HIST 373 - Seminar 19th Cent Amer Hist

Institution:

Simmons University

Subject:

Description:

Over the semester we will examine the establishment of slavery in North America, the economic and political transformation of the states and territories during the Early Republic and antebellum period through the lens of expansion of slavery and the plantation system, the decline of slavery in the North, the establishment of free black communities, the anti-slavery movement, the Underground Railroad and emancipation.. We will explore the complexities of slavery through primary and secondary sources, including slave narratives, antislavery and pro-slavery rhetoric, and the latest scholarship. We will examine the rise of race based slavery and its progeny, racism and evolving race ideologies; changing social relationships between whites and blacks (free and enslaved) throughout the period; slave narratives; the slave trade (internal and international); slave resistance, the Underground Railroad, abolition movement, African cultural retentions/assimilation/integration; women and slavery; children and slavery; free blacks; archaeology at African American historical sites; among other topics. Supplemental articles will be assigned throughout the semester ? most will be available online through the Library databases or on reserve. Finally, we will examine historical memory of American slavery. How do we, as Americans, learn about and/or remember this part of our national history? Who decides what is remembered and what is forgotten? How do interpretations of the past change? How do we reconcile different historians? Viewpoints? What are some of the myths we cling to so tenaciously, what stories prevail in spite of their fallacy? In contrast, what parts of this history do we, perhaps, learn and remember accurately and more clearly. Is this at all possible? How do we come to terms with the failure in our nation?s history to provide and ensure freedom and equality - that all men are created equal? How is that part of our nation?s history reflected in what we learn in the classroom, in public?

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.simmons.edu

Phone Number:

(617) 521-2000

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

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