Revised: 1/22/07 (see revisions in yellow, below)
Mondays, 6:00-9:00 in VMMC 115
Professor: Sue Peabody, History
Office: VMMC 202D
Phone: (360) 546-9647
E-mail: peabody@vancouver.wsu.edu
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 11-12 and by appointment
Department Number (inclement weather, closings, information, etc.): (360) 546-9441
What is slavery? What is freedom? These two terms, so crucial to modern ideologies, were the lived experiences of Africans, Europeans, Native Americans and their descendents. This course will look at how slaves and free people created the legal structures that defined, challenged and policed the boundaries between freedom and slavery from the late seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries in Europe, the Caribbean, Brazil and the United States. Students will have a direct hand in creating a textbook of original documents for use in college courses throughout the United States and beyond.
These books are available through The Bookie. You might be able to find them on-line through www.powells.com, www.amazon.com or, used: www.alibris.com.
Brundage, Anthony. Going to the Sources: A Guide to Historical Research and Writing. Third edition. Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 2002. 978-0-88295-969-6 ($11.95)
McLaurin, Melton A., Celia, A Slave. New York: Harper Collins, 1999. 978-0-380-80336-1 ($5.99)
Tannenbaum,
Frank. Slave and Citizen. Beacon Press, 1992. 978-0-8070-0913-0 ($16.00)
Turabian, Kate. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th
ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. 0-226-81627-3 ($14.00)
20% Participation: Attendance, Participation in: a) class discussions, b) Blackboard discussion threads, c) Extracurricular Activities d) peer review
10% Preliminary Bibliography
10% Historiography Paper
10% Case Summaries
10% Rough Draft
10% Oral Presentation
30%
Final Paper
Blackboard Discussion Threads
For each week that there is common
reading, one or more discussion questions will be posted on the Blackboard
website. You must log in to Blackboard no later than midnight on the Sunday before
class and respond to at least one the question and a response by one of your
classmates.
·
Use an internet browser to access: http://blackboard.vancouver.wsu.edu. (Note: you must type “http://” first!)
Bookmark this page for ready reference.
·
Enter your user name = your last name, all lower case
·
Enter your password = your first name, all lower case.
(Change this to a more secure password once you have entered the site. WSUV
does not recommend entering personal data as there is no guarantee the
information is completely secure, despite password protection.)
·
Use “Communication” è “Discussion
Board” to post Discussion Question assignments
·
Use “Groups” to share files with the whole class or other
members of your workgroup.
Revisions
You may revise and resubmit the Bibliography and the Historiography Paper. If the revised assignment is an improvement on the original, the higher grade will replace the lower one. All such revisions are due NO LATER THAN March 12.
Your preliminary bibliography is a list of the secondary sources that you plan to consult in researching your final paper. It must include at least fifteen items, including at least two of each type of material:
|
Type of Material |
Definition |
Research Tools |
|
scholarly monograph |
a book by a single, expert author |
Griffin / Summit America History & Life Worldcat |
|
edited collection |
a collection of essays by many different authors on related topics |
Griffin / Summit America History & Life Worldcat |
|
article from a scholarly history journal |
a scholarly journal differs from a popular magazine in that it is peer-reviewed |
America History and Life JSTOR Project Muse History Cooperative |
|
article from a law review |
a peer-reviewed journal specializing in legal theory or history |
Academic Universe |
The preliminary bibliography is graded on your use of correct bibliographical form, the quality and relevance of the titles you have selected, and the thoroughness of your research. For correct bibliographical form, please see Turabian, chapter 11, examples "B." Note that you do not have to have the books and articles in hand to complete this assignment but you should have an idea of where you can get them (and place them on order through WSUV document delivery).
Please indicate the library collection (e.g., WSU-Holland, WSUV, PSU, ILL= Interlibrary Loan) or Database (e.g., JSTOR, History Cooperative, etc.) that holds each work. Note that works solely available from Clark College and Vancouver Public Library are not acceptable for the senior seminar, unless (rarely) they happen to have a unique primary source. Please focus your research on books and articles from 4-year colleges and universities.
This will give you a head start on the historiographical component of your final paper. Write an essay of 5-10 pages discussing how previous historians have approached the problem of slavery, freedom and the law, with particular reference to your state. Summarize and evaluate the works, using the questions below. Work your answers into an essay (do not merely list the answers to the questions.) See Brundage, Going to the Sources, chap. 4 for help with this.
· What is the author’s thesis?
· What types of primary sources does the author use (e.g. letters, court records, census records, etc.?
· Does the work belong to an identifiable “school” of historiography (e.g. social, gender, legal, intellectual, constitutional?)
· How does this work relate to other historians’ works (e.g., is it a direct challenge to another historian’s work? Does it offer a revision? A different perspective? Does it support the approach of another historian’s work?)
· What are its strengths?
· What are its weaknesses?
Case Summaries
Using Lexus/Nexus, select at least two legal cases from your state. Choose these cases on the basis of what you find interesting (themes, issues) and documentation (there should be enough primary source material about the case to form the core of your final research paper).
In your own words, summarize the case as a story or narrative, paying attention to the following:
· Who are the main characters? (Litigants, lawyers, judges)
· Tell the events in chronological order
· What levels of appeal did the case pass through?
· What were the verdicts?
Be sure to footnote everything as you go.
At the end of each summary list the specific questions that you will need to research, in order to fully understand the case, for example:
· Historical context (what events do you need to read more about)?
· Characters and their background.
· Laws invoked in the case.
· Institutions (e.g. courts, appeals system).
Rough Draft (20-30 pp. double-spaced)
You should now have selected the final case or cases that will form the core of your research paper. To complete your rough draft, you will need to conduct further research in primary and secondary sources on the background or context of your case(s). For example:
Your thesis, developing out of this research, will focus on explaining the important features of the case or cases. While understanding the laws behind the cases is important and relevant, your paper’s primary focus should be about what happens in one or more lawsuit(s).
Your rough draft should include the following elements woven together with transitions into a coherent argument:
1. Introduction, including thesis (“What happened and why?”)
2. Revised historiography section – how has the historiography of slavery, slave law, and the law of freedom evolved with regard to your state and your case(s)?
3. Case Summary(ies)
4. Analysis: Be sure to include the necessary background information to make sense of your case. Your analysis should demonstrate all the points of your thesis.
5. Conclusion, including significance, or implications of your work for future historical research.
6. Rough citations (author, pages in footnote is
sufficient).
You do not need to
present your material in the order listed above.
Oral Presentation (5 minutes, maximum)
· Your oral presentation should be aimed at a college audience who is unfamiliar with the specifics of this course. Be sure to include the relevant background information for a novice listener.
· Incorporate at least three visual elements (e.g. maps, images of slavery from your state, charts, etc.) and cite the source and discuss the context of each. Good sources for visual elements are: http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/ousites.htm#Maps
The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record: http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/
· You may use Powerpoint or just use the Overhead Projector.
· Tie the images into your presentation.
The
final paper must cite at least ten secondary sources and at least five
primary sources.
·
Secondary Sources
are books and articles written by historians or other experts in the history of
your subject (e.g. sociologists, legal scholars, etc.). These should come from
a 4-year college or university library (not a community college or public
library).
·
Primary Sources
are evidence that dates from the time period you are studying, for example: legal
pamphlets, court briefs, legal decisions, letters, diaries, newspapers, legal
statutes. These can come from a wide range of library, archival, and electronic
collections. While some useful sources may come from the internet, your paper
should not be limited to such sources. We will discuss strategies for obtaining
useful materials in class.
Final Papers will be graded with the
following criteria:
·
Does
the paper have a clear, specific, original and historically grounded thesis?
·
Does
the paper integrate research from reliable, peer-reviewed sources
(articles and books) and avoid unreliable sources (e.g. Wikipedia,
commercial internet sites, older scholarship)?
·
Is
the paper’s argument well organized?
·
Does
the paper cite sources for all information and interpretation,
quoted and paraphrased?
·
Does
the paper critically analyze the law of slavery and freedom in a
particular state?
·
Is
the paper accurate in facts and plausible (and self-conscious) in
its speculations?
·
Is
the paper well written in terms of organization, sentence structure,
punctuation and word choice?
Catterall, Helen. Judicial Cases Concerning American Slavery and the Negro. 5 vols. Buffalo, N.Y.: W.S. Hein, 1998. WSUV Reference KF4545.S5 J83 1998.
Drescher, Seymour and Stanley L. Engerman, eds. A
Historical Guide to World Slavery. New York: Oxford University press, 1998.
WSUV Reference HT861|b.H59 1998)
Slavery and Abolition. WSUV Journals, by
alphabetical order
Sue Peabody’s Slavery Website: http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/slave.htm
H-Slavery Listserve: http://www.h-net.org/~slavery/
Historical Census Statistics for US, Colonial through 1970
http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/index.htm
http://dewey.vancouver.wsu.edu/Vis/workshops/schedule2.cfm
Attendance is required at all class meetings. If you cannot attend a class due to illness or other personal emergency, you may obtain an Excused Absence by notifying the instructor prior to the class session. Leaving a message by voice mail (at my home or office) is sufficient to obtain an Excused Absence. Please note that whether or not an absence is excused, you are responsible for learning what happened in class and mastering that material (e.g. obtaining notes from a reliable classmate).
Tardiness is rude. It disturbs the teacher and your classmates. Furthermore, it can severely affect your work in the class. I usually make important announcements at the beginning of class (e.g. announce the location of an exam, change an assignment). If you miss these announcements, there is no guarantee that I will repeat the information later. On occasion, tardiness is unavoidable. If you find yourself arriving late to class, please take your seat with a minimum of commotion. Three late arrivals constitute an unexcused absence. (Note: if your work schedule necessitates regular late arrivals, please clear this with me in advance).
Plagiarism and Cheating are serious offenses. They may result in a grade reduction and/or other strong penalties. You are plagiarizing or cheating if you:
* present someone else's words or ideas as your own, in writing or in speaking
* present ideas without citing the source
* paraphrase without crediting the source
* use direct quotes with no quotation marks
* use direct quotes without footnotes or other textual citation of the sourcepresent work in a group project that is not your own or the work of the group
* submit the same paper for credit in more than one course without discussing this option with the instructors involved
* submit material written by someone else as your own (this includes purchasing a term or research paper)
* submit a paper or assignment for which you have received so much help that it is no longer your own work
* do not do an equal part of the work on a group project
* copy someone else’s exam or graded homework
* refer to a text, class notes, or other materials during an exam without being authorized to do so
* puposefully allow another student to copy your work or submit work you have written as his/her own
* collaborate with others on a take-home exam, or spend more time than that specified by the instructor on a take-home exam.
Due dates: All written assignments are due in class the day of the assignment. Late assignments will be marked down one letter grade for each day that they are late. E.g. An assignment due September 3 that receives a "B" but is submitted on September 4 will receive a final grade of "C." Reading assignments are to be completed by the date given in the syllabus. Failure to read assigned material constitutes being unprepared for class and will negatively affect your class participate grade. (But see, “Revisions,” above).
Reasonable Accommodations are available for students who have a documented disability. Please notify the instructor during the first week of class of any accommodations needed for the course. Late notification may cause the requested accommodations must be approved through Wayne Brown, in the Student Services Office, 546-9567.
Many of the assignments, below, are posted electronically on a special “Blackboard” website. To access these assignments:
·
Use an internet browser to access: http://blackboard.vancouver.wsu.edu. (Note: you must type “http://”
first!) Bookmark this page for ready reference.
·
Enter your user name = your last name, all lower case
·
Enter your password = your first name, all lower case.
(Change this to a more secure password once you have entered the site. WSUV
does not recommend entering personal data as there is no guarantee the
information is completely secure, despite password protection.)
·
Use “Course Documents” to locate all assignments listed
under “blackboard”
·
Use “Groups” to share files with the whole class or other
members of your workgroup.
|
Week |
Date |
|
|
1 |
1/8 |
Introduction to Courseq Does everyone have access to the internet at home? q Everyone should have an e-mail address. If you do not, please sign up for a free account from in a university computer lab. q Subscribe to the H-Slavery Listserve: http://www.h-net.org/~slavery/ before class next week. |
|
2 |
1/15 |
MLK: No Class Please
Email me your
preferred state on which to do your research paper by today: peabody@vancouver.wsu.edu c
Textbook: Brundage, Going
to the Sources, chap. 1, 2 & 3.
Take notes on questions you might have and bring them to class next week. |
|
3 |
1/22 |
Textbook: Tannenbaum, Frank. Slave and Citizen.
Read entire book |
|
4 |
1/29 |
c Griffin/JSTOR: Degler, Carl N. "Slavery in Brazil and the United States." The American Historical Review 75:14 (April 1970): 1004-1028. Available online. Use Griffin: http://griffin.wsu.edu/search/. Search (title): American Historical Review, select “JSTOR.” c Handout: Rankin, David C. “The Tannenbaum Thesis Reconsidered: Slavery and Race Relations in Antebellum Louisiana.” Southern Studies 1979 18(1): 5-31. c Griffin/History Cooperative: Alejandro de la Fuente, “Slave Law and Claims-Making in Cuba: The Tannenbaum Debate Revisited,” Law and History Review 22:2 (Summer, 2004): 339-70. Search (title): Law and History Review, select “History Cooperative.” |
|
5 |
2/5 |
c Griffin/HistoryCooperative: Davis, David Brion. “Looking at Slavery from Broader Perspectives” American Historical Review 105:2 (2000): 452-466. Available online. Use Griffin: http://griffin.wsu.edu/search/. Search (title): American Historical Review, select “History Cooperative.” c
Blackboard Course Documents: Peabody, Sue. Slavery, Freedom and the Law in the Atlantic World: A Brief History
with Documents. Preface through
Introduction, pp. vii-28. c Handout: Sue Peabody, “Slavery, Freedom, Statehood and the Law in the Atlantic World, 1700-1888” Democracy and Culture in the Transatlantic World, ed., Charlotte Wallin and Daniel Silander, pp. 233-40. Preliminary Bibliography Due |
|
6 |
2/12 |
c Griffin/Academic Search Premier: Peabody, Sue. "Race, Slavery, and the Law in Early Modern France," The Historian: A Journal of History 56:3 (Spring 1994): 501-510. Accessible On-line via Griffin: http://griffin.wsu.edu/search/. Search (title): Historian: A Journal of History, select “Academic Search Premier.” c Blackboard Course Documents: Peabody, Sue. Slavery, Freedom and the Law in the Atlantic World: A Brief History with Documents. “The French Atlantic and the Haitian Revolution,” pp. 31-64. |
|
7 |
2/19 |
PRESIDENT’S DAY: NO CLASSES
c Brundage, Going to the Sources, chap. 4. |
|
8 |
2/26 |
Historiography Paper Due
c Griffin/Academic Search Premier: Cotter, William R. “The Somerset Case and the Abolition of Slavery in England.” History [Great Britain] 79:255 (Feb. 1994): 31-56. Search (title): “History,” select the title that runs “1912-“, then select “Academic Search Premier.” c Griffin/Cambridge University Press: Melanie Newton: “The King v. Robert James, a Slave, for Rape: Inequality, Gender and British Slave Emancipation, 1823-1833,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 43:3, (July 2005), pp. 582-610. Search (title): “Comparative Studies in Society and History,” select “Cambridge University Press,” then search on the author or title and select the PDF version. c Blackboard Course Documents: Peabody, Sue. Slavery, Freedom and the Law in the Atlantic World: A Brief History with Documents. “England, British Colonies, and the United States,” pp. 65-101 |
|
9 |
3/5 |
c McLaurin, Melton A., Celia, A Slave, entire book |
|
10 |
3/12 |
Spring Break
|
|
|
3/19 |
c
Brundage, Going to the Sources, chap. 5.
Case Summaries Due
|
|
11 |
3/26 |
c Blackboard Course Documents: Peabody, Sue. Slavery, Freedom and the Law in the Atlantic World: A Brief History with Documents, “Spain and Its American Colonies” pp. 102-133 c Blackboard Course Documents: Peabody, Sue. Slavery, Freedom and the Law in the Atlantic World: A Brief History with Documents, “Portugal and Brazil” and “Epilogue”pp. 134-177. |
|
12 |
4/2 |
No
reading assignments – Optional Paper Workshop during class period. Bring your
work in progress and questions about your paper, thesis, citation, etc. |
|
13 |
4/9 |
Rough Drafts Due |
|
14 |
4/16 |
Oral Presentations
|
|
4/ 19-20 |
WSUV
Research Showcase |
|
|
15 |
4/23 |
Final Papers Due – Bring Self-Addressed, Stamped Envelope if you wish to have your graded paper mailed to you. |
|
Exam Week |
Fri., May 4 |
Seminar Luncheon, noon |