HIST 314: CALENDAR
Summer 2016
IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
1) All projects--essays, power points, maps, etc.--become part of the course website and thus part of
the course’s material. So, keep in mind that
a) you are writing for yourself (to show what you know) and for others (to inform them)
b) you are responsible for knowing all of the posted, research-based material.
2) All research for a project must be indicated through a) parenthetical notes and b) a bibliography
in proper Chicago Manual format. Failure to provide this documentation = plagiarism.
(The notes and bibliography do not count in the word count for the project.)
3) Even if project appears to be “fun,” it is a serious academic assignment. Treat it as such; write
with precision, focus, and attention to detail; be concise and use correct grammar, punctuation,
and Chicago Manual formatting. (Use the “Writing Checklist” and the “Project Checklist.”)
4)
Late projects must be received within 48 hours
of their 11:59 p.m. deadline.
All (project and comment) requirements must be met
in order to pass the course.
Assignments = required for everyone, regardless of project completed.
Projects = graded work; students must do two per week, only one per section (350-600
words; 12-point Times Roman; double-spaced; name, wee/section, word count, and “I
pledge” in header; parenthetical notes and bibliography)
Section #1 projects must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.
Section #2 projects must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Thursday.
Section #3 projects must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Saturday.
Responses/Comments = responses to projects & classmates’ comments (150-200 words)
Must complete at least two a week: one due by 11:59 Thursday, one by 11:59
p.m. Sunday. (Additional comments may be posted at any point.)
Summary = weekly list of projects & comments (with i.d./dates); due by Sunday, 11:59 p.m.
Include name, week/section, word count, and “I pledge” in header.
e.g., Ferrell, 1-1, 553 words, “I pledge.”
***If submissions are not pledged, they will not be accepted—
they will be deleted from the website & cannot be “replaced” by a new submission.
General text: American Yawp--A Free and Online, Collaboratively Built American History Textbook
(americanyawp.com):
This is a general overview of American history. As African American history is American history, it provides
relevant information in every chapter. It thus provides a useful starting point, although students will
frequently need to do additional research to gather and use the necessary context explanations and
examples.
For the first week of the session, the following chapters of Americanyawp are of value:
Chapter 14 – Civil War
Chapter 15 – Reconstruction
Chapter 16 – Capital and Labor
WEEK 1 – DEFINING FREEDOM
● Students must submit a 200-300 word autobiography to introduce themselves to each other and to
the instructor. (Due by 11:59 p.m. Monday.) They must also respond to at least six introduc-tions.
[See instructor’s bio as a sample. Save bio as PDF and post on course webpage; title of post =
student’s name.]
Section 1: Reconstruction
CLASS ASSIGNMENTS (required of everyone):
FILMS:
MOOC -- The Civil War and Reconstruction (Youtube):
What Is Freedom (7:30)
The “Labor” Question (9:52)
The “Land” Question (9:51)
Land, Labor, and the Black Codes (10:07)
Slavery by Another Name (Youtube 1:23:41; also available on videos.umw.blogs  Ferrell History
[password: ferrellhistory])
READINGS:
Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments
1864 and 1875 Civil Rights Acts [available from the Avalon Project at http://avalon.law.
yale.edu/ ]
Douglass, “Reconstruction” (originally 1866) (2009 5 p.)
PROJECT OPTIONS:
 Remember that required readings and films are the foundation of every project. Use them.

Define “freedom” by explaining the progression of citizenship defined by section
1 of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteen Amendments and by the 1864 and
1875 Civil Rights Acts.

Explain how peonage demonstrated the difficulty of ending slavery when the
southern social and economic system remained largely unchanged.
Section 2: Early Leaders, Education, and Migration
CLASS ASSIGNMENTS (required of everyone):
FILMS:
Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice (Youtube 56:47)
The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, 1892-1940 (first half)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvVIvYgM78s)
Frederick Douglass: When the Lion Wrote History (second half) (videos.umwblogs.org
Ferrell History [password: ferrellhistory])
MOOC – The Civil War and Reconstruction (Youtube):
Some Black Political Leaders (10:10)
The Freedman’s Bureau (10:32)
READINGS:
Cummings, “The Rhetoric of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner” (1982 10 p. text)
Johnson and Johnson, “Away from Accommodation: Radical Editors and Protest
Journalism, 1900-1910” (1977 10 p. text)
Forth, “Booker T. Washington and the 1905 Niagara Movement Conference” (1987 10 p.
text)
ASHE Higher Education Report, “Historical Origins of HBCUs (2010 5 p.)
PROJECT OPTIONS:
 Remember that required readings and films are the foundation of every project. Use them.

Use the required “assignments”—and Mixon, “Henry McNeal Turner Versus the
Tuskegee Machine: Black Leadership in the Nineteenth Century” (1994 14 p.
text)—to explain the range of leaders, solutions, and make-up of African
Americans in the late 1800s.

Choose two speeches from the list of 1878-1900 speeches on
http://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history-major-speeches, one from the first half of
the period and one from the second half. How do they compare in topic and tone?
What concerns and context does each reflect? Do they suggest changes in
national interests and black status?

Compare (1895) Booker T. Washington, "The Atlanta Compromise
Speech" AND (1896) Hope, “We Are Struggling For Equality,” at
http://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history-major-speeches. Where do they agree?
Disagree? What does their agreement/disagreement suggest about black
leadership and black problems in the late 1800s?

Build on the Cummings article by reading the following short articles: Meacham,
“The Exoduster Movement” (2003 10 p.); Dicks, “Eliza Bradshow: An Exoduster
Grandmother” (2003 6 p.); Basko, “The Exoduster Experience: Before and After
Migration” (1997 4 p.); Williams, “Black Newspapers and the Exodusters of 1879”
(1985 9 p.). Use them to write an explanation of Exodusters—their motivations,
goals, impacts.

Build on the Forth article by reading Du Bois’s critique of Washington in chapter 3
of The Souls of Black Folk (available full text on multiple websites). Write an essay
that summarizes his major concerns.

Read reviews of W.E.B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk through
http://www.webdubois.org. Write an essay that presents the positive and negative
critiques.

Research Ida Wells-Barnett’s Red Record at http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/
disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=3&psid=3620. Create a chart or diagram that explains her view
of lynching: as white Americans understood, defined, and used it and as she
counters. Provide a 350-600 word text to clarify. Be sure that your clarification
includes an official definition of lynching.
Section 3: Race, Sport, and Organization
CLASS ASSIGNMENTS (required of everyone):
FILMS: Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (Youtube 3:33:26)
READINGS:
Kaye, “The Canonization of ‘Tiger’ Flowers: A Black Hero for the 1920s” (1998 14 p. text)
WEBSITE:
Bunk, “Harry Wills and the Image of the Black Boxer from Jack Johnson to Joe Louis
(2012 12 p. text)
ONLINE:
history and timeline of the organization on naacp.org
PROJECT OPTIONS:
 Remember that required readings and films are the foundation of every project. Use them.

Using the “Founding and Early Years” section of the Library of Congress’s
exhibition “NAACP: A Century in the Fight for Freedom, 1909-1009,” write an
overview of—or prepare a power point and 350-600 word narrative (total from
“notes” section) on—the NAACP’s origins, accomplishments, and growth from
1909/1910 to the 1920s. (loc.gov/exhibits/naacp)
TIP: For “notes,” click on “View” and then “Notes Page.” Your power point will be on the top of the
screen; a notes page that you can type into will be on the bottom.
If submitting a power point, post on the website AND send to instructor in two forms: power point (so that
“notes” can be accessed) and text of “notes” section as a pdf (in case there is a problem viewing “notes”).

Graziano, “The Early Life and Career of the ‘Black Patti’: The Odyssey of an
African American Singer in the Late Nineteenth Century” (2000 40 p. text). Using
this article and images available online, provide a useful overview and analysis of
Matilda Sissieretta Jones’s life and career.

Using the assigned readings and any additional research on Johnson, Flowers,
Wills, or Louis, write an essay that compares two of the four and focuses on the
impact of their time period on their opportunities and reception.

Research another sport’s racial history in the late 1800s and early 1900s: horse
racing (jockeys), college football, cycling. (Be sure to use scholarly sources
through UMW databases, not just the “surface web” [and, if you use the latter,
check their “about” pages to ensure that what you are using is reliable].)
Summary of week’s work due by 11:59 p.m. Sunday. Submit to instructor as an e-mail
attachment. (Use instructions and model on course website.)