Trinity College

This course examines the historical experience of African Americans from the slave trade and Middle Passage to the present. Through lectures, readings, videos, the study of primary documents (that is, those written or created by the participants themselves), and discussions, we will consider questions of slavery, community, culture, politics, racism, economics, civil rights, and contemporary issues of race.

On most Thursdays I will interrupt the class partway through so we can discuss a current issue that relates to the historical topic we’ve been exploring. The past is not simply past; it informs our lives in the present, and I want us to take this chance to make those links between past and present. If you discover any provocative current issues relating to topics we are covering in class, please let me know!

You are responsible for fulfilling each requirement of the class, described below. Of course, please do your own work. Plagiarism is a serious offense and violates the Integrity Contract.

1. Participation: We learn best when we learn from each other. So in addition to lectures, we will have frequent class discussions. (Usually I will lecture on Tuesdays and we will have class discussions on Thursdays.) I expect full and vigorous participation from all of you. If you don’t talk, it will be exceedingly dull and excruciatingly quiet. And if you don’t disagree with each other, and with me, we won’t be able to try on new perspectives and assess our own opinions. But there are ground rules, because race, and race relations, are highly charged topics. We have to feel safe saying what we think, and why we think so. Therefore I will make sure that all discussions will be conducted respectfully. Viewpoints and arguments can be challenged based on evidence and reasoning, and ad hominem or personal attacks will not be permitted.

I want to hear from you. Participation counts as 20 percent of your final grade.

2. The first paper: Slavery and Memory. Think about the oral histories we have been reading. What have we been able to learn? What have we learned that would have been difficult or impossible to learn from other sorts of sources? Are there things we cannot learn from oral history? Are there things we cannot trust? Why (not)? How can memory be a useful source for historians? What must they be wary of? Explore these questions about the advantages and limitations of oral history for the study of slavery. Use information from BOTH the readings AND class lectures and discussions. Please be specific, citing examples, and defending your arguments based on concrete evidence. That is, it is not enough to say that readers of oral histories learn about the harsh realities of slave life for example). Rather, explain what specific realities you learned about, what is different or particularly useful about this perspective, and so on. Similarly, do not simply note that oral histories exclude other perspectives (for example). Give examples of sources that do provide other perspectives, and how this might affect or alter one’s understanding of slavery. Remember to include both advantages and limitations of oral history, even if your paper argues strongly in favor of one position or the other.

Be sure to cite all quotes or paraphrases with page numbers (if from Remembering Slavery) or other relevant bibliographic detail (if from any other source including notes from class).This paper should be approximately 6 pages long and is due in class on SEPTEMBER 28. This paper counts as 20 percent of your final grade.

3. Reading posts: Every week beginning in October you will be posting a question about the reading on Blackboard. In one to two paragraphs, ask a question prompted by the reading, and explain why it is important, what the answer might tell us about the issue you are raising. This will help guide our class discussions. Because you (and I) must read these posts before our Thursday discussions, the deadline for posting is Tuesday at midnight.

At any time you have the option of responding to a classmate’s post rather than raising your own question. Use the question as a springboard for your own thinking. If you choose this, you must still write a paragraph or two, and offer a different or additional perspective, thought, or observation; do not simply paraphrase the question already posted. The deadline for such responses is Wednesday at noon. Your contributions will count for 15 percent of your final grade.

4. The second paper and Community Learning project: investigating racial discrimination in housing. The Connecticut Fair Housing Center, which investigates housing discrimination in the state, has received a grant from HUD. Our class will be responsible for fulfilling 2c of the grant:

testing and investigating complaints alleging source of income discrimination for race and national origin discrimination

I will explain more about what this means in class. But, briefly, you will all be trained to be housing discrimination testers by the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, and will be conducting, in pairs, two housing tests each. (You will even get paid!) You are required to complete your tests by NOVEMBER 2. Full details and instructions will be provided in class. On November 21 we will discuss our findings in class, and the head of the Connecticut Fair Housing Center will debrief us on the overall patterns (if any) of our findings. These investigations will be useful not only to us but to the state of Connecticut and those enforcing fair housing laws. And they will serve as data for the final paper (see below).

For your second paper, please write a brief essay discussing your reactions to the testing. Briefly summarize your experience, and then reflect on what happened. You may discuss what you discovered, what you felt, what you learned, or what frustrated or excited you. The best of these will appear in the newsletter of the Fair Housing Center and/or be submitted to HUD.

The head of the CT Fair Housing Center will provide more specific guidelines including specific length, and whether you may work in groups (should you wish). This paper will be due NOVEMBER 28. The paper and your participation in the tests, cumulatively, count for 20 percent of your grade. But because the Fair Housing Center and HUD rely on our findings, you CANNOT pass the course unless you meet your obligations as testers.

5. The final paper: Think about the housing discrimination test results we found as a group. How did the class’s experience reinforce or challenge conclusions we had drawn from the readings or in class on questions of race, racism, and opportunity? In what ways do our findings fit past patterns of racism or discrimination, and in what ways they reveal a change from past patterns? How do you account for these changes, or lack of change?

Remember again to be specific and concrete, incorporating material from the readings and classes as well as our housing findings. Be sure to place our findings in historical context by reviewing relevant information about the past and assessing how we got to the present moment. Remember also, the strongest papers offer nuanced, not absolutist, arguments.

This paper should be approximately 10 pages, and takes the place of a final exam. It is due at 4:00 PM on whatever day our exam was to have been held. It counts as 25 percent of your final grade.

A NOTE ON CLASS ATTENDANCE AND DUE DATES: if you don’t come to class, everyone will lose the benefit of your comments and insight. Therefore, I expect you there. Since everyone has emergencies, you are allowed to miss two class sessions without penalty (except the training and debriefing sessions, which you must attend). You do not need to notify me in advance, but after two absences, your grade will be affected. Written work is still due even if you must miss class on that day. No written work will be accepted beyond the due date unless arrangements have been made with me in advance.

Required books: (these books are also on reserve in the library. Please note that Three Negro Classics is not on reserve, but the selections we are reading from it are on reserve separately, under each author’s name.)

Ira Berlin et al, eds, Remembering Slavery

John Hope Franklin, ed., Three Negro Classics

(we will be reading Washington and Du Bois)

Richard Wright, Uncle Tom’s Children

Stephen Steinberg, Turning Back

Orlando Patterson, The Ordeal of Integration

James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son

Cleveland Sellers, The River of No Return

Grading: class participation: 20 percent

book postings: 15 percent

first paper: 20 percent

discrimination testing and essay: 20 percent (full participation in testing required to pass)

final paper: 25 percent

Topics and Assignments:

September 5: Introduction: Racial formation and the Middle Passage

September 7: The system of slavery

September 12, 14: Slavery: family, community, religion

Reading: Remembering Slavery, chapters 1-3 (or first half of book)

September 19: Slavery: Resistance and rebellion

September 21: Abolition, Dred Scott, life in the North

Reading: Remembering Slavery, chapters 4-5 (or second half of book)

September 26:The Civil War and the new constitutional amendments

September 28: CLI training

* Paper on slavery and memory due *

October 3, 5: Reconstruction, Redemption, sharecropping

Reading: Washington, Up From Slavery (in Negro Classics)

*postings begin: questions on readings*

October 10: Trinity Days

October 12: Jim Crow, lynching, Southern Segregation

No reading for this week: use to begin housing testing?

October 17: The Great Migration

October 19: Debate: Three views on civil rights: Garvey, Du Bois, Washington

Reading: Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk, chaps. 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 14 (in Negro Classics)

Garvey selections (posted on Blackboard)

Ida B Wells, selections (posted on Blackboard)

October 24, 26: Harlem Renaissance to WWII

Reading: Uncle Tom’s Children: “Ethics of Living Jim Crow”; “Big Boy Leaves Home”; “Bright and Morning Star”

October 31, November 2: Economics and civil rights, WWII to Brown

Reading: Notes of a Native Son: “Many Thousands Gone”; “Harlem Ghetto”; “Notes of a Native Son”

November 7, 9: Civil Rights movement: King to SNCC

Reading: River of No Return, chaps. 1-9

November 14, 16: From Civil Rights to Black Power

Reading: River, chaps. 10-21

November 21: Debriefing/discussion of testing

November 23: No class: Thanksgiving

November 28: Eyes on the Prize: Fred Hampton, Attica

*housing essay due*

November 30: Life after the movement

Reading: Turning Back, chaps. 4-10

December 5, 7: Contemporary issues

Reading: Ordeal of Integration, chaps. 1, 3, conclusion

*Final paper is due the date and time officially set for the final exam.