HIST 469: History Seminar Spring 2009

Slavery, Freedom and the Law in the Atlantic World

Thursdays, 6:00-8:45 in VMMC 219

Professor: Sue Peabody, History
Office: VMMC 202D

Phone: (360) 546-9647

E-mail: peabody@vancouver.wsu.edu

Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 3:00-4:00 pm, Thursdays, 8:45-9:15 pm and by appt.

Department Number (inclement weather, closings, information, etc.): (360) 546-9441

Themes

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.

Required Texts

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)

Peabody, Sue and Keila Grinberg. Slavery, Freedom, and the Law in the Atlantic World: A Brief History with Documents. NY: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007. 0-312-41176-6; ($14.95) (Ordered Late, will arrive at Bookie by February 1)

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)

Grades

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 Summary and Primary Source Bibliography

10% Rough Draft

10% Oral Presentation

30% Final Paper

Extra Credit Activities

Students may participate in the following activities and submit a critical response to receive extra credit. The critical response should describe the event for someone who did not attend it and reflect on how it ties into one or more of the readings from class. Watch the Blackboard site for additional events and information (times and places) as they develop over the semester.

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 April 2.

Preliminary Bibliography

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:

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.

Historiography Paper

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. 5 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 Summary and Primary Source Bibliography

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).

Finally, include a bibliography of primary sources that you have identified that deal directly with these cases, or the legislation on which they are based. Consider the following:

• Lewis & Clark Boley Law Library collections (see handout)
• Newspapers
• Census Records
• Digitized archive collections (check the state archives online to see what is available)

Please cite these primary sources in correct bibliographical form and indicate the library, archival collection or website where you have found these materials. (For websites, a short reference is sufficient – I do not need the full URL. For example: Maryland State Archives, www.msa.md.gov )

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:

• What is the history of the laws or prior cases that the case was based upon?
• What social, historical, cultural or demographic conditions figured into the case?
• Why did the court come to its decision?
• What is its significance to future slave/citizenship law or to the lives of slaves, former slaves, and/or the rest of the free society?

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 the subject/topic of 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 precisely 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.

Final Papers (20-30 pages, double-spaced)

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?

Useful Resources

WSUV Library

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

Internet

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

Boley Law Library, Lewis & Clark Law School

http://law.lclark.edu/~lawlib/

(Catalog is accessible from here)

(503) 768-6676
lawlib@lclark.edu

Free Information Technology Workshops

http://dewey.vancouver.wsu.edu/Vis/workshops/schedule2.cfm

Class Policies

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 will 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 source

* present 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 the Disability Services Program Coordinator (VSSC Lower Level, 360-546-9138).
Assignments

Blackboard Information

Many of the assignments, below, are posted electronically on a special “Blackboard” website. To access these assignments:

• Use an internet browser to access: www.blackboard.wsu.edu
• Enter your user name = Network ID (usually your first initial and last name, but some are more unique)
• Enter your network ID and password.
• Use “Course Information” to find a copy of the syllabus.
• Use “Course Documents” to locate all reading assignments listed under “blackboard”
• Use “Discussion Board” to post your weekly comments by midnight on Wednesday evening before class.