The
African American Experience
INTG I300 (C437), A369/A569 (A035) FALL 2001, BS 2006, MW 11:00-12:15
Office Hours: MW: 10:00-11:00 Office Hours: MW: 2:30-3:30
Telephone: 274-4755 Telephone: 274-8160
Fax: 274-0097 Fax: 278-7800
Email: uosili@iupui.edu Email: gondola@iupui.edu
Nota
bene: This syllabus and other course materials can
be found on the web page (http://oncourse.iu.edu)
and on the homepages of the Afro-American Studies Program and History
Department. To get to the Afro-American
Studies Program homepage: from http://www.iupui.edu
click on ACADEMICS & RESEARCH; then SCHOOLS & DEPARTMENT; then Afro
HOMEPAGE. To get to the History
Department homepage: click on history HOMEPAGE.
Course Description
This course covers important contemporary economic issues facing African-Americans. It focuses, as a requisite to understanding present-day conditions, on the historical backgrounds that helped to shape the contemporary African American experience. Topics covered in detail in this course include the African roots, the slave trade, the African Diaspora in the Atlantic world, African American experiences in the pre- and post Civil war period, South-North Migration and Urbanization. Contemporary debates on labor, housing and credit market discrimination and affirmative action will also be dealt with in this course.
A. Participation in class discussions (10% which also takes into account attendance). Students will be asked to relate their questions and comments to the assigned readings in order to facilitate productive discussion and engagement of the course materials.
B. Two Reading Reports (10%)
C. Two in-class (midterm and term) exams (2@10%).
D. One 5-7-page paper (30%).
E. One empirical project (30%).
Schedule of
Assignments
Mid-Term Exam: 15 October
Reading Report
(Lemann): 29 October
Term Exam: 10
December
Books [available at the University bookstore. Each student should purchase and read
according to the schedule dates the books required]
All required readings for the course are available at the bookstore and we suggest you purchase all the recommended books. Additional texts and articles (followed by *) we will discuss in class are on E-reserves (Please check with the library for their location). We strongly recommend that you read them at least twice before coming to class. Make notes in your texts or on a separate sheet of paper and highlight or underline the specific passages you want to discuss.
§
Franklin, John Hope & Alfred A, Moss. Jr. From Slavery to Freedom. McGraw Hill, 2000.
(N.B. A reading assignment followed by (**) indicates that students are required to write a 3-5 (double-spaced) pages reading report summarizing briefly the main theses, ideas, interests, etc. of the work AND presenting a critique AND your personal insight.
·
Ethnic
Notions (1986)
·
Africans
in America: The Terrible Transformation, 1450-1750 (1983)
·
Nighjohn (1991)
·
African Americans (1993)
·
Against the Odds: Artists of the Harlem
Renaissance (1993)
·
Eyes on the Prize (1987)
·
Sankofa (1992)
·
Pride & Prejudice: A History of Black Culture
in America (1994)
The classroom is an environment of learning par excellence. Not only do students learn from the instructor and by their own critical analysis of the material but they also learn from fellow students. It is, of course, an intimate and ever-changing space where students are constantly asked to share opinions and critically analyze the issues as they are being presented by the instructor and fellow students. Participation in class discussions is instrumental in the student’s ability to analyze and assimilate information. Do not feel shy to ask a question, raise an issue or interject a thought. There are several ways to get prepared for class discussions. Here are some tips on how students can enrich discussion of the course materials: (1) Spend time before each class preparing for discussion by making notes in your texts or on a separate sheet of paper pertaining to specific passages from the readings that you want to discuss. (2) During class discussions, when raising a question or point about the assigned readings, make specific references to texts, authors and page numbers in question. (3) Listen carefully to an interlocutor’s question and position before responding and making your own comment. Try not to make assumptions about your interlocutor’s intentions or motivations based on his/her gender or origin. Never hesitate to ask your interlocutor to clarify or restate her/his position.
Empirical Project
(Data Analysis Project)
Objective: The empirical project is designed to provide exposure to answering an economic question, which is relevant to the broad themes in this course.
Process: Identify a well-defined economic question in the African-American experience. Explain why it is an important economic question. Briefly describe conclusions reached on this question in existing literature Assemble some data that is relevant to answering the question that you have posed. Present the data in a manner that sheds light on your question. Analyze your data and carefully describe what evidence the data provides about your research question. Explain the limitations of the data. Conclusions –draw conclusions based on your research findings and previous research on the topic.
We believe that a grade is less a reward for or a penalty against the student’s intelligence than a reflection of the student’s proficiency to write clearly and persuasively a paper on a given topic. Organization and pertinence of ideas, as well as grammar and clarity, are among some the chief criteria we use in grading a paper. With this in mind we give the following grades:
D.
is
for a paper written with a level of grammatical errors that sometimes hinders
the comprehension. Ideas exist but are arranged without a clear logic. Some of
them are obscure and unintelligible. Sentences are confusing…
F.
is
for a paper quickly and poorly written, with incomplete sentences, and often
off-subject. This grade signifies an unacceptable performance in writing a
specific assignment. Usually the
content can hardly be grasped because of a lack of clarity and organization.
Letters
Numbers Letters Numbers Letters Numbers Letters Numbers
A+ 97-100 B+ 85-88 C+ 73-76 D+ 61-64
A 93-96 B 81-84 C 69-72 D 57-60
F 52
Here are some writing
tips:
1. “Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret of style.” Matthew Arnold.
2. “The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.” George Orwell.
3. When writing a paper, do not make unsupported assertions. Try to present the most convincing case for your argument. Think carefully and thoroughly about the evidence you will use to support your position. Always anticipate opposing critiques of your position and opposing arguments. Try to answer or address opposing positions as you present your own position. This will demonstrate that you are aware of alternative viewpoints and that you are capable of proposing and defending a thesis.
4. Your paper should not be a first-draft presentation and organization of your thoughts. Give yourself ample time to read the assigned materials and to consult appropriate sources before making final decisions about your thesis statement and the supporting evidence which will provide structure for your argument and conclusion. For example, you might begin writing your final paper by making very strong statements about a point you aim at defending. However, in consulting the works of scholars in the field, you may see the need to modify your original thesis, or you may be compelled to abandon it altogether. This is to be expected in scholarly research and writing. You should not feel reluctant to change your argument if your reasons for changing it are more convincing than your original reasons for posing it.
5. Please take advantage of all the resources available to you when planning to write your paper. Never hesitate to ask reference librarians for help in trying to locate scholarly sources. Never hesitate to ask us for extra help in thinking through your ideas for the paper. Discussing a topic before researching and writing can help you think of new ideas and new approaches and sources. It can also save time.
6. Always use page numbering and a 12 inch-font. Do not hesitate to use footnotes if you think they might clarify your demonstration. A bibliography should always figure at the end of your paper. Double-spacing is a requirement.
7. Last but not least, always proofread your paper before you hand it in to be graded. Not only does proofread help rid your paper of any grammatical errors and typos that can make its content less comprehensible and appealing, but it also helps to consider re-wording a sentence or improving an existing idea. Proofreading can make a difference in your grade.
Student Dishonesty
1. Cheating
“A Student must not submit substantial portions of the same academic work
for credit or honors more than once without permission of the instructor to
whom the work is being submitted.” This
is only one form of cheating. For more
details, please refer to the Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and
Conducts.
2. pla.gia.rize \vb
–rized; -riz.ing vt [plagiary] (1716)
: to steal and
pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own
: use (a
created production) without crediting the source ~ vi
: to
commit
literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product
derived from
an existing source — pla.gia.riz.er n
—
from the Merriam Webster’s Collegiate
Dictionary, Tenth Edition, 1997, p. 888.
We’ve entered an
age where the amount of information generated and the technology available to
retrieve it have made it easier for anybody to take verbatim words and ideas belonging to somebody else, without the
author’s permission, without reference to the authorship, and by passing them
as his or her own. This is
unacceptable, especially in the academic environment where copyright laws are
supposed to be known and respected by all.
Please always abide by the following rules:
a. Never use and idea that you have borrowed,
without referring to the authorship.
b. Figures, when not your own, should always
be referenced.
c. There is nothing wrong in inserting
quotes in your work, but always give the source (author, work, date and place
of publication, publisher and page number)
While it’s
hard for some of us to assimilate that words and ideas are also property and as
such are subject to copyright laws, we should always remember the Golden
Rule.
(Also refer to the Indiana University Bulletin, 1998-2000: School of Liberal Arts, p. 20-21)
August 22: Why this Course?
August
27: Egypt and
the Beginning of African Civilizations
Davidson: The Ancient World and Africa(*)
Van Sertima: Black Africa and Egypt(*)
29: West African Kingdoms
Franklin & Moss: Chapter 1
September 3: LABOR DAY: NO CLASS
5: Cultural Issues in Traditional Africa
Franklin & Moss: Chapter 2
Mungazi:
The Influence of the Family on Society
(*)
10: Slavery and African Society
Lovejoy: Africa and Slavery(*)
12:
The Making of Slaves
Franklin & Moss: Chapter 3 (pp. 33-44)
4. Slavery and the Making of The African Diasporas
17: Slavery and the Making of the Black Atlantic
Franklin & Moss: Chapter 3 (pp. 44-63)
Equiano: The Interesting Narrative(**)
Bruner:
Tourism in Ghana: The Representation of Slavery…(*)
19:
Slavery and Slave Societies in America
Franklin
& Moss: Chapter 4
Fogel & Engerman. Time on the Cross
September 24:
The Political Economy of Slavery in the American South
Franklin & Moss: Chapter 5
Gavin Wright. The
Political Economy of the Cotton South(*)
26: The Haitian Revolution and its Impact in Antebellum America
Franklin & Moss: Chapter 6
Hunt:
Toussaint’s Image in AnteBellum America(*)
Franklin & Moss: Chapters 7-8
3: Resistance Among Blacks
Scott
James: The Arts of Resistance(*)
Franklin & Moss: Chapters 9-10
Levy: The Anti-Jefferson(*)
October 15: MID-TERM EXAM
17: The Civil War
Fogel & Engerman. Time on the Cross
22: Emancipation
Franklin & Moss: Chapter 11
Fogel & Engerman. Time on the Cross
Rachleff: Community of Former Slaves(*)
24: The Elusive Peace and the Rise of White Supremacy
Franklin & Moss: Chapter 12
Cohen: The Planter Quest for Control(*)
29: The Great Migration and Northern Communities
Lemann. The Great Black Migration and How it Changed America(**)
Meier
& Rudwick. Negroes in the Urban Age(*)
31: Under Jim Crow
Franklin & Moss: Chapter 15
Drake & al.: Between two Wars(*)
November 5: The Harlem Renaissance
Franklin & Moss: Chapter 18
7: Market Discrimination (Black-White Earnings)
Smith
& Welch: Black Economic Progress after Myrdal(*)
Sundstrom:
Last Hired, First Fired? Unemployment and Urban Black
Workers
During the Great Depression(*)
12: Educational Attainment
Jaynes:
The Labor Market Status of Black Americans, 1939-1985(*)
14: Black-White Differences in Wealth and Asset Composition
Blau & Graham:
Black-White Earnings over the 1970s and 1980s
19: Gender Issues
Blau
& Beller: Black-White Earnings:
Gender Differences in Trends(*)
Thanksgiving Break Thanksgiving Break Thanksgiving Break
November 26:
Race, Class, and Culture in America
Roediger: The Wages of Whiteness(*)
28: Affirmative Action in Question
Bell: The Unspoken Limit of Affirmative Action(*)
December 3: Black Holocaust?
Black
Holocaust(*)
5: The Debt
Robert S. Browne: The Economic Case for
Reparations to Black America(*)
December 10: TERM EXAM