There is nothing spectacular about Professor Allen's lectures or course in general. He missed at least 4 of our lectures and we had to watch movies when he was absent. He also frequently cancels his office hours without notice. The only good thing about this class was Rob the TA.

Professor Allen made no impression on me whatsover until I attempted to follow-up with my grade. Going into the final only two of our 7 total assingments had been graded. After the quater he issued only our final grade. When I attempted to contact him about my grade break down he ignored me for 9 weeks. I finally had to contact the head of the sociology department to get Professor Allen to respond to me at all. He is completely unconcerned with students and will completely ignore you if he does not feel like addressing even the most simple of your concerns.
Don't take this Professor!

Prof. Allen knows his stuff well but in order to do well in the class you have to at least the theme of the 10 books assigned and the extra credit offered. DO IT ALL! We learn the main themes of the books through his lectures and through actually reading them. Also during lecture, he keeps everyone awake because either he has an interesting film for us to see or he might randomly call on you to answer a question. Many have been fortunate not to be picked on to answer a question though.
I learned a whole lot about the African American community and how they affect the world we live in. Also the TA, Rob, clarified many questions we had that the teacher just couldn't do. The professor and TA are very intellectual guys that believes the students can read any type of book...we had a few grad books in are readings but made it through. They only thing I would say is wait until your soph. year to take this if you are not a soc. major or anything related to the field.