HS 251 - African-American History and Culture

2.  Through the use of primary source analysis both individually and in groups, students will be asked to think critically about the interplay between and among African-Americans both at home and abroad from pre-contact through the modern era. Particular attention will be paid to the impact African-American culture has had on the international arena and the impact that race has had on modern American society and politics. (GELO 5)

3.  Using the concept of Race as a Social Construct, students will explore the scholarship surrounding the creation of modern racism as it relates to, African-Americans and Whites. Particular attention will be paid to the Reconstruction era, the Civil Rights movement and to the creation of Whiteness in post 1940’s America. (GELO 4)

4.  Through the study of History, students will learn how past generations have labored to explain the world, explore causation for diverse cultural traditions, and appreciate the diversity and complexities of the global community in general and American society in particular. (GELO 3)

5.  Through learning historical methods of analysis, students will be able to conduct primary and secondary research, analyze data, craft academic arguments about historical causation and social significance, and effectively present their findings both orally and in written form. (GELO 5)

6.  Through selected readings, lectures, group discussions, and documentary films, students will comprehend how changing historic context and social, political, economic, and cultural conditions African-Americans faced from Pre-contact through the present, impacted the behavior of individuals, the operation of societal institutions and/or the perception of social phenomena (such as Civil Rights, Immigration, Great Depression, and war). (GELO 3)

7.  Through detailed analysis and comparison of primary and secondary sources, students will explore questions and hypotheses related to political power, agency of the common people, race relations, social class, gender, and shifting value systems using the African-American experience as a lense. (GELO 3)

8.  Students will analyze the complex relationship between the social construction of race, race science, gender politics and their impacts on modern politics, health care, socio-economic status, and education. (GELO 4)
Course Outline:
 

I. Race as a Social Construct

    A. Race Theory (Biology)

    B. Race Theory (History)

    C. Race in Modern America

II.  Ancient Africa and the Slave Trade

    A. African Kingdoms

    B. Islam and Sub-Sharian Africa

    C. Slave Systems In Africa

    D. Portugal and the Gold Coast

    E. Sugar and Slaves

    F. The Middle Passage

III. Slavery in the Colonial World

    A. Slavery in the Caribbean

    B. Spanish Slave Systems

    C. Dutch Slave Systems

    D. English Slave Systems

    E. Slavery in the Fourteen British Colonies

IV. African-Americans in Revolutionary America

    A. Revolt and Resistance

    B. Slave Culture

    C. Slavery and the American Revolution

V. African-Americans and the Early American Republic

    A. The Great Irony: Slavery and the American Constitution

    B. Slaves and Free Blacks in Early America

    C. The Rise of the AME Church and Early Resistance to Slavery

    D. Early Slave Revolts

VI. King Cotton

    A. Language and Slavery (Labor Camps and “Workers”)

    B. Cotton and Economic Growth

    C. Plantation Life in the Cotton Kingdom

    D. Westward Expansion and Slavery

    E. Political Explosions and Bleeding Kansas

    F. The Underground Railroad

    G. Frederick Douglass and the Heart of Resistance

VII. Slavery and the Civil War

    A. Emancipation and War

    B. Blacks in the Military

    C. Race and American Identity

VIII. Reconstruction and Jim Crow America

    A. Civil War Amendments

    B. The Rise of Jim Crow and Broken Promises

    C. Accommodation or Resistance

    D. The Birth of the Civil Rights Movement

    E. Violence and Lynchings

IX. Imperialism, World War One and the African-American Experience

    A. Race and Empire

    B. World War One

    C. 1920’s and the Harlem Renaissance

X. World War II and the African American Experience

    A. Race and Warfare

    B. Race on the Homefront

    C. Civil Rights and Job Inequality

XI. Post War America and the Civil Rights Movement

    A. Accommodation vs. Resistance

    B. Cold War and Race

    C. FHA and the Creation of Whiteness

    D. Institutionalized Racism and the Criminal Justice System

XII. Modern America and Race

    A. Modern Themes in Race

    B. Reflection and Review

Papers: 30-40%

Essay Exams: 40-60%

Presentations, Group Work, and Participation: 10-20%

Quizzes and Written Assignments: 10-20%
Equivalent Courses:
None