These lines from the poem" There It Is," by Jayne Cortez, serve as the prelude and point of entry to the syllabus for my WS330 class, Women of Color in the US, a regular course offering in the Women's Studies Department at Portland State University. By introducing students in this class first and foremost to ideas about organizing, coalition-building, and resistance, I hope to convey to them the empowering aspects of studying women of color in the United States, as well as the long his-tories of struggle spearheaded by women of color. My objectives for students in this class are threefold: I expect them to gain some understanding of the histories, writings, and experiences of women of color. I hope that women of color students in the class will develop greater awareness of the obstacles surrounding them, in order to create coalitions with other students in the class and obtain knowledge of practical strategies to confront and resist all forms of oppression. And I hope that all students in the class will develop the skills and strategies associated with becoming good allies to people of color, and to consciously and actively challenge and resist racism and other forms of oppression in their own lives and communities.

Each time I have taught Women of Color in the US and other classes focused on the experiences and writings of particular groups of women of color, however, I have found myself confronted by vari-ous forms of resistance or deflection from students within the class.