, The Environment, and Society | |
| IAS 158AC | Social Movements, Urban Histories, and the Politics of Memory | |
| INTEGBI 35AC | Human Biological Variation | |
| JOURN 102AC | The Wire: When Journalism Meets Drama | |
| L & S 180AC | Archaeology of Sex and Gender | |
| LD ARCH 138AC | The Metropolitan Landscape | |
| LD ARCH 141AC | The American Landscape: Multicultural Difference and Diversity | |
| LEGALST 104AC | Youth Justice and Culture | |
| LEGALST 132AC | Immigration and Citizenship | |
| LEGALST 152AC | Human Rights & Technology | |
| LEGALST 162AC | Restorative Justice | |
| LEGALST 185AC | Prison | |
| LGBT 20AC | Alternative Sexual Identities and Communities in Contemporary American Society | |
| LINGUIS 155AC | Language in the United States: a Capsule History | |
| LINGUIS S55 | The American Languages | |
| LINGUIS S55X | The American Languages | |
| MEC ENG 191AC | Cases and Conflicts in Engineering Ethics | |
| MUSIC 137AC | Music of the Civil Rights Era | |
| MUSIC 139AC | Topics in Musics of the World: Hip Hop in Urban America | |
| MUSIC 26AC | Music in American Culture | |
| MUSIC N26AC | Music in American Cultures | |
| NATAMST 120AC | Photography and the American Indian: Manifest Destiny, American Frontier, and Images of American Indians | |
| NATAMST 173AC | Indigenous Peoples in Global Inequality | |
| NATAMST 178AC | Africans in Indian Country | |
| NATAMST C73AC | Indigenous Peoples in Global Inequality | |
| NUSCTX 104AC | Human Food Practices AC | |
| NWMEDIA 150AC | New Media and American Cultures | |
| PACS 125AC | War, Culture, and Society | |
| PACS 128AC | Human Rights and American Cultures | |
| PACS 148AC | Social Movements, Urban Histories, and the Politics of Memory | |
| PACS 148AC | Social Movements, Urban Histories, and the Politics of Memory | |
| PACS 150AC | Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice | |
| PB HLTH 150E | Introduction to Community Health and Human Development | |
| PHILOS 117AC | The Philosophy of Race, Ethnicity, and Citizenship | |
| POL SCI 111AC | The Politics of Displacement | |
| POL SCI 118AC | Three American Cultures | |
| POL SCI 167AC | Racial and Ethnic Politics in the New American Century | |
| POL SCI 182AC | The Politics of Educational Inequality | |
| POL SCI 182AC | The Politics of Educational Inequality | |
| POL SCI 182AC | The Politics of Educational Inequality | |
| POL SCI 182AC | The Politics of Educational Inequality | |
| POL SCI 18AC | Race, Culture, and Politics in the Golden State | |
| PSYCH 166AC | Cultural Psychology | |
| PSYCH 167AC | Stigma and Prejudice | |
| PSYCH 192AC | Child Development in Different Cultures | |
| PUB POL 117AC | Race, Ethnicity, and Public Policy | |
| PUB POL 190AC | Combining Research and Practice: Inequality, Imprisonment, and Higher Education in the Community | |
| RELIGST 173AC | Gandhi and the Civil Rights Movement in America | |
| RHETOR 129AC | Autobiography and American Individualism | |
| RHETOR 152AC | Race and Order in the New Republic | |
| SOC WEL 150AC | Race, Ethnic Relations, and Social Welfare in the United States | |
| SOCIOL 111AC | Sociology of the Family | |
| SOCIOL 113AC | Sociology of Education | |
| SOCIOL 130AC | Social Inequalities: American Cultures | |
| SOCIOL 131AC | Race and Ethnic Relations: U.S. American Cultures | |
| SOCIOL 137AC | Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Equity, and the Environment | |
| SOCIOL 145AC | Social Change: American Cultures | |
| SOCIOL 146AC | Contemporary Immigration in Global Perspective | |
| SOCIOL 190AC | Seminar and Research in Sociology: American Cultures | |
| SOCIOL 3AC | Principles of Sociology: American Cultures | |
| THEATER 118AC | Performance, Television, and Social Media | |
| THEATER 25AC | The Drama of American Cultures: An Introduction to Our Theater | |
| THEATER 52AC | Dance in American Cultures | |
| UGBA 156AC | Diversity in the Workplace | |
| UGBA 192AC | Social Movements and Social Media | |
| UGIS C135 | Visual Autobiography | |
| VIS STD C185A | Visual Autobiography |