Introduction to African American Studies Horace Campbell
AAS 112 Sims Hall 211
Spring Semester 2001
RM 010 Eggers Hall Office Hours T/Th 10-11
Time: Th 2:30- 3:50 443-9353
Course Outline
How can one begin to grasp the intellectual contributions of Africans in the West? Can this be grasped in one course? On the eve of the Third Millennium what are the prospects for humanity to rise above the ideas and systems of organization of the twentieth century? This has been a century of war, genocide and revolution? Africans in the United States of America have a vested interest in interrogating the basic ideas that organize human life. The role of the University is critical in this period. It is from this institution that the various technologies are being developed that is shaping the future organization of society. What is the impact of the present technological revolution on African Americans? How can we understand the meaning of work, family and society? Will the intellectual and political leadership of African Americans be sufficient to place the ideas and practices of eugenics on the retreat.
These are some of the issues that we will interrogate over the semester and we will us Jeremy Rifkin’s book,The Biotech Century to help us understand the relationship between African Americans and technological changes engendered by the Information Revolution. The other major text of the course is Robin D.G Kelly and Earl Lewis, To Make Our World Anew and this text will expose the constant struggles of Africans in American to challenge the genocidal and militaristic culture that has been celebrated as progress
The course is organized around two lectures per week and a discussion group.
There will be required readings, and supplementary readings.
All students must do on eight-page paper that is due April 19
Requirements
Maps and Cluster work 5%, Summaries of readings 25%, Mid Term 20%, Final Paper 15%, Final Examination 35%
The required texts for the course are the following:
Sam E. Anderson, The Black holocaust for Beginners, Writers and Readers, 1996
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Are Watching God, Perennial Library, 1990
Robin D.G. Kelly and Earl Lewis, To Make Our World Anew, Oxford University Press,
2000
Jeremy Fifkin, The Biotech Century, Pantheon Books, 1998
(Course Packet)
Recommended Readings and web pages
Abdul Alkalimat and Associates, Introduction to Afro-American Studies Chicago:
Twenty First Century Books, 1986. On the web at
Joy James, States of Confinement, St. Matins Press, 2000
Cedric Robinson, Black Movements in America, Routlege, 1997
Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body, Vintage Books, 1999
Week 1. Africa and Her Peoples in the Global Context
January 16. Introduction to the course and main themes
Readings:
Robin D.G. Kelly and Earl Lewis, To Make Our World Anew, Chapter 1
Cheik Anta Diop, The African Origin of Civilization, Chapter 1 and 2 “Who were the Egytians and Modern Falsification of History.” R
January 18. What is the biotech century: What are the implications fo the new technologies for African Americans?
Readings:
Jeremy Rifkin, The Biotech Century, Chapter 1 and 2
Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body, Chapter 6
January 23. Social Darwinism and Eugenics
Readings:
Jeremy Rifkin, The Biotech Century, Chapters 3-7
F. Kapra, The Turning Point, Chapter introduction, 1, 2 and 7
January 25. Transformation in Africa
Video. Basil Davidson, The Africans, No 1. Different bu Equal
Readings:
Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Chapter 2 and 3
Cheik Anta Diop, The African Origin of Civilization, Chapters 10 and 11
Book Summary of Biotech Century Due
January 30. Conceptual Issues in African American Studies
Readings:
Course Packet on Significant Terms, Class, Patriarchy, Domination over nature,
Capitalism, The State, etc
Abdul Alkalimat Chapter one, Introduction to Afro-American Studies Chicago:
Twenty First Century Books, 1986. On the web at
February 1. The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Making of the Black Atlantic
Readings:
Sam E. Anderson, The Black holocaust for Beginners, Part 1
Robin D.G. Kelly and Earl Lewis, To Make Our World Anew, Chapter 2
Horace Campbell, Rasta and Resistance, Chapter 1
February 6. The Middle Passage
Readings:
Sam E. Anderson, The Black holocaust for Beginners, Parts 3, 4 and 5
“Making the Case For Racial Reparations: Does America Owe a Debt to the
descendents of its Slaves?, Harpers Magazine, November 2000, pgs 27-51
February 8. Resistance to Slavery
Readings:
Carolyn Fick, The Making of Haiti, University of Tennessee Press, 1990, Introduction
Robin D.G. Kelly and Earl Lewis, To Make Our World Anew: A History of African
Americans, chapters 4 and 5
Sam E. Anderson, The Black holocaust for Beginners, Parts 5 and 6
February 13. Capitalist Development and the Civll War in the USA
Readings:
Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery, Russell and Russell, New York 1944 Chp 5-10R
Robin D.G. Kelly and Earl Lewis, To Make Our World Anew: A History of African
Americans, chapter 6
ManningMarable, Race Reform and Rebellion, McMillian 1991, Porlogue, pgs 1-12
February 15. Black Resistance in the Civil War
Video: The 54th Massachusetts
Readings:
Cedric Robinson, Black Movements in America, Chapters 3 and 4
February 20. Up South: Jim Crow Here, Jim Crow There, Jim Crow Everywhere
Readings:
Robin D.G. Kelly and Earl Lewis, To Make Our World Anew: A History of African
Americans, Chapters 6
Robin Kelley, Race Rebels, Introduction
Cedric Robinson, Black Movements in America, Chapters 4 and 5
Angela Davis, Women Race and Class, Chapters 3, 4 and 5
Recommended for future Reading W.E.B. Dubois, Black Reconstruction in America
First Twenty Minutes of Rosewood
February 22. Video Rosewood
Readings:
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Are Watching God, Perennial Library, 1990
Ida B Wells-Barnett, On Lynchings: Southern Horrors, A red Record, Mob Rule in New
Orleans, Salem, NH: Aver Co., 1991
Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, New
York, Little Brown and Company 1993. Pga 355-364
Book Summary of Hurston Due
February, 27 Black Life and the Pressure of Migration
Readings:
Angela Davis, Women, Race and Class, Chapter 7,8 and 9 R
Introduction to Afro-American Studies, Chapter 6, R
Winston James, Holding Aloft The Banner of Ethiopia, Verso Press, 1998 Chapter 1
Robin Kelley and Earl Lewis, To Make Our World Anew A History of Americans, Chapter 7
Michael Honey, Black Workers Remember, University of California Press, 2000 R
March 1 Imperialism and the Partitioning of Africa
Video, Basil Davidson The Bible and The Gun
Readings:
Walter Rodney, “The Imperialist Partitioning of Africa,” Monthly Review, 1970
Assignment. Draw the map of Africa in 1900 and then show how this map changed in 1919.
March 6 Garveyism and Pan Africanism.
Readings,
Horace Campbell, Rasta and Resistance, Chapter 2 R
Cedric Robinson, Black Movements in America, Chapter 5 R
Winston James, Holding Aloft The Banner of Ethiopia, Chapter 5-6
Hazel Carby, “It’s jus Be’s dat way Sometime,” in Vicki Ruiz and Ellen Carol Dubois, eds,
Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in US Women’s History, Routledge, New York 1994
March 8 Mid Term Examination
March 20 The Italian Invasion of Ethiopia and the Great Depression.
Readings,
Robin Kelly and Earl Lewis, To Make Our World Anew: A history of Africans Americans, Chapter 8
Horace Campbell, Rasta and Resistance, Chapter 2 and 3
Cedric Robinson, “The African Diaspora and the Italo-Ethiopian Crisis,” Race and Class 27:2 (1985) R
Jeremy Rifkin, The Biotech Century, Chapter 4
Martin Kitchen, Fascism, McMillan, Introduction and Chapter 8,
March 22 World War II and Black Labor
Readings, Abdul Alkalimat and Associates, Chapter seven of Introductioon to Afro-American Studies Chicago: Twenty First Century Books, 1986,
Michael Honey, Black Labor Remembered, UC Berkeley,1999
Jeremy Rifkin, “The Decline of the Global Labor Force.” Section Three of the End of Work
March 27, The Civil Rights Movement and the Black Athlete
Video on Fists of Freedom
Readings:
Arthur Ashe and Arnold Rampersad, Days of Grace, Knopf Books, 1993 chapter 5
Harry Edwards, The Revolt of the Black Athlete, Free Press London 1969
March 29 PBS Video, Struggles in Steel,
Readings:
Robin D.G. Kelley and Earl Lewis, To Make Our World Anew: Ahistory Of African Americans, Chapter 9
Robin Kelley, “Birmingham Untouchables,” in Race Rebel
Cedric Robinson, Black Movements in America, Chapter 6
Jeremy Rifkin, The End of Work. Last three Chapter
April 3 Civil Rights and the Black Arts Movement
Readings:
Robin D.G. Kelley and Earl Lewis, To Make Our World Anew: Ahistory Of African Americans, Chapter 9
Eric Foner, America’s Black Past, Harper and Row, Chapter 16
See Select video clips from Eyes on the Prize.
Clips From the Last Poets
Frank Kofskey, Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music, Pathfinder Press, 1970
Additional reading:
An Auto Biographical history of the Black Arts/liberation Movement, By Marvin X. Jackmon, aka El Muhajir (Black Bird Press, Castro Valley, 1998\
April 5 Africans in America and Political Change in Africa: Lesson of Malcom X and the Congo.
Readings:
Manning Marble, Race Reform and Rebellion, Chapters 4 and 5
Bill Sales, From Civil Rights to Black Liberation: Malcom X and the OAAU,
Chapters 4,5, and 7, south End Press.
(Invitation) to Bill Sales
April 10 The Black Panther Party- Video
Readings:
Black Panther Party Community Programs 1966- 1982
Black Panther Speak Interview with Huey Newton
Essays from The Minister of Defense, Huey Newtoon
Ten Point Program of The Black Panther Party
Book Summary of To Make Our World Anew, Due
April 12, Video On Black Panther Party- Continued
Reading,
“The Black Panther Reconsidered,” Against The Current September/October 1996
April 17 We are all Amadou Diallo: Militarism and the City in the 21st Century
Readings:
Christian Parenti, Lock Down America, Verso Books 2000
Phillipe Wamba, “While the Lion is at you Door: The Birth of a Black Alliance Amadou Diallo and African / African American in New York”
Joy James, Statues of Confinement, St. Martins Press 2000, chapter 18
April 19 Hip Hop and Urbanization
Readings:
Robing D.G. Kelley, Race Rebels, Chapter 8 Kicking Reality, Kicking Ballistics, The Free Press 1994
Clarence Lusane, “Rhapsodic Aspirations: Rap, Race and Power Politics,” The Black Scholar Volume 23, No 2
Williams Perkins, Dropping Science, Temple University Press Introduction
Amiri Baraka, Blues People, Quill Press, 1963 , Chapter 8
Horace Campbell, Rasta and Resistance, Chapter 5
Guest Lecture Fanon Wilkins
Final Paper Due
April 24, AIDS and Pan African World
Readings:
Visit Web Site of UN AIDS
National Security Estimate
Cathy Cohen, Boundaries of Blackness, University of Chicago Press 1999
April 26 African American and the Prison Industrial Complex
Readings:
Angela Davis, The Prison Industrial Complex, 1999
Schlosser, Eric. The Personal Industry Complex, Atlantic Monthly, December 1998
Joe James, States of Confinement, Chapters 10-15
May1. Recapitulation of the Biotech Century and Implications for the Humanization of the Planet
Readings:
Jeremy Rifkin, The Biotech Century
Vandana Shiva, Biopiracy, South End Press, 1998
Clarence Leusane, Race in the Global Context, South End Press, 1998
Final Examination May 3rd 10:15-12:15