History 97D, Section 5: U.S. History
Fall 2009
Anthony A. Lee
[email protected]
(310) 801-1772 (for emergencies only, please)
Class: Mondays, 9:00-11:50 a.m. in Public Affairs 2325
Office Hours: 12:00-12:50 p.m. in Bunche Hall, Room 7266
SYLLABUS
Introduction to Historical Practice
African American Slavery: Interrogating Biography and Autobiography
This seminar is a prerequisite for the major in history and is therefore designed for
students with little exposure to history courses at UCLA. I understand, however, that
some of you are upper-division, transfer students for whom this may be your last required
class for the major. The course is intended both to provide a sense of the importance of
history for understanding yourselves and for understanding culture and society. It is also
intended to stimulate your interest in historical understanding as a practice and as a
possible profession.
ASSIGNED READING
This course is a seminar and will require a great deal of reading and writing during the
quarter. The books we will read are biographical or autobiographical works of African
American slaves. They are all available for purchase at the campus bookstore:
Frederick Douglass, My Bondage My Freedom (New York: Dover Publications,
1969 [1855]). Chapters 1-21.
John Parker, His Promised Land, ed. by Stuart Seely Sprague (New York: W.W.
Norton & Company, 1996).
Melton A. McLaurin, Celia, A Slave (New York: Avon Books, 1991).
Nell Irvin Painter, Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol (New York: W. W. Norton
& Company, 1996).
Belinda Hurmence, ed., My Folks Don’t Want Me to Talk About Slavery
(Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 1984).
Equiano Olaudah, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
(Boston: St. Martin’s Press, 1995 [1791]). Optional: Can be found online.
THE GOALS OF THE COURSE
In designing this course, the department has determined that History 97 should cover
topics such as:
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the nature of historical thinking
the importance of the past for the present
narrative and explanation in history
accuracy and interpretation in history
the politics of historical interpretation
Our goals for this seminar include the development of critical thinking and writing skills,
as well as your oral presentation skills, and the ability to recognize, discuss, and analyze
primary historical sources. As we will see, the history of African American slavery
provides an ideal topic by which to achieve these goals.
THEMES IN THE HISTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN SLAVERY
Although our readings will provide an enormous number of facts about African American
history—and these will not be ignored—our primary purpose in reading these texts
together is to interrogate them. The texts offer up a number of historical issues and
problems that we will explore. These are fundamental problems of African American
history, and these problems will be our primary focus. They center on the theme of the
erasure of slave culture and of the slave experience.
My Bondage My Freedom is the autobiography (the second of three) of perhaps the most
famous American slave. His story has often been seen as typical for all slaves. Here we
encounter the historical problem of the paradigmatic individual who erases ordinary
experience.
Celia, A Slave is the biography of an ordinary slave woman whose victimization by the
system of bondage has recently become well known. However, the book is an example
of the erasure of slave community and culture in historical writing.
John Parker’s autobiography, published as His Promised Land, is an exciting story. But
here we must ask how far this story illumines the slave experience and how far it
obscures it.
Nell Painter’s biography, Sojourner Truth, explicitly deals paradigmatic individuals and
the manufacture of heroes. What is recovered and what is erased?
The book My Folks Don’t Want Me to Talk About Slavery provides an opportunity to
evaluate oral history—interviews with former slaves from the 1930s. As a selected,
abridged, and edited volume, how much of the slave experience has been erased?
Finally, Equiano’s book is a classic slave narrative. However, questions concerning its
authenticity have recently been raised in the academic literature. We will study those
questions.
GRADING PROCEDURES
Please remember: this is a seminar and for you to gain full benefit from it (and earn the
best possible grade) you must be prepared for class and ready to engage in discussion
about each week’s reading! Most class sessions will consist of a discussion of the
reading assignments.
There will be no final examination for the course, and no mid-term exams. Your grade
will be based on your performance on the following assignments, which are both oral and
written. You must complete a minimum of 25 pages of writing for this class:
Class Participation (25%): Students must come to class having read the appropriate
assignment and prepared to participate in a critical discussion of the material. You
should be prepared to ask questions in class and be prepared to answer questions when
they are asked in class. Students will be asked to lead classroom discussions of various
topics.
Book Review (25%): Students will turn in a critical review essay (10-12 pages in length)
on any one of the required texts. This paper should assess the strengths and weaknesses
of one of these books. The book review should make use of four or five outside sources
(other books on the same subject, published reviews of your book, other books by the
same author, etc.) that either discuss the book being reviewed or the issues raised by that
book.
Oral Presentation (20%): You will also be asked to give an oral presentation (no
written assignment at this point) that will consist of a critical assessment of some aspect
of one of the historical issues raised or one of the historical problems presented in one of
our texts. That is, you will find one issue/problem raised in the books that we have read
that merits further discussion. Your presentation will require additional research and will
be an assessment of the primary and secondary literature on your topic, with
accompanying analysis. The presentation is intended to be a preliminary oral version of
your final paper, sort of a dress rehersal.
Final Paper (30%): Your final paper (12-15 pages) should be a more complete
discussion of the material already presented to the class in your oral presentation. It will
be a full treatment of the same historical issue you have already discussed. The paper
will summarize approaches to the subject found in the secondary literature and provide
your own analysis of the problem from an historical perspective. The final paper should
be properly footnoted and include a full bibliography.
Your final paper is the culminating project of the course. It will find one discreet
historical problem found in the texts we are reading and examine that problem closely.
Your paper should thoroughly discuss the problem as found in your text, and critically
assess its treatment there. You should also discuss all of the academic literature that has
been written about your specific problem. You should then discuss the wider historical
literature that puts your problem in historical context, and finally provide your own
analysis of the issue.
SCHEDULE OF CLASS MEETINGS: Mondays, 9:00-1150 a.m.
September 28:
Introduction and Orientation
What is history? and why should we care?
Critical thinking about the past
What are historical questions?
Handout Readings
October
5
My Bondage My Freedom, Chaps. 1-10
12
My Bondage My Freedom, Chaps. 11-21
19
Celia, A Slave
Handout Readings
26
His Promised Land, including Preface
November
December
2
Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol
9
My Folks Don’t Want Me To Talk About Slavery
Book Review Due
16
Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, Introduction, Chaps. 1-3
Handout reading
23
Oral Presentations and discussion
30
Oral Presentations and discussion
7
Finals Week: No Class
Final papers are due by Monday, June 8, at 12:00 noon.