Course: HIST. 4879
Professor: Dr. Arwin D. Smallwood, Office: 121 Mitchell Hall, Phone (901)
678-3869,
asmallwd@memphis.edu.
HIST. 4879
History 4879
From Africa to America: Blacks in America to 1820
Course Description History 4879:
This course is designed to study the history of African Americans from their time in Africa to their arrival in the Caribbean, South America and North America. This course will examine sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth century African-American History, with a particular focus upon the creolization of Africans during the colonial and early antebellum era in the Caribbean and the Americas. Our major objective include understanding the African Diaspora, the roots of slavery and the creolization of Slaves, Free Blacks and Maroons in the Caribbean and the Americas. The course will also examine the sugar culture of Brazil and the Caribbean, the Tobacco culture of the Chesapeake, the rice and indigo culture of the Carolinas and the Cotton culture of the “Lower” or “Deep South.” Finally this course will also examine the evolution of slave law and relations between Africans, Native Americans and Europeans in the New World. It will also discuss the impact of the American Revolution early Northern emancipation, the anti-slavery movement and the underground railroad, on the new American Republic. This course will conclude by examining Slave Resistance, the rise of the domestic slave trade and the rise of the colonization movements in the United States during the early antebellum period. The format of this course will be to have weekly discussions of the core reading in the class supported by class lecture dealing with the major themes of African-American History. To take this course, students must first have completed History 3881 or African-American Studies 2100.
Objectives:
The purpose of this course is to help students better understand the African-American experience and how that experience was shaped and impacted in America during the colonial and antebellum period. Additionally, this course will give students a detailed and thorough history of both colonial and antebellum slavery in America. Students will be taught to think and write critically and to verbalize historical viewpoints. Students will be expected to critically analyze both events and personalities that have impacted the lives of African Americans to 1820.
Required books for Undergraduates:
Dunaway, Wilma A. Slavery in the American Mountain South
Forbes, Jack D. Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race
Kolchin, Peter. American Slavery 1619 - 1877
Lewis, Bernard. The Muslim Discovery of Europe
Manning, Patrick, Slavery and African Life: Occidental, Oriental, and African
Suggested Readings:
Blassingame, John W. The Slave Community.
Conniff, Michael and Thomas Davis. Africans in the Americas
Cone, James. Martin, Malcolm and America
Franklin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom. 8th edition.
Smallwood, Arwin D. The Atlas of African-American History and Politics
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Theses and Dissertations
Watson, Alan, Slave Law in the Americas
Benjamin Quarles, The Negro in the American Revolution, 3rd ed,
All students will be required to:
Assignment Schedule for Undergraduates:
1st Exam
2nd Exam
Paper Due
Final Exam (See University Exam Schedule)
Grading Policy:
Course grade will be computed as follows:
1st Exam 20%
2nd Exam 20%
Paper 25%
Final Exam 35%
No make up exams (without valid university excuse)
You will be graded on a ten point scale:
A = 90-100
B = 80-89
C = 70-79
D = 60-69
F = 0-59
As a student in this course, you are required to uphold academic integrity in all aspects of the course, especially on examinations and papers, and thus are cautioned to follow the letter and the spirit of the standards outlined in the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities (available online at http://saweb.memphis.edu/judicialaffairs/pdf/CSRR.PDF). Cheating, plagiarism, forgery, and falsification are serious offenses and will be dealt with according to the procedures outlined in the Code. Sanctions for academic dishonesty may include lowered or failing grades on assignments or the course, probation, loss of privileges, and suspension or expulsion from the University.
The Policy about Academic Misconduct of the Department of History at The University of Memphis (available online at http://history.memphis.edu/misconduct_policy.html) contains definitions of terms such as “cheating” and “plagiarism,” procedures for dealing with violations, and sanctions which may be imposed. By taking this course you are obligated to adhere to this policy and are subject to the stated penalties for any violations of academic integrity.
Papers, reviews, projects, and other written work submitted for credit in another class either at The University of Memphis or elsewhere may not be submitted for credit in any class within the Department of History. The Department regards the submission of such work as academic misconduct, an attempt to earn credit for work that was not actually done for the class, and it will result in the same sanctions as prescribed for other academic misconduct.
“Your written work may be submitted to Turnitin.com, or a similar electronic detection method, for an evaluation of the originality of your ideas and proper use and attribution of sources. As part of this process, you may be required to submit electronic as well as hard copies of your written work, or be given other instructions to follow. By taking this course, you agree that all assignments may undergo this review process and that the assignment may be included as a source document in Turnitin.com’s restricted access database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism in such documents. Any assignment not submitted according to the procedures given by the instructor may be penalized or may not be accepted at all.” (Office of Legal Counsel, The University of Memphis, October 17, 2005)
Specific Instructional Objectives:
1. Discuss Africa: Its climate, geography, and people before European exploration.
2. Discuss the Peoples of Africa, Europe and Asia Before the Islamic Conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (Southwestern Europe).
3. Discuss the African or Trans-Saharan Slave Trade and its impact on Africa.
4. Discuss the Oriental or East African Slave Trade and its impact on Africa.
5. Discuss the Occidental or Atlantic Slave Trade and its impact on Africa.
6. Discuss North African Muslims’ Conquest of Iberian Peninsula and its impact on Southwestern Europe.
7. Discuss the relationship between the North African Moors and Muslims and the rise of Portugal and Spain and the rest of western Europe.
8. Discuss the role of North Africans and Moors in the exploration, conquest and colonization of the Americas including: the Caribbean, Central America, South America and the Southwestern United States.
9. Discuss the relationship between the Native Americans and Africans before and during the arrival of Columbus.
10. Discuss the role of Columbus and Spain in beginning the Native American Slave trade to Europe and the Sugar Islands of the Caribbean.
11. Discuss the evolution of racial classifications in Europe and the Americas initianally by the Spanish and Portuguese then latter the Dutch, French, and English.
12. Discuss slave revolts and Maroon Communities in the Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, and Dutch colonies of the Caribbean and the Americas.
13. Discuss the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the European nations enriched by the Trade (Spain, Portugal, France, England, Sweden, Denmark and Holland)
14. Discuss the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the major African nations enriched by the trade (Senegambia, Benin, and Wolof).
15. Discuss the merging of the cultures of Islamic, African, Native, and European Peoples in the Americas.
16. Discuss the evolution and legalization of slavery, Slave Codes, and Black Codes in Spanish (Latin) America.
17. Discuss the evolution and legalization of slavery, Slave Codes, and Black Codes in Portuguese America (Brazil).
18. Discuss the expansion of Sugar Slavery by the Spanish in the Caribbean and Latin America.
19. Discuss the role of maroons, slaves and Native Americans in expanding the Sugar empires of the English, the Swedes, the Dutch and the French in the Spanish Caribbean.
20. Discuss the rise of English Slavery in North America and the Caribbean and its impact on Africans and Native Americans.
21. Discuss the rise of tobacco and slavery in the Chesapeake (Virginia, Maryland and Northeastern North Carolina).
22. Discuss early African-American communities in Virginia (within white settlements, Maroon settlements and frontier settlements amongst the Native Americans).
23. Discuss the rise of Rice and Indigo and slavery in South Carolina, Georgia and Southeastern North Carolina.
24. Discuss the impact of colonial slavery on Indians in the Northeastern and Southeastern Woodlands of North America.
25. Discuss the role of Africans and slavery in the "Triangular Trade" between Africa, America, the Caribbean, and Europe.
26. Discuss the role of African-Americans in the American Revolution and the origins of Sierra Leone.
27. Discuss the emancipation of slaves in the North after the American Revolution and its impact on North-South relations in the new Republic.
28. Discuss the Free Black population of the North and South during the early antebellum period.
29. Discuss the growth of White and Black Abolition during the antebellum period.
30. Discuss antebellum slavery in Southern Appalachia and Tri-racial or Maroon Societies such; ”Portige,” “Black Dutch,” and the “Melungeons.”
31. Discuss the rise of the "Cotton Kingdom" and Missouri Compromise from 1790 to 1820.
32. Discuss the Domestic Slave trade and Slave resistance during the antebellum period.
33. Discus the importance of Emancipation, the establishment and development of the first Black colleges, primary and secondary schools, churches and Businesses and fraternities and sororities in the South during and after Reconstruction.
History 4879 Paper Assignment
Drawing upon the readings for this course and your own research, write a 10 to 12 page paper explaining how the lives of African-Americans were shaped from the 15th century to the early 19th century. Also explain how African Americans survived colonial and antebellum slavery by absorbing and being absorbed by Native Americans and Europeans. Finally explain how acculturation helped to shape the lives and culture of America and the American South. Support your arguments by citing specific sources including books Articles and Primary sources.
Paper Requirements
Paper Format
Papers should be 10 to 12 pages in length with a clear thesis, introduction, body, conclusion, footnotes or endnotes, and a bibliography. Papers are to be typed, double-spaced, and written in clear concise prose. All Papers are due on the due date.
Plagiarism
The use of another individual's ideas or words without proper citation constitutes Plagiarism.
Plagiarism is the worst form of academic misconduct and will result in a grade of “F.” You can avoid plagiarism by citing your sources using Kate Turabian's Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations. If you are unsure about what Plagiarism is, please speak with your T. A. or me.
Late Papers
Papers are due at the start of class on the due date. Late papers will automatically receive a grade of "F."
Grading System for Paper
I. Structure = 25 points
A. Introduction
B. Body
C. Conclusion
D. Footnotes or Endnotes
E. Bibliography
II. Mechanics =25 points
A. Grammar (including proper use of words)
B. Sentence structure and phrasing
C. Overall readability of paper
D. Correct format and usage of footnotes or endnotes
E. Correct format for bibliography
III. Content =50 points
A. Is it apparent that student is familiar with their source?
B. How well does student prove her/his point?
C. Does student use valid comparisons and contrasts?
D. Does the introduction give a thorough overview of paper?
E. Did student integrate book into paper?
F. How well does the paper address its thesis?
G. Does the conclusion bring paper to a proper close?
Paper Components
Thesis
Your paper should have a thesis, a sentence that states the main point of the paper.
Introduction
Your introduction should tell the reader in brief what you are going to discuss in the body of your paper. It should indicate how the paper's contents will be organized and developed.
Body
Using the paper's thesis as a guide, plan the major sections of the paper's body and make sure that each section relates directly to the paper's thesis and logically to the other section(s) in the paper. Provide transitional elements (phrases, sentences, paragraphs) in the paper's body to logically connect ideas, paragraphs, and sections.
Conclusion
Your paper's conclusion should summarize the main points of the paper in much the same manner the introduction prepares the reader for what is to come.
Footnotes or Endnotes
Your paper should contain footnotes or endnotes which cite your sources. Failure to cite sources is plagiarism which will result in the grade of "F" (see Kate Turabian for format and style).
Bibliography
Your paper should have a bibliography which lists the names of sources consulted. (see Kate Turabian).
Schedule of Assignments:
First Five Weeks: Them I -North African Muslims, Asians, Europeans and the African Slave Trades
Week 1:
-The Muslim Discovery of Europe Chapters 1-5 “Contact and the Impact of the North African Muslims on Western Europe and Asia (the Old World).”
-Lecture: “The Muslim Conquest of Southwestern Europe”
Week 2:
-The Muslim Discovery of Europe Chapters 6 - 12 - “The Religion, Economics, Government and Culture of Muslims”
-Lecture: “The North African and Muslim Presence in Europe 1300 to 1492”
Week 3:
-Slavery and African Life Occidental, Oriental, and African Slave Trades. Chapters 1-4 “The Social and economic impact of the slave trades on Africa and Africans” p 1-85
-Lecture: “The Three Slave Trades”
Week 4:
-Slavery and African Life Occidental, Oriental, and African Slave Trades. Chapters 5-6 “Quantitative, economic, morality of slavery and the Slave Trade 1700 to 1900.” p 86-125.
Lecture: “ The Atlantic Slave trades and New World Slavery”
Review for Exam #1
Week 5:
--Slavery and African Life Occidental, Oriental, and African Slave Trades. Chapters 7-9 “Slave life and Society during and at the end of slavery and during the slave trades 1650 to 1900.” p 126 - 177.
Lecture: “ Slaves and soldiers the military impact of Blacks on the new world.”
-Exam #1
Second Five Weeks: Theme II -Red, Black and White: European Colonial Slavery and the Merging of Indian, African and European Cultures
Week 6:
- Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race. Chapters 1-2 “Africans and Native Americans Contacts Across the Atlantic before and after 1500.” p 1 - 64
- Lecture “Race mixing and slavery in the Greater and Lesser Antilles (the Spanish Caribbean Colonies)”
Week 7:
- Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race. Chapters 3-4 “The Evolution of the Terms Negro, Black and Moor, and the origins of classifying Brown Peoples the terms Loros, Pardos, and Mestizo (Classifying Africans, Native Americans and mix-raced people).” P 65 -130.
- Lecture “Slavery in South American and the Caribbean: The Portuguese and the Spanish.”
Week 8:
- Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race. Chapters 5-7” Part African and Part Native American: The Mulato Concept: Its origins and Initial use” p 131 - 190.
- Lecture “Race mixing in South America and Caribbean Colonies”
Week 9:
- Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race Chapters 7-8 “The classification of Native Americans as Mulattoes in Anglo-North America.” p 191 - 238.
- Lecture “Slavery in the British Colonies and race-mixing”
Review for Exam #2
Week 10:
- Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race Chapters 9-10 “Mustees, Half Breeds and Zambos: People of color in the Americas and the Re-Peopling of the Americas.
-Lecture “Red, Black and White: People of color in the Americas.”
pg. 239 - 272
-Exam #2
Third Five Weeks: Theme III -English Colonial and American Ante-bellum Slavery.
Week 11:
-American Slavery 1619 - 1877 Chap 1 -2 “Origins of British colonial slavery.” pg.3- 63.
- Lecture “Tobacco and Slaves: The rise of British colonial slavery”
Week 12:
- American Slavery 1619 - 1877 Chap 3 - 4 “The American Revolution.” pg. 63 - 133.
- Lecture “Free Blacks, Slaves and the American Revolution”
Week 13:
-American Slavery 1619 - 1877 Chap 5 - 6 “The peculiar Institution: Antebellum Slavery.” pg. 133 - 200
-Slavery in the American Mountain South Chap 1-4“The peculiar Institution in the Mountain South.” pg. 1 - 139
Week 14:
-American Slavery 1619 - 1877 Chap 7 “The End of Slavery.” pg. 200 - 239
-Slavery in the American Mountain South Chap 5-7“Resistance and community Building in the Mountain South.” pg. 139 - 263
Week 15:
- END OF CLASS (Review for Final Exam)
-
(See University exam schedule
for final exam)
Further Reading:
Ajayi, j.F.A. and Michael Crowder eds. A Thousand Years of West African History. Bernal, Martin. Archaeological and Documentary Evidence.
Bennett, Lerone Jr. Before The Mayflower: A History of Black America.
Bitterli, Urs. Cultures in Conflict: Encounters Between European and Non European
Cultures. 1492-1800.
Chittick, H.N. and R.I. Rotberg. East Africa and the Orient: Cultural Syntheses in Pre
Colonial Times.
Harris, Joseph E. Africans and Their History.
Hiernaux, Jean. The People of Africa.
Mannix, Daniel. Black Cargos: A History of the Atlantic Slave Trade. 1518-1865.
Oliver, R. and G. Mathew, eds. History of East Africa.
Oliver, R. and C. Oliver eds. Africa in the Days of Exploration.
Pritchard, JJM. Africa: The Geography of a Changing! Continent.
Rout, L.B. The African Experience in Spanish America.
Stamp, Dudley L. and W. T. W. Morgan. Africa: A Study in Tropical Development. Scammell, Geoffrey Vaughn. The World: The First European Maritime Empires 800-1650.
Van Sertina, Ivan. They Came Before Columbus.
Vogt, Jon. Portuguese Rule on the Gold Coast. 1469-1682.
Alderman, Clifford Lindsey. Rum. Slaves and Molasses: The Story of New England’s Triangular Trade.
Beckles. Hilary M. White Servitude and Black Slavery in Barbados. 1627-1715.
Berry, Brewton. Almost White.
Boles, john B. Black Southerners. 1619-1869.
Bridenbaugh, Carl, and Raberta Bridenbaugh. No Peace Beyond the Line: The English in the Caribbean. 1624-1690.
Carr. Lois Green. Colonial Chesapeake Society.
Curtin, Philip. The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census.
Curtin, Philip. Economic Change in Pre-Colonial Africa: Senegambia in the Era of the Slave Trade.
Duignan, Peter, and Clarence Celendenen. The United States and the African Slave Trade. 1619-1862.
Gally, Allan. The Native American Slave Trade.
Greene, Jack P. Pursuits of Happiness: The Social Development of Early Modern British Colonies and the Formation of American Culture.
Law, Robin. The Slave Coast of West Africa. 1550-1750: The Impact of The Atlantic Stave Trade on an African Society.
Price, Richard. Maroon Societies: Rebel Slave Communities in the Americas.
Sheridan, Richard B. Sugar and Slavery: An Economic History of the British West Indies. 1623 – 1775.
Articles
Barund, Kathryn E. Holland. “The Creek Indians, Blacks
and Slavery,” The Journal of Southern History 57 (November 1991)
Covington, James W. “Some Observations Concerning the Florida-Carolina Indian
Slave Trade,” Florida Anthropologist 20 (1967)
Gross, Ariela J. “Of Portuguese Origin”: Litigating Identity and Citizenship
among the “Little Races” in Nineteenth-Century America” Law and History
Review Fall 2007, vol. 25, no. 3
Gross, Alriela J. The Caucasian Cloak”: Mexican Americans and the Politics of
Whiteness in the Twentieth-Century Southwest” The Georgetown Law Journal
vol. 95, no. 2 January 2007
Handler, Jerome S. “The Amerindian Slave Population of Barbados” in the
Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries,” Caribbean Studies 8 (1969)
Price, Edward T. “A Geographic Analysis of White-Negro-Indian Racial Mixtures in
Eastern United States,” Association of American Geographers Annals 43
(June 1953).
Porter, Kenneth W. “Relations between Negroes and Indians
within the Present Limits of the United States,” Journal of Negro History
17 (July 1932)
Smallwood, Arwin D. “A History of Native American and African Relations From
1502 to 1900,“ Negro History Bulletin (April-Sept. 1999)
Willis, William S. “Divide and Rule: Red, White and Black in the Southeast,”
Journal of Negro History 48 (July 1963)
Winston, Sanford. “Indian Slavery in the North Carolina Region,” Journal of
Negro History 19 (October 1934)
Bancroft, Frederick. Slave Trading in The Old South.
Berlin, Ira and Ronald Hoffman. Slavery and Freedom in the Age of the American Revolution.
Berlin, Ira. Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South.
Carroll, Joseph C. Slave Insurrection in the U.S. 1800-1865.
Cashin, Joan. A Family Venture: Men and Women on the Southern Frontier.
Davis, Robert C. Christian Slaves, Muslims Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500-1800.
Du Bois, W.E.B. The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States.
Eaton, Clement. The Growth of Southern Civilization 1790-1860.
Hersh, Blanche Glassman. The Slavery of Sex: Feminist Abolitionists in America.
James, C.L.R. The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the Santo Domingo Revolution.
Jordan, Don and Michael Walsh. White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain’s White Slaves in America.
Katz, William Loren. Black People Who Made the Old West.
Kroger, Larry. Black Slave Holders Free Black Slave Masters in South Carolina from 1790 to 1865
Litwack, Leon. North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States. 1790-1860.
Mathieson, William Law. British Slavery and Its Abolition 1823-1838.
McDougall, Marion Gleason. Fugitive Slaves 1619-1865.
McManus, Edgar J. Black Bondage in the North.
Ott, Thomas O. The Haitian Revolution 1789-1804.
Pessen, Edward. Riches. Class and Power Before the Civil War.
Porter, Kenneth W. The Negro on the American Frontier.
Quarles, Benjamin. Black Abolitionist.
Robinson, Donald L. Slavery in the Structure of American Politics. 1765-1820.
Schwartz, Rosalie. Across the Rio to Freedom: U.S. Negroes in Mexico.
Siebert, Wilbur Henry. The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom.
Stampp, Kenneth ed. A Guide to Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations from the
Revolution through the Civil War.
Stephenson, W. H. Isaac Franklin: Slave Trader and Planter of the Old South.
Vlach, John Michael. Back of the Big House: The Architecture of Plantation Slavery.
Walker, James W. St. G. The Black Loyalists: The Search for a Promised Land in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone 1783-1870.
Watson, Alan, Slave Law in the Americas.
Weinberg, Albert K. Manifest Destiny: A Study of National Expansionism in American History.
Wilson, Ellen Gibson. The Loyal Blacks.