FALL 2001
This is an introductory survey class in African American history. Much of the focus will be on slavery and the emergence of white supremacy and white institutionalized racism. The course will briefly survey the African ancestral past, and the emergence of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. We will look closely at the formative experience of Virginia and North Carolina in the colonial period; the American evolution; and the antebellum period. We will also look at the role of cultural, economic and epidemiological factors that contributed to the emergence of chattel slavery and Anglo-American racism. We will also look at resistance, the slave revolts and conspiracies, and the impact of slavery on both men and women. There will be a paper on the slave narratives.
The major readings will be:
Coursepack of photocopied readings, "Columbus Special Issue"
Vincent Harding, There Is A River
Winthrop Jordan, The White Man's Burden
Second Coursepack of readings on Slavery in the Law
Marvin Kay and Lorin Cary, Slavery in North Carolina
Henry Louis Gates, editor, Classic Slave Narratives
LECTURE LINKS BELOW
first exam covers lectures up to Mutiny on Slaves Ships
Brutal Mistreatment Of Indentured Servants