Dale T. Graden Fall Semester 2000

Admin 208 Thurs 3:30 – 6:00

Office: Admin 305 A

Office Hours: Wednesday 3:30-4:30 or by appointment

Office telephone: 885-8956

The purpose of this course is to offer an overview of the rise and fall of African slavery in the Americas from the 15^th to 19^th centuries. Through readings, discussion and films, we shall analyze how slavery became the predominant mode of production in the Americas until the late 19^th century. Emphasis in this course is placed on African-American cultural expression and slave resistance in all of its manifestations.

My goal is for this course to be a unique opportunity for us to read and reflect upon the historical underpinnings of international race relations. W.E.B. DuBois wrote in the early 20^th century that issues related to race would be among of the most important challenges to North Americans in the 20^th century. His words have proven prophetic, not only for North America, but for the world. Race and racism present provocative and complex questions. This class will give us a chance to read about, discuss and seek solutions to questions and dilemmas we face as individuals and regions.

It is important that you attend the seminar every Thursday afternoon and participate in the discussions. At every class meeting there will be opportunities for an exchange of ideas. A course of this nature can only be successful through your active involvement and participation. I encourage debate and questions. Feel free to question my interpretations. I want our class to be an environment where each of you is challenged to think critically about the complex questions faced by all inhabitants of the Americas. I am hopeful that this course inspires you to grapple with themes related to slavery, emancipation and modern-day race relations.

I reserve the right to determine a grade based on attendance and participation. If you miss more than three class meetings during the semester without an excuse, your final mark will drop by a grade. If you cannot attend a class for health or other legitimate reasons, please inform me by email. I want to emphasize that we all benefit by your commitment to this class from beginning to end.

This is a writing course. You will be required to write four short book critiques of 3-4 typewritten pages during the semester. Each paper is worth twenty-five (25) points and your participation is worth ten (10) points. I determine the final grade based on 110 points. There are no formal written examinations in this course.

If you are taking this class for graduate credit, I request that you write an extra paper of five to ten (5-10) pages on a topic of your choice. This paper will be worth thirty (30) points, and the final grade of graduate students will be based on 140 points.

The 3-4 page critiques of a single book are assigned to all students to ensure that you read the book thoroughly and come to the class meetings prepared to share your insights. Your paper should address some theme(s) that you consider relevant and worthy of analysis. I would prefer not to receive a superficial overview of the book in these short essays. Rather, point out what you consider to be key arguments of the author and write about them. Don’t hesitate to make comparisons to other books or to express your own opinions or interpretations. Good examples of book critiques can be found in The New York Review of Books and other magazines and journals which provide critical analyses of recent publications.

Please, write the critique two or three days before the due date, so that you can return to the computer the day before you hand it to me and make corrections and refinements. I have read hundreds of these short papers, and I know when someone has scribbled down a bunch of ideas the night before and when the assignment has been approached seriously. I believe that these short papers are among the most important exercises that you can do as a student at a university. Why do I believe this, you ask! Because the majority of students graduate from universities and colleges across the land unable to read and write effectively. You are welcome to rewrite a critique; any paper you submit a second time will be taken into consideration when I determine the final grade. You are also welcome to write as many times as you wish, and I will read each of your papers with great interest.

You are welcome to send me a preliminary version of the paper for comments via email attachment. Please feel free to contact me by email with regards to any questions related to the papers or the course. I also encourage you to take advantage of my office hours if you feel that you need suggestions or advice of any sort.

The book critiques are due in class on the day that we discuss the reading assigned for that week. Be sure to have the critique with you to hand in at the class meeting, and be prepared to share your ideas to fellow members of the class. Some of my most important insights and intellectual growth have come out of these discussions. Late papers are not accepted. I will return the essay to you at the following class meeting. You are welcome and encouraged to rewrite the paper after reviewing my comments and suggestions. The grade will not change, but I do take into consideration revisions of essays. Also, you are welcome to write as many times as you like; I pay close attention to such efforts. Make the papers interesting; use your creativity. I get very high when I read words and thoughts which pique my curiosity.

Everyone is required to write the first short paper on Madison Smartt Bell, All Souls’ Rising. That first critique is due on Thursday September 21. After the first writing assignment, you have a choice of three other critiques from the assigned readings for the course. If there is a particular book you would like to critique and that is related in some way to the topics we are addressing, please let me know and we can consider it.

I also encourage you to subscribe to The New York Times at a reduced semester rate. You can pick up the paper every weekday in the basement of Administration Building. The New York Times provides some good coverage of African-American culture and history. The UI library also subscribes to this newspaper.

The following books are available at the UI Bookstore and are on reserve in the library.

David Northrup, The Atlantic Slave Trade

Henry Louis Gates, Pioneers of the Black Atlantic: Five Slave Narratives

Madison Smartt Bell, All Souls’ Rising

Robert Edgar Conrad, Children of God’s Fire

Mason Lowance, ed., Against Slavery

Ira Berlin, Remembering Slavery

Miguel Barnet, Biography of a Runaway Slave

Week One, Aug. 31

Reading: Madison Smartt Bell, All Souls’ Rising, begin

Introduction; indigenous slavery; the beginnings of the international slave trade from Africa to the Americas

Week Two, Sept. 7

Reading: Bell, All Souls’ Rising. Recommended is David Northrup, The Atlantic Slave Trade.

The international slave trade; urban and rural slavery.

Week Three, Sept. 14

Reading: Bell, All Souls’ Rising.

The Haitian Revolution

Week Four, Sept. 21

Reading: Bell, All Souls’ Rising, conclude

At this meeting, the first required book critique is due based on All Souls’ Rising.

Week Five, Sept. 28

Reading: Gates and Andrews, Pioneers of the Black Atlantic, introduction and 182-280.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African: Written by Himself.

Week Six, Oct. 5

Reading: Gates and Andrews, Pioneers, 280-365

Continued discussion of Alaudah Equiano’s narrative

Week Seven, Oct. 12

Reading: Gates and Andrews, Pioneers, 30-180

Narratives of the "Most Remarkable Particulars"

On Oct. 12, second optional critique is due on one or more of the narratives from Gates and Andrews, Pioneers of the Black Atlantic

Week Eight, Oct. 19

Reading: Robert Conrad, Children of God’s Fire, begin. Your choice of readings. Recommended is Dale T. Graden, "An Act ‘Even of Public Security’: Slave Resistance, Social Tensions and the End of the International Slave Trade to Brazil, 1835-1856," Hispanic American Historical Review 76:2 (May 1996), 249-282.

The international slave trade trade; British anti-slavery efforts; slavery in the cities and countryside of Brasil

Week Nine, Oct. 26

Reading: Conrad, conclude

Abolition in Brasil

Third optional critique due on Conrad.

Week Ten, November 2

Reading: Lowance, Against Slavery, xiii-xlvi, 3-9, 38-44

Two abolitionist movements in the US

Week Eleven, Nov. 9

Reading: Lowance, 87-143 and your choice of one other author

Comparative abolitions

Fourth optional critique is due on Lowance readings

Week Twelve, Nov. 16

Reading: Berlin, Remembering Slavery, introduction and 1-119

Slavery and freedom

Week Thirteen, Nov. 30

Reading: Berlin, Remembering Slavery, 121-277

Fifth optional critique due on Berlin

Week Fourteen, Dec. 7

Reading: Barnet, Biography of a Runaway Slave, begin

Cuba in the nineteenth century

Week Fifteen, Dec. 14

Reading: Barnet, Biography, conclude

Testimonial literature

Sixth optional critique due.

Short Bibliography for Comparative Slavery and Emancipation in the Atlantic World

International Slave Trade, Slavery, Emancipation

Robin Blackburn, The Making of New World Slavery: From the Baroque to the Modern, 1492-1800

Robin Blackburn, The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, 1776-1848

David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770-1823

David Brion Davis, Slavery and Human Progress

Diedrich, Gates, Pedersen, eds., Black Imagination and the Middle Passage

Seymour Drescher, From Slavery to Freedom

David Eltis, Economic Growth and the Ending of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

David Eltis, The Rise of African Slavery in the Americas

Barbara Solow, Slavery and the rise of the Atlantic System

Hugh Thomas, The Slave Trade

John Thornton, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1680

Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger

James Walvin, Black Ivory: A History of British Slavery

Caribbean

Hilary Beckles and Verene Shepherd, eds., Caribbean Slave Society and Economy

Franklin W. Knight and Colin A. Palmer, eds., The Modern Caribbean

Fernando Ortiz, Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar, trans. Harriet De Onis (Durham: Duke Univ. Press, 1995 [1947])

Miguel Barnet, Biography of a Runaway Slave

Walter Rodney, A History of the Guyanese Working People, 1881-1905

Martin Ros, Night of Fire: The Black Napoleon and the Battle for Haiti, trans. Karin Ford-Treep

Brasil

Robert Edgar Conrad, Children of God’s Fire: A Documentary History of Black Slavery in Brazil

João José Reis, Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia, trans. Arthur Brakel

Emilia Viotti da Costa, The Brazilian Empire

Hendrik Kraay, ed., Culture and Politics in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Afro-Bahia

Ruth Landes, City of Women

Amelia Simpson, Xuxa: The Mega-Marketing of Gender, Race and Modernity

Abdias do Nascimento, Brazil: Mixture or Massacre: Essays on the Genocide of a Black People

US

Winthrop Jordan, White over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812

Ira Berlin, Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America

John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans, 7^th edition.

Robert William Fogel, Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery

Eugene Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World The Slaves Made

C. Peter Ripley et.al., eds, Witness for Freedom: African American Voices on Race, Slavery and Emancipation

W.E.B. DuBois, Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880