(.5 unit credit)
In August 1619, "twenty and odd negars" were traded for food by the crew of a Dutch sailing vessel. That commercial transaction represented the first recorded incident of a permanent African presence in America. Over the next 146 years, this population of Africans would grow to create an African American population of over four million. The overwhelming majority of this population was enslaved. This course will be an examination of those enslaved millions and their free black fellows--who they were, how they lived, and how the nation was transformed by their presence and experience. Particular attention will be paid to the varieties of African American experience and how slavery and the presence of peoples of African descent shaped American social, political, intellectual and economic systems. Students will be presented with a variety of primary and secondary source materials; timely and careful reading of these sources will prepare students for class discussions. Students will be confronted with conflicting bodies of evidence and challenged to analyze these issues and arrive at conclusions for themselves.
*Textbook: Darlene Clark Hine, The African American Odyssey, vol. 1 to 1877
*Olaudah Equiano, Life of Olaudah Equiano
*Eugene D. Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made
*James L. Roark and Michael P. Johnson, Black Masters
*Sylvia Frey, Water from the Rock: Black Resistance in a Revolutionary Age
*W. Jeffrey Bolster, Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail
*Articles and occasional handouts
(.5 unit credit)
This is an introductory lecture and discussion course in the history of African Americans in the United States. Beginning with Emancipation, the course traces the evolution of black culture and identity and the continuing struggle for freedom and equality. Topics will include the tragedies and triumphs of Reconstruction, interracial violence, black political and institutional responses to racism and violence, the Harlem Renaissance, jazz, blues, and the civil rights and black power movements.
*Textbook: Darlene Clark Hine, The African American Odyssey, vol. II
*W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folks
*David Levering Lewis, When Harlem Was in Vogue
*Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi
*James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
*Eldridge Cleaver, Soul on Ice
*Articles and occasional handouts