African Diaspora

African-American History:

Colonial Americas through Emancipation

H 381/563*

Fall 2007

Tuesday 5:30-8:10

PY 122

Instructor:       Dr. Omar Ali

Office:              119-B Linthicum Hall

Hours:             By appointment

Telephone:      410-704-2914

E-mail:             oali@towson.edu

Overview:  This is an upper-level course in African-American social and political history. The course begins with African history and continues with the development of the African Diaspora in the Western Hemisphere. We will focus on African Americans in the North American British colonies and the United States of America. Through lectures, readings, classroom discussion, documentaries, and film, we will explore the various ways in which black men and women have advanced liberty and political democracy from the colonial era through Reconstruction.

Course Objectives:  Students will use primary and secondary sources to gain a critical understanding of the social and political history of Africans and their descendents in the Americas beginning in the early 16^th century and continuing through the late 19^th century.

Grading:         Participation (20%)      Quiz (15%)   Midterm exam (35%)     Final/Research Paper (30%)

Required Readings:  

Books

• Clayborne Carson, Emma J. Lapansky-Werner, and Gary B. Nash, eds., African American Lives: The Struggle for Freedom (New York: Longman, 2005)
• Roy E. Finkenbine, Sources of the African American Past (New York: Longman, 2004)
• Michael A. Gomez, Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005)

Documentaries and Films:

• Africans in America (1998)
• Amistad (1997)
• Frederick Douglass: An American Life (1984)
• Glory (1989)

Weekly Schedule

August 28

Introduction and course overview

African Civilizations

Reading: Carson, Chapter 1; Gomez, Chapter 1

September 4

Africa in the Atlantic World

Reading: Carson, Chapter 2

Class Discussion: Finkenbine, pp. 1-5

Documentary: Africans in America: Part 1, 1450-1750 (I: 45 min)

September 11

No class

September 18

Africans in Early North America

Reading: Carson, Chapter 3; Gomez, Chapter 2

Class Discussion: Finkenbine, pp. 5-9

Documentary: Africans in America: Part 1, 1450-1750 (II: 45 min)

September 25

QUIZ

Slavery in the Colonial Era

Reading: Carson, Chapter 4

Class Discussion: Finkenbine, pp.10-13

Documentary: Africans in America: Part 2, 1750-1805 (I: 45 min)

October 2

The Revolutionary War

Reading: Carson, Chapter 5; Gomez, Chapter 3

Class Discussion: Finkenbine, pp. 19-25

Documentary: Africans in America: Part 2, 1750-1805 (II: 45 min)

October 9

Abolitionism in the Early Republic

Reading: Carson, Chapter 6

Class Discussion: Finkenbine, pp. 30-37

Documentary: Africans in America: Part 3, 1791-1831 (I: 45 min)

October 16

African Americans in the Antebellum South

Reading: Carson, Chapter 7; Gomez, Chapter 4

Class Discussion: Finkenbine, pp.42-51

Documentary: Africans in America: Part 3, 1791-1831 (II: 45 min)

October 23

MIDTERM EXAM

October 30

African Americans in the Antebellum North

Reading: Carson, Chapter 8

Class Discussion: Finkenbine, pp.62-64, 66-70

Documentary: Africans in America: Part 4, 1831-1865 (I: 45 min)

Film: Amistad (selection)

November 6

Prelude to War

Reading: Carson, Chapter 9; Gomez, Chapter 5

Class Discussion: Finkenbine, pp. 72-76

Documentary: Africans in America: Part 4, 1831-1865 (II: 45 min)

November 13

Research Paper Proposal Due (One page summary with attached annotated bibliography)

Civil War and Emancipation

Reading: Carson, Chapter 10

Class Discussion: Finkenbine, pp. 78-80

Film: Glory (selection)

November 20

THANKSGIVING - No class

November 27

Reconstruction and Black Populism

Reading: Carson, Chapter 11; Gomez, Chapter 6

Class Discussion: Finkenbine, pp. 84-85, 90-94

Documentary: Transforming America: The Populist Challenge

December 4

FINAL EXAM/RESEARCH PAPER (Day and time TBA)

Grading Policy:

Attendance is mandatory. For every recorded absence there will be a 2.5% deduction in the student’s overall grade. For every three times that a student is late for class (that is, by the time I take attendance), 2.5% will be deducted. A note from a physician (or university nurse) will be required for illnesses or injuries that result in students missing class. The note must be presented within a week after missing class. Written proof of having attended a funeral or the mandatory presence of a family illness will be required upon return from class if either of those reasons is presented for missing a class.

There is no make-up Midterm. The only exceptions are: (1) if a student is too ill or injured to show up to class and provides a note from a physician stating this, (2) the student must attend either a family funeral or (3) a family illness – again providing written proof. Students will only receive the full 5% for class participation if they are consistently active in class. Students will be expected to bring their copy of Finkenbine’s Sources of the African American Past for in-class readings and analysis.

RESEARCH PAPER should be handed-in the following way:

• No more than 15 pages (including footnotes and bibliography)
• Typed, 12-point font size (Times New Roman, Garamond, or Sabon font)
• Double-spaced with 1" page margins
• Student name and date on the top left-hand corner
• Paginated at the bottom center and stapled on the top left-hand corner

(unstapled papers, or papers with paper clips, will not be accepted)

Bring in at least one blue book for the Midterm as well as for the Final exam.

Plagiarism and cheating will not be tolerated. See Student Academic Integrity Policy, Appendix F, University Catalogue, Part V. A standard plus-minus grading scheme will be used.

*Graduate students taking this class as H563 need to complete a 12-page paper on an approved topic by the last day of class in addition to fulfilling the requirements listed above.

QUESTIONS

1. In the 1640s what took place in Virginia law?

2. In which year did Nat Turner's Rebellion take place?

3. When did Haiti become a republic?

4. The first group of Africans brought to North America was at (location) _____________

5. The _________ rule was imposed in congress regarding anti-slave petitions.

6. What was the abolitionist party known as?

7. Who was the editor of the North Star? (full name, correctly spelled)

8. When were the first group of Africans taken to the New World?

9. More Africans were assimilated in the Atlantic World than the Indian Ocean world: T or F

10. Approximately how many slaves were brought to the Americas?

11. Where did they mostly go?

12. When did the Atlantic slave trade end?

13. Who wrote The Interesting Life? (full name, correctly spelled)

14. Which two northern states were the last to abolish slavery?  ___ and  _____

15. Thomas Jefferson doubled the nation's size through the _______

16. In which stat did Gabriel Prosser's rebellion take place?

17. When did the massive slave uprising begin on Saint Domingue?

18. Who was the leader of the Haitian Revolution? (correct spelling)

19. Islam was founded in the Iberian peninsula.

20. Slavery was not part of the sub-Saharan tradition prior to European contact? T or F

21. In which decade did the Second Great Awakening take place?

22. Salt and gold were the primary products traded across the western Sahara?

23. in what city was Mansa Musa based?

24. Besides indentured servitude what was the other primary form of labor in the Caribbean during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries?

25. The extension of white male suffrage was embodied in the following president's tenure?