History Department
History 340: African-American History
Syllabus
SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS
First Half: Slavery
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Unit I: Origins - The Emergence of Racial Slavery |
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| Mon 1/7 | Course
Introduction A Note on the Language of the Black Experience |
| Wed. 1/9 | Does Race
Exist? *Tom Morganthau, et al., "What Color is Black? Newsweek (Feb 3, 1995): 63-72 ® *Natalie Angier, "Do Races Really Differ? Not Really, DNA Shows," New York Times, August 22, 2000 ® *Study Questions for Morganthau and Angier reading |
| Fri. 1/11 | The Origins
of Racial Slavery *Brinkley, "Where Historians Disagree: The Origins of Slavery" ® *DUE: Study questions for Brinkley handout |
| Mon. 1/14 | Africans in
America Video: Episode I: The Terrible Transformation *Download and BRING TO CLASS study questions for video |
| Wed. 1/16 | The Genesis
of American Slavery *Carl N. Degler, "Slavery and the Genesis of American Race Prejudice," 66-75 ® *Study Questions for Deglar reading |
| Fri. 1/18 | Surviving
the Middle Passage *Sterling Stuckey, "How Africans Preserved Their Culture" ® *Ira Berlin, "Historicizing the Slave Experience" ® |
| Mon. 1/22 | NO CLASS: Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday |
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Unit II: From Slavery to Freedom |
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| Wed. 1/23 | Degler and Stuckey -- Re-Cap from Fri. |
| Fri. 1/25 | Politics and
the History of Slavery *Brinkley, "Where Historians Disagree: Plantation Slavery" ® *Brinkley, "Patterns of Popular Culture: Slaves' Music" DUE: Study Questions for Plantation Slavery reading |
| Mon. 1/28 | Patterns of
Slave Resistance *Wheeler & Becker, Chapter 8, "The Peculiar Institution: Slaves Tell their Own Story" ® *Greenberg, 14-18 |
| Wed. 1/30 | "Anansi
the Spider Climbs the Wall": Trickery, Culture, and African-American Folk Tales *African-American Folk Tales ® *Continue discussion from Monday |
| Fri. 2/1 | The Nat
Turner Slave Revolt and the Culture of Rebellion *Greenberg, 1-31, Confessions, 39-58 (all from same book) DUE: Hand in Reaction to Turner's Confessions The Legacy of Rebellion *Greenberg, "Related Documents," 61-130 Continue discussion from Monday |
| Mon. 2/4 | BLACK HISTORY MONTH: PRESENTATIONS - SLAVE REBELLIONS |
| Wed. 2/6 | Gender,
Slavery, and Sexual Exploitation *McLaurin, read xi-xiv, skim 1-15, read 16-61, skip 62-79, read 80-136 |
| Fri. 2/8 | BLACK HISTORY MONTH: PRESENTATIONS - CULTURAL HEROES |
| Mon. 211 | Slavery and
the Moral Dilemma of Resistance *McLaurin, 137-143 |
| Wed. 2/13 | Who Freed
the Slaves? Lincoln & the Question of Emancipation *Ira Berlin, "Who Freed the Slaves: Emancipation & its Meaning" ® *James McPherson, "Who Freed the Slaves" ® * Study Questions for Berlin and McPherson Reading |
| Fri. 2/15 | Reconstruction
and the Meaning of
Freedom
*Eric Foner, "The Odds Against the Success of Reconstruction Were Great" ® *Kenneth M. Stamp, "The Era of Reconstruction" ® *Jaqueline Jones, "Freedwomen & Reconstruction" ® *Study Questions for Foner reading *Study Questions for Stampp reading |
| Dinner
and a Movie @ My House: Glory [5-9pm] Handout - McPherson, "Glory" |
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| Mon. 2/18 | BLACK HISTORY MONTH: PRESENTATIONS - POLITICAL FIGURES |
| Wed. 2/20 | The Durbin Conference on Race and the Question of Reparations |
| Fri. 2/22 | In-Class Midterm |
Second Half: Freedom
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Unit III: Coping with the Color Line |
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| Mon. 2/25 | New Strategies of
Resistance Video: Ida B. Wells: Passion for Justice |
| Wed. 2/27 | Resistance as
Culture: The Response to Segregation *Wheeler & Becker, Ch. 2, "The Road to True Freedom" ® ~ DUE: Study questions over reading |
| Fri. 3/1 | John Henry was a Rail
Driving Man: The Black (Anti) Hero and the Crucible of Race *Lawrence W. Levine, "The Modernization of the Black Hero," Bad Men and Bandits," "The Hero vs. Society: John Henry to Joe Louis," 397-440 ® |
| Mon. 3/4 | The Long Struggle
Towards Freedom: African American Civil Rights in the Pre-Civil
Rights Movement Era In-Class Lecture |
| Wed. 3/6 | Reading TBA : Shapiro 1919 OR Video Harlem Renaissance |
| Fri. 3/8 | "I Am the Darker
Brother": Hughes, Garvey, Pan Africanism, & the Harlem
Renaissance *Selected Readings from Harlem Renaissance & Garvey ® |
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*Spring Break 3/11 to 3/15* |
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| Mon. 3/18 | "Black Bottom
Stomp": The Music of the Renaissance *Floyd, Ch. 5, "The Negro Renaissance: Harlem and Chicago Flowerings," 100-135 ® *Video: Ken Burns' Jazz, Episode III, "Our Language" (Smith, Ellington, and Bix) |
| Wed. 3/20 | "Somebody Have
Mercy": Black Popular Music in the 1950 VH1 Video: Sam Cooke Biography |
| Fri. 3/22 | "A Change is Gonna
Come": Sam Cooke in Black and White America *Brian Ward, Ch. 5, "'Can I get a Witness?': Civil Rights, Soul, and Secularization," 173-216 ® |
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Unit IV: Politics and the Culture of Liberation |
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| Mon. 3/25 | Debating the Civil
Rights Movement: An Overview *Steven F. Lawson, "The View from the Nation," 3-41 ® *Charles Payne, "The View from the Trenches," 99-136 ® DUE: Homework on Lawson and Payne |
| Wed. 3/27 | "I Was 15 Years Old
When I began to Hate People": The Impact of Segregation and
the Movement for Change Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, Parts I & II |
| Fri. 3/29 | No Class: Easter Holiday |
| Mon. 4/1 | The Movement from the
Bottom-Up Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, Parts III & IV |
| Wed. 4/3 | The Civil Rights
Movement Triumphant Martin Luther King, Jr. reading tba |
| Fri. 4/5 | The Greatest: Ali
& the Changing Black Hero in the Sixties *Eliot Gorn, ed., Muhammad Ali, The People's Champ ® *Gerald Early, ed., The Muhammad Ali Reader ® *Mike Marqusee, Redemption Song: Ali & the Spirit of the Sixties Recommended video: When We Were Kings, & Ali ® |
| Mon. 4/8 | Black Power:
Origins and Ideology Van Deburg, 1-193 |
| Wed. 4/10 | Black Power and its
Advocates Van Deburg, 192-291 |
| Fri. 4/12 | Whatever Happened to
Black Power? Van Deburg, 248-292 |
| Mon. 4/14 | Waiting for Martin &
Malcom: Assessing the Legacy of the Civil Rights and Black Power
Movement Van Deburg, 293-308 *Stephen L. Carter, "Racial Preferences? So What?" ® *Ron Nixon, "Turning Back the Clock on Voting Rights" ® *Robert Staples, "The Illusion of Racial Equality" ® |
| Fri. 4/17 | Black Noise:
Hip-Hop and Rap Music in Contemporary American Culture *Tricia Rose, pages tba ® *Russell Potter, Spectacular Vernaculars, pages tba ® |
| Fri. 4/19 | "Black Enough For
You?" Popular Culture and the Contemporary Black Experience *Todd Boyd, pages tba ® *Bell Hooks, Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations, pages tba ® *Bell Hooks, Black Looks: Race & Representation, pages tba ® |
| Mon. 4/22 | Last Day of Class: Review for Exam & Class Party |
| Tues. 4/23 | Reading Day |
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Queens College 1900 Selwyn
Avenue Charlotte, NC 28274
Modified by: H. Kamerling