HIST 251 African American History II

Course Description:

This course surveys the African American experience 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 relations and class formation within the African American community. Drawing chiefly on primary sources - that is, documents produced by the actual historical figures we are studying - this class seeks to increase students' 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 also a course reader available for purchase at the University Bookstore. Articles within the reader are required reading and are indicated in the syllabus by (R). All of the books and the reader are on reserve at Knight Library as well.

Jacqueline Jones Royster, ed., Southern Horrors and Other Writings: The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells, 1892-1900. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1997.
Charles Denby, Indignant Heart: A Black Worker's Journal. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1978.
Robin D. G. Kelley, Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class. New York: Free Press, 1994.

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 quizzes over the course of the term. The quizzes will be related to discussion section material and will be given during discussion sections. Attendance, discussion, and quizzes will constitute the overall class participation grade. Students with more than two unexcused absences in discussion section will have their final grade lowered by a letter grade. Students with four or more unexcused 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 on Southern Horrors and Indignant Heart. I will provide paper topics several weeks before the papers are due. Late papers will be lowered one-half letter grade for every day that they are beyond the deadline. 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 that they would spend doing extra credit work on the assigned work. Also, "incompletes" will only be given to students who have completed two of the assignments, have at least a "C" average, and have a sufficient reason to need an incomplete.

Course Outline:

Week 1
Mon 1/5 - Course overview
Wed 1/7 - The social and political dimensions of Reconstruction, 1863-1877

Week 2
Mon 1/12 - The demise of Reconstruction
Wed 1/15 - The triumph of white supremacy and the African American response

Discussion (IN CLASS) : Booker T. Washington, "1895 Speech before the Atlanta Exposition" (R)

Discussion: Royster, ed., Southern Horrors and Other Writings, pp. 1-72

Week 3
Mon 1/19- NO CLASS (MLK DAY)
Wed 1/21 - Race, sex, and violence in the Jim Crow South

Discussion: Royster, Southern Horrors and Other Writings, pp. 72-208

Week 4
Mon 1/26 - Jim Crow and the rise of the Talented Tenth

Discussion (IN CLASS): Du Bois, selections from Souls of Black Folk (R)

Wed 1/28 - The Great Migration, World War I and the Red Summer

Discussion: Denby, Indignant Heart, pp. 1-86
Kelley, Race Rebels, intro and chs. 1 and 2 (pp.1-53)

Week 5
Mon 2/2 Enter the New Negro: Black political thought, 1915-1930

Film: "Look for Me in the Whirlwind"
**First writing assignment due in class on Monday, February 2d**

Wed 2/4 Enter the New Negro: Black cultural production, 1915-1930
Discussion: (IN CLASS) Selections from The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader (R)

Discussion: Selections from Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey (R)

Week 6
Mon 2/9 - The Great Depression and the racial politics of the New Deal
Wed 2/11 - Film: "The Great Depression"

Discussion: Denby, Indignant Heart, pp. 87-179

Week 7
Mon 2/16 - The rising wind: African Americans during World War II
Wed 2/18 - The beginnings of the Civil Rights movement, 1930s-1954

Discussion: Kelley, Race Rebels, chs. 3 and 7 (pp. 55-75, 161-81)

Week 8
Mon 2/23 - From reform to rebellion: the evolution of the movement, 1955-68
Wed 2/25 - Film: "Eyes on the Prize" or "Color Adjustment"

Discussion: (IN CLASS): King, "A Time to Break Silence" (R)

Discussion: Denby, Indignant Heart, pp. 181-211
King, "The Social Organization of Nonviolence" and "Letter from Birmingham City Jail" (R)

Week 9
Mon 3/1 - Moving beyond Civil Rights: Black nationalism and Black Power
Wed 3/3 - Film: "A Nation of Law?"

Discussion: (IN CLASS): Malcolm X, "The Ballot or the Bullet," "SNCC Urges Revolutionary Action," "Black Panther Party" (R)

Discussion: Denby, Indignant Heart, pp. 212-44, 262-94

Week 10
Mon 3/8 - African American women and the feminist movement

Discussion (IN CLASS): Williams, "Why Women's Liberation is Important to Black Women" and Combahee River Collective, "A Black Feminist Statement" (R)
**Second writing assignment due in class on Monday, March 8th**

Wed 3/10 - African Americans in the post-Civil Rights era

Discussion: Kelley, Race Rebels, ch. 8 (pp. 183-227)

Final exam is Friday, March 19th at 10:15 am.
(No early final exams will be given except in extraordinary cases - this does not include parents purchasing plane tickets for vacations, family reunions, etc. I suggest that you factor the final exam into any travel arrangements that you are planning)

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