The class meets Mondays and Wednesdays in Rice 117.

Introduction

Focusing primarily in the years between 1790 and 1877, this course explores the history and historiography of American slavery; its implications for developments of notions of race and freedom; the lives and cultures of slaves, slaveholders, and opponents of slavery; the emergence of intellectual and social opposition to slavery; and the meaning of freedom to former slaves, their allies, and their opponents in the aftermath of both northern and southern. For the first half of the semester, students will complete readings and short assignments in order to develop an understanding of relevant history, interpretations, and historical sources as a foundation for research projects to be undertaken primarily during the second half of the semester. After Spring Break, the class will continue to meet weekly as students move through the process of completing their research and their papers.

Requirements

For the first half of the semester, students will be asked to respond before class to the assigned readings by participating in the AltaVista Forum site established for the course. Instructions on how to access Alta Vista Forum will be distributed in class. Students may respond to the questions suggested in the syllabus, or they may choose to formulate and respond to their own interpretive questions. Students may also post questions of fact about which they seek clarification, but these should be in addition to, not in place of, interpretive questions.

For the week of March 13, students will present their analysis of an abolitionist biography, with a subject chosen from a List of Selected Abolitionist Biographies. This assignment, detailed below, will take the place of the regular weekly forum posting.

Students will concentrate on independent research projects during the second half of the semester, completing a series of assignments that will culminate in a research paper. The research proposal is due April 3; a research report is due April 17; the outline of the project is due April 24. Each student will present their work in draft form during the week of May 8. The final paper, 12-20 pages in length, based on primary research and with appropriate notes and bibliography, is due no later than May 16. Please see the section at the end of this syllabus for more details on theOriginal Research Project and its components.

For information on the weighting of each requirement in the grading for the course, please see the section at the end of this syllabus on Evaluation.  

Books to purchase

• Lawrence Goodheart et al., eds., Slavery in American Society, Third edition
• James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton, In Hope of Liberty: Culture, Community and Protest Among Northern Free Blacks, 1700-1860
• Merton Dillon, Slavery Attacked: Southern Slaves and their Allies, 1619-1865
• Eric Foner, Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and its Legacy

These books should be available from the College's Bookstore in South Dining Hall.

Schedule of Classes
 

Monday February 7	Introduction to the Course Video: "Africans in America: Part I"
Wednesday February 9	American Slavery in Historical and Hemispheric Perspective:  The Development of Slavery Ira Berlin, "Time, Space and the Evolution of African-American Society," in Goodheart, Slavery, pp. 34-69; Robert Fogel, "Slavery in the New World," in Goodheart, Slavery, pp. 21-34; Edmund Morgan, "Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox," in Goodheart, Slavery, pp. 69-82. Ideologies of Slavery Orlando Patterson, "Slavery and Social Death," in Goodheart, Slavery, pp. 3-10  Eugene Genovese, "On Paternalism," in Goodheart, Slavery, pp. 13-17 Forum  Questions Can we "historicize" slavery? What difference does placing slavery in historical context make? What is at issue in the debate over the origins of slavery? Why? What are the implications? What do we know about how Africans experienced enslavement in the Americas?
Monday February 14	Contradictions of Slavery in the Era of the Enlightenment: The Beginnings of Antislavery Ideology in the Western Intellectual Context Howard Temperley, "The Ideology of Antislavery" (article on reserve, or in reserve book, David Eltis and James Walvin, eds., The Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade, pp. 21-36).  James Walvin, "The Public Campaign in England Against Slavery, 1787-1834," (article on reserve, or in reserve book, David Eltis and James Walvin, eds., The Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade, pp. 63-79).  David Brion Davis, "Part I: The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770-1823 " (please be sure to read all three parts of this essay, including: "What the Abolitionists Were Up Against;" "The Quaker Ethic and the Antislavery International" and "The Preservation of English Liberty," all in Bender, ed., The Antislavery Debate, pp. 17-103 (on reserve as photocopy, and in the volume). Merton Dillon, Slavery Attacked, pp. 1-62. Forum Questions:  Is the trajectory of the development of British antislavery thought relevant to the American context? How do different historians evaluate the importance the political ideology of the American revolution in the development of antislavery thought? What role do they accord to "humanitarianism" ?  How do historians evaluate the roles of slaves in the development of antislavery ideology?
Wednesday February 16	Library Orientation: we will meet in Mudd 202 for an introduction to resources and their locations. Our class will also include in-class mini-research assignments to be completed during the session.
Monday February 21	Video: Africans in America: part II An Introduction to Internet Archives For the first half of this class, we will view an additional episode to help us clarify the issues of autonomy and resistance. In the second half of the class, we will explore some of the websites that connect to archives for primary sources relevant to slavery, antislavery and emancipation. Click here for On Line Archives
Wednesday February 23	Northern Emancipation James and Lois Horton, In Hope of Liberty, pp. 3-203  Joanne Pope Melish, "'To Abolish the Black Man': Enacting the Antislavery Promise," Chapter 5, pp. 163-208 in Disowning Slavery (photocopy and book both on reserve). Forum Questions: What can the study of northern slavery and emancipation reveal about American conceptions of race? Does the study of northern emancipation change our notions of "freedom"?
Monday February 28	The Enslaved:  Culture Lawrence Levine, "Slave Spirituals," in Goodheart, Slavery, pp. 99-115  Albert Raboteau, "Conjure"," in Goodheart, Slavery, pp. 123-133.  Margaret Washington Creel, "Gullah Attitudes Twoard Life and Death," library reserve for photocopy, or for the book in which the artciel appears, Joseph Holloway, ed., Africanisms in American Culture, pp. 69-97. Family and Society Allan Kulikoff, "The Life Cycle of Slaves," in Goodheart, Slavery, pp. 153-160  Brenda Stevenson, "Distress and Discord in Virginia Slave Families," pp. 103-124 (with notes pp. 203-207) in Carol Bleser, ed., In Joy and Sorrow: Women, Family and Marriage in the Victorian South, 1830-1900 (photocopy and volume both on reserve). Gender Elizabeth Genovese, "Slave Women," in Goodheart , Slavery, pp. 166-193.  Forum Questions With the articles on slavery read for our February 9 session, how do you evaluate these analyses of slave culture, family and society? How might the types of sources used by historians influence our understandings of slave culture?
March 1	Archives Orientation We meet at the Oberlin College Archives, Fourth Floor, Mudd Library, for an orientation and exploration of sources with Oberlin College Archivist Roland Baumann. You may wish to visit the Oberlin College Archives website in advance at www.oberlin.edu/~archive.
Monday March 6	Rise of Abolitionism and the Case for "Racial Modernism" Merton Dillon, Slavery Attacked, pp. 63-242  Paul Goodman, "The Anatomy of Female Abolitionism," Of One Blood: Abolitionism and the Origins of Racial Equality, pp. 177-205 (book and separate photocopy should both be on reserve)  James Brewer Stewart, "The Emergence of Racial Modernity and the Rise of the White North, 1790-1840," article on reserve, or in Journal of the Early Republic, 18 (Summer 1998). Please read pp. 181-217; pp. 218-236, responses to the article, are optional. Forum Questions How can we understand hostility to both slaves and slavery? How were white women relevant to the ideologies of the abolitionist movement? How does Dillon conceptualize the relationship between African Americans and their allies in the struggle for their liberation? What does Stewart mean by "racial modernity"?
Wednesday March 8	Newspapers as Sources This class will explore the newspapers available in Oberlin for use in primary research on slavery and antislavery topics, their formats, locations, indexes, and other relevant information
Monday March 13	Biographical Approaches to Antislavery Activism For this week’s reading, each student will read and report to the class on a biography of an American antislavery activist. Click here for a List of Selected Abolitionist Biographies. Students will be asked to think about several issues involved in writing biographies. Below are some suggestions: Forum Questions Author's context and framework: what issues are central to the author: politics, psychology, gender?  Does the author balance the focus on public careers and private lives?  Does the author present a heroic portrait? Or is the author critical of his/her subject?  How closely does the author focus on the individual? How much does the reader learn about the movement or politics with which the subject was identified?  Does the biography cover the entire life of the subject?  What sources were available for use? Please prepare an outline of your presentation before class and post it on the Forum.
Wednesday March 15	Biographical Approaches to Antislavery Activism (continued)
Monday Marc h 20	The Meaning of Freedom Eric Foner, Nothing But Freedom, entire, pp. 110  Merton Dillon, Slavery Attacked, pp. 243-270  Stanley Engerman, "Slavery and Emancipation in Comparative Perspective," in Goodheart, Slavery, pp. 217-234. Forum Questions What meanings did "freedom" hold for ex-slaves and their allies? Do Engerman and Foner have a common understanding of the meaning and significance of freedom? Is it useful to place American emancipation in a broader hemispheric perspective?
Wednesday March 23	The WPA Slave Narratives as a Source for History We will explore the locations and uses made of the many narratives collected in the 1930s.

 

 
  

Monday April 3	Assignment Due: Research Proposal Please come to class with a definition of the topic you intend to research for the second half of the semester. You should prepare a brief statement of your intended project, including: A statement of topic and your thoughts on its significance;  A short list of possible primary resources, citing, if relevant, particular manuscript collections and their locations, newspapers or pamphlets and their locations, and other possiblities;  For further details, please see Research Proposal section at the end of this syllabus. Your proposal will probably be 2-4 pages in length. Please post your proposal on the Forum, and read the proposals of your classmates. The class will discuss each proposal.
Wednesday April 5	Continued class discussion of proposals with possibility of individual meetings for project consultation
Monday April 10	Academic Apparatus: How to Cite Sources and Influence People We will discuss further possible sources for your projects and how to site them in appropriate ways. You may want to consult the following website: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/resdoc/history/overview.htm
Wednesday April 12	Instructor available for individual consultations
Monday April 17	Assignment Due: Research Report Each student will report on her/his work since Spring Break in primary sources. Please bring with you an outline of your report. You will be expected to be able to cite several sources you have consulted, and to assess your progress. For more information, please see the Research Report section at the end of this syllabus.
Wednesday April 19	Instructor available for individual consultations
Monday April 24	Assignment Due: Research Outline Each student will post a preliminary outline of her/his paper on the Forum, and will come to class prepared to discuss both progress and problems encountered in structuring the paper. For more information, please see the Research Outline section at the end of this syllabus.
Wednesday April 26	Instructor available for individual consultations
Monday May 1	A Walking Tour of Oberlin's Antislavery Sites  (weather permitting) Brief Progress Reports Due. Please post these on the Forum
Wednesday May 3	Instructor available for individual consultations
Monday May 8	Class Presentations Please post a draft of your project on the Forum, and please read the drafts of others before class. For more information, please see the Class Presentation section at the end of this syllabus.
Wednesday May 10	Class Presentations (continued)

All papers must be submitted no later than the last day of Reading Period, May 16, 2000. No papers will be accepted after this date without an officially authorized incomplete.
 

One of the goals of this course is to support students in the process of producing an original piece of work, ultimately presented as a paper 12-20 pages in length, based on primary sources that allows the exploration of a topic or question of particular interest relevant to the course. Because writing a research paper can be a daunting endeavor, we will break the process down into several critical but manageable steps. It is important to complete these steps in order, and in a timely fashion, to make the most of your research opportunity.

Throughout the first half of the semester, you should be thinking about possible topics and potential sources. The orientations to the Library, Special Collections, and the Archives, as well as the discussions of newspaper sources, biographical approaches, and the WPA slave narratives are all meant to help familiarize you with the use of sources that may be of use to you. I urge you to begin thinking about topics and sources early. I am available to consult with you both during my office hours and by appointment.

Research Proposal: Your research proposal should outline the topic you wish to pursue and state a question for investigation. You should, if possible, cite relevant secondary work that has framed the issue. You must suggest the major primary sources that you think will be available to you. Please note that some primary sources may be available in our library, while others may be available through interlibrary loan. Please specify the availability of sources noting, if relevant, discussions with reference and/or interlibrary loan librarians. Your research proposal will probably be 2-4 pages in length. Due April 3.

Research Report: Your research report will be your opportunity to assess the "do-ability" of your topic. You will have had two weeks to assess the adequacy of your sources and the focus of your question. You will now also be able to sketch out for yourself what work you will need to complete in the next month in order to finish your project. You will make your research report verbally, but you should prepare an outline, about 2 pages in length. Please be sure to talk about the primary sources you have consulted. Due April 17.

Research Outline: At this point in your project, you should be able to outline the shape that you see your final project taking. This outline will help you complete your research in a focused manner, and begin to see the framework for your presentation. Please post your outline on the Forum, and take time to read the outlines of others. Due Arpil 24

Class Presentation: You should prepare a draft of your paper for your class presentation, taking care to make your focus and thesis clear. You will want to present your research succintly, and you may want to distribute a preliminary bibliography that includes your sources, You should also prepare to be an able and supportive participant in the presentations by others. Due May 8

Final Paper: Your final paper will be a formal presentation with appropriate footnotes/endnotes and a bibliography differentiating primary and secondary sources. Please note that the session on April 10 devoted to "Academic Apparatus" will explore issues important in the presentation of the final paper. The text of the paper (excluding endnotes and bibliography) should be 12-20 pages in length. Due No Later Than May 16, unless you have an officially authorized incomplete.

Grading is an art, not a science; nonetheless, the following general scheme will be used in compiling semester grades:

Forum Entries: six entries at required, 5% each	30%
General Class Participation (including responses to proposals, outlines, reports, and presentations of others)	15%
Abolitionist Biography Project	10%
Research Proposal	5%
Research Report	5%
Research Outline	5%
Class Presentation	10%
Final Paper	20%

I will provide regular feedback on all written work, whether posted on the forum or submitted in another format. I am always happy to discuss the course, students' performance(s) in the course, the content, and the format. Please make use of my office hours and my e-mail availability. I will also make appointments for additional meetings.

Please note that students are expected to attend all classes, and to complete all assignments.