HIST 250 African American History I
Fall 2005
Tues-Thurs 12-1:20
Professor Martin Summers
Phone: 346-6159
E-mail:
Office hours: Tuesdays, 3-4 (in 323 McKenzie), Wednesday, 10-12 (in 201 McKenzie),or by appointment
GTFs:
Fernando CalderonCamille Walsh
340F McKenzie340G McKenzie
346-2160346-5912
Course Description:
This course surveys the African American experience from its origins in pre-colonial West and Central Africa to the emancipation from slavery in the mid-nineteenth century. Although the course lectures and readings focus on the history of African Americans in what is now considered the United States, we will also examine, to a lesser extent, the experiences of people of African descent in the Caribbean and Latin America. Topics covered in this class include, but are not limited to, the following: the social structures and cultures of West and Central Africa; the Atlantic slave trade; the development of slavery and the origins of ÒraceÓ in the Americas; the formation of African American cultures; the experiences of free blacks; antebellum black political and social movements; and the role of slavery and expansion in the U.S. Civil War. Through a variety of sources – including historical monographs, primary documents, and audio recordings – this class seeks to increase studentsÕ awareness and appreciation for the complexity of the history of people of African descent in the United States.
Course Readings:
The following books are available for purchase at the University Bookstore. Copies of the Mintz and Price and Johnson books are also on reserve at Knight Library. There are also course readings on electronic reserve. Students can access these readings from the UO Libraries link on the courseÕs Blackboard website or directly from the UO Libraries webpage. The username and password for access are Òfall05Ó and ÒappleÓ respectively. These readings are required and are indicated in the syllabus by (R).
Olaudah Equiano,The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings. New York: Viking Penguin, 1995.
Sidney W. Mintz and Richard Price,The Birth of African American Culture: An Anthropological Perspective. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992.
Walter Johnson,Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999.
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 (3-5 typed, 12 point, double-spaced pages) and a cumulative final exam. The exam will be in an essay format and 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. Outlines of lectures will be made available on the courseÕs Blackboard site at least one day before the scheduled lecture and will remain on the site through the end of the term. The first paper will be an analytical essay addressing Olaudah EquianoÕs narrative. I will provide more direction on this first paper by week two. The second paper will be a book review of Walter JohnsonÕsSoul by Soul.Late papers will be lowered one letter grade for every day that they are beyond the deadline unless there is a documented 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 deadlines.
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. I direct you toStudent Academic Integrity: Policies and Guidelines for Faculty, Instructors, and Studentsfor a discussion of the definition of plagiarism, how to avoid it, and possible punitive consequences for those who choose to ignore academic integrity policies.
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 allow 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
Tu 9/27Course overview
Th 9/29West African society and culture prior to the slave trade
Week 2
Tu 10/4Africans, Europeans and the Atlantic slave trade
Th 10/6Europeans, Africans and indigenous peoples in the Americas
Discussion: Equiano,Interesting Narrative, pp. ix-xxxiv, 5-112
Week 3
Tu 10/11-The development of slavery in British North America
Th 10/13Discussion: Equiano,Interesting Narrative, pp. 113-236
Week 4
Tu 10/18Slavery in the Caribbean and Latin America
Th 10/20Slavery and the American Revolution
Discussion: Mintz and Price,Birth of African American Culture(entire)
Week 5
Tu 10/25Slavery and race in the Early Republic
Discussion: (IN CLASS) Thomas Jefferson, ÒLawsÓ and ÒManners,Ó inNotes on the State of Virginia(R)
**Equiano essay due in class on October 25th**
Th 10/27The emergence of King Cotton
Discussion: Johnson,Soul by Soul, pp. 1-44
Week 6
Tu 11/1-Life and work in the slave quarters
Th 11/3Discussion: Johnson,Soul by Soul, pp. 57-77, 117-61
Week 7
Tu 11/8-Culture and resistance in the plantation South
Th 11/10Discussion: Johnson,Soul by Soul, pp. 162-220
ÒConfessions of Nat TurnerÓ (IN CLASS)
Week 8
Tu 11/15-The origins and institutions of the free black community
Th 11/17Discussion: Horton, ÒBlacks in Antebellum Boston: The Migrant and theCommunity,Ó ÒGenerations of Protest: Black Families andSocial Reform,Ó and ÒDouble Consciousness: AfricanAmerican Identity in the Nineteenth CenturyÓ (R)
Week 9
Tu 11/22The struggle against slavery: abolition, colonization, and emigration
**Johnson book reviews due in class on November 22nd**
NO DISCUSSION SECTIONS THIS WEEK
Week 10
Tu 11/29-Westward expansion, slavery and the Civil War
Th 12/1Discussion:Dred Scott v. Sandford(IN CLASS)
NOTE: Discussion sections will consist of review for the final exam
Final exam is 8:00 am on Wednesday, December 7th
(No early final exams will be given except in extraordinary cases – this does not include parents purchasing plane tickets for vacations, family reunions, etc.)