HIST 251 African American History II
Spring 2005
MWF 2-2:50
207 Chapman
Professor Martin Summers
Phone: 346-6159
E-mail:
Office hours: M 3:30-4:30 (in 323 McKenzie), W 10-12 (in 201 McKenzie) and by appt.
GTFs:
Elizabeth MedfordJurgen Ruckarble
340L McKenzie340R McKenzie
346-4818346-3939
Course Description:
This course surveys African American experiences from emancipation from slavery in the mid-nineteenth century to the present. In addition to studying the staples of African American history, such as race relations in the southern U.S. and the Civil Rights movement, we will examine other important elements of black historical experiences, including migration and urbanization, black political thought and cultural production, and gender roles and class formation within the African American community. Drawing on both primary sources Ð that is, documents produced by the actual historical figures we are studying Ð and secondary sources, this class seeks to increase studentsÕ awareness of, and appreciation for, the complexity of the history of people of African descent in the United States.
Course Readings:
The following books are available at the University Bookstore. There is a course reader available for purchase at the Universityandon reserve at Knight Library. Articles in the reader are required reading and are indicated in the syllabus by (R).
Pauli Murray,Proud Shoes: The Story of an American Family. Boston: Beacon Press, 1999.
Alfred Brophy,Reconstructing the Dreamland: The Tulsa Riot of 1921: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
John DÕEmilio,Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin. New York: Free Press, 2003.
Course Requirements:
Students are required to attend class regularly and participate in discussion of the course readings. To assess whether students are doing the reading assignments, there will be five unannounced quizzes over the course of the term. Students are subject to being quizzed on any of the reading material (including readings that are being discussed in lecture) but the quizzes will be given during discussion sections. Attendance, discussion, and quizzes will constitute the overall class participation grade. Students with more thantwounexcused absences in discussion section will have their final grade lowered by a letter grade. Students withfour or moreunexcused absences in discussion section will fail the course. For logistical purposes, students are asked to direct all communications regarding absences and other sundry matters to the GTFs of their respective discussion sections.
There will be two short papers and a cumulative final exam. The exam will be based primarily on material covered in lecture. As I make it a policy not to share my lecture notes with students, I urge you to attend lecture regularly. The short papers (3-5 typed, 12 point, double-spaced pages) will be onProud ShoesandReconstructing the Dreamland. I will provide paper topics several weeks before the papers are due.Late papers will be lowered one letter grade for every day that they are beyond the deadline unless there is a documented medical reason that warrants an extension. Both the GTFs and I reserve the right to refuse to grade papers that are handed in well past the deadline.
Course Evaluation:
Quizzes and class participation (25%)
Papers (25% each, for a total of 50%)
Final Exam (25%)
NOTE: Outside of extraordinary (and I do mean extraordinary) circumstances, I do not believe in allowing students to do extra credit work. Instead, students should devote the time they would spend doing extra credit work on the regular assignments. Also, ÒincompletesÓ will only be considered for students who have completed two of the assignments (excluding quizzes), have at least a ÒCÓ average, and have a compelling reason to need an incomplete.
Course Outline:
Week 1
Mon 3/28The Civil War and the Meaning of Emancipation
Wed- 3/30The social and political dimensions of Reconstruction, 1863-1877
Fri4/1
Week 2
Mon-4/4The demise of Reconstruction
Wed4/6
Fri4/8The triumph of white supremacy and the African American response
Discussion (IN CLASS): Booker T. Washington, Ò1895 Speech Before the Atlanta ExpositionÓ (R)
Discussion section: Murray,Proud Shoes, pp. 1-155
Week 3
Mon4/11Race, sex, and violence in the Jim Crow South
Film: Excerpts fromBirth of a Nation
Discussion (IN CLASS): Wells-Barnett, ÒLynching: Our National CrimeÓ (R)
Wed-4/13Jim Crow and the rise of the Talented Tenth
Fri4/15Discussion (IN CLASS): Du Bois, selections fromSouls of Black Folk;
Wells-Barnett, ÒMr. Booker T. Washington and His CriticsÓ (R)
Discussion section: Murray,Proud Shoes, pp. 156-276
Week 4
Mon4/18The Great Migration
Wed4/20World War I and the Red Summer
Fri4/22Enter the New Negro: Black political thought, 1915-1930
Discussion section: Brophy,Reconstructing the Dreamland, pp. xvii-xx, 1-68
Week 5
Mon4/25Enter the New Negro: Black political thought, cont.
Discussion (IN CLASS): Selections fromPhilosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey(R)
Film: ÒLook for Me in the WhirlwindÓ
**First writing assignment due in class on Monday, April 25th**
Wed- 4/27Enter the New Negro: Black cultural production, 1915-1930
Fri4/29Discussion (IN CLASS): Selections fromPortable Harlem Renaissance(R)
Discussion section: Brophy,Reconstructing the Dreamland, pp. 69-119
Week 6
Mon5/2The Great Depression
Wed- 5/4The racial politics of the New Deal
Fri5/6Film: ÒThe Great DepressionÓ
Discussion section: DÕEmilio,Lost Prophet, pp. 1-38
Week 7
Mon5/9The rising wind: African Americans during World War II
Wed- 5/11The beginnings of the Civil Rights movement, 1930s-1954
Fri5/13**Second writing assignment due in class on Friday, May 13th**
Discussion section: DÕEmilio,Lost Prophet, pp. 39-222
Week 8
Mon-5/16From reform to rebellion: the evolution of the movement, 1955-68
Wed5/18Discussion (IN CLASS): King, ÒLetter from Birmingham City JailÓ (R)
Fri5/20Film: ÒEyes on the PrizeÓ or ÒBrother OutsiderÓ
Discussion section: DÕEmilio,Lost Prophet, pp. 223-357
Week 9
Mon5/23The evolution of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Discussion: (IN CLASS): King, ÒThe Social Organization of NonviolenceÓ and ÒA Time to Break SilenceÓ (R)
Wed- 5/25Moving beyond Civil Rights: Black nationalism and Black Power
Fri5/27Discussion (IN CLASS): Malcolm X, ÒThe Ballot or the Bullet,Ó ÒSNCC Urges Revolutionary Action,Ó ÒBlack Panther PartyÓ (R)
Discussion section: DÕEmilio,Lost Prophet, pp. 358-494
Week 10
Mon5/30MEMORIAL DAY Ð NO CLASS
Wed6/1African American women and the feminist movement
Discussion (IN CLASS): Williams, ÒWhy WomenÕs Liberation is Important to Black WomanÓ and Combahee River Collective, ÒA Black Feminist StatementÓ (R)
Fri6/3African Americans in the post-Civil Rights era
Discussion section: Review for final exam
Final exam is Tuesday, June 7that 3:15 p.m.