Juliet E. K. Walker

Within the construct of African American Business history, race, contemporary American popular culture and global capitalism, this course will focus on an important aspect in the contemporary political economy of black Americans. Specifically, the commodification (sale) of black culture provides the conceptual frame for an examination of the phenomenon of both the superstar black athlete as an entrepreneur and the Hip Hop Superstar as an entrepreneur in post-Civil Rights America. The emphasis in this course, then, is to critically examine and analyze the impact of a multiplicity of societal, cultural and economic factors in the post-modern information age, propelled by new technologies in the New Economy of Global Capitalism.  Also, consideration will be given to the new diversity as it impacts on the political economy of African Americans.

Proceeding from an interdisciplinary perspective, the course considers both the financial successes of superstar black athletes and hip hop entrepreneurs as well as their emergence as cultural icons, contrasted with the comparatively overall poor performance of Black Business not only within the intersection of race, gender, class, but also within the context of transnationalism in the globalization sale of African American Culture in post-Civil Rights America. But who profits?

Most important, why is it that business receipts for African Americans, who comprise almost thirteen percent of this nation's population, amounted in 2007 to only .5%, that is, less than one (1) percent of the nation's total business receipts? In addition, why is it that among the various occupational categories in which blacks participate in the nation's economy, especially as businesspeople, that black entertainers and sports figures are the highest paid? What does this say about race, class, gender and hegemonic masculinities in America at the turn of the new century?

Texts:

Anderson, Maggie, Our Black Year: One Family's Quest to Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy

Jones, Marvin D. Fear of a Hip Hop Planet: America’s New  Dilemma

Marable, Manning, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems Race, Political Economy, and  Society 

Rhoden, William C. Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Stoute, Steve, The Tanning of America:  How Hip Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of a  New Economy

Walker, Juliet E. K. “History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship”            

      Course Packet chapters 6-11 from The History of Black Business in America:  Capitalism, Race,

                      Entrepreneurship (New York/London:  Macmillan/Prentice Hall International, 1998)

Grading:

Critical Book Review Analysis                           25%

    (5 reviews, 2-3 pages 5 points each)

Class Discussion/participation                             25%

Oral Summary of Research Paper                         5%

Seminar Research Paper (15 pages)                    45%

Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post-Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through 2014, provide the focus of this course.  Emphasis will be placed on the political, economic, including the business activities, as well as social and cultural activities of African Americans. The course begins with assessing the Black American experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also, legal and extralegal means, including violence, disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks, that is, the rise of Jim Crow, at the turn of the century and the Great Migration of the WWI era are examined. Ideologies of black leaders during that period, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Marcus Garvey are compared.

The rise of the black urban ghetto and impact of African American working class as it relates to African American culture provide the focus for examining the twentieth century Black Experience. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s, ideologies of Black leaders and black organizations, CORE, SNCC, and Black Panthers. Agendas of post-Civil rights era black social, political and business leaders are examined, such as Houston’s Case Lawal, hip hop entrepreneurs and the first two black billionaires, Robert Johnson (BET) and Oprah Winfrey..

Significantly, the course begins with a Civil War, marking an end of slavery and the beginning of black political participation. It ends with the historical phenomenon of the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States. What does this say about race/racism in America? What about Katrina and Black Reconstruction in New Orleans in 2009 as well as “the $40 Million Dollar slave” 149 years after the 13^th Amendment? The course ends with commentaries on retrenchment in affirmative action, commodification of African American culture, and assessments of America’s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the 21^st century.

Texts:

Franklin, John H. and Evelyn Higginbotham,  From Slavery to Freedom,9th ed, paper

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a Multiracial Democracy

Holt Thomas and Barkley-Brown, E., Major Problems, African American History vol 2 

Rhoden, William C., Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall,  Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America -course packet

Grading:

Exam 1  (Take home)                    30

History Research Paper                 30

Student Panel Presentation           10

Exam  2(Take Home)                 30

Within the construct of African American Business history, race, contemporary American popular culture and global capitalism, this course will focus on an important aspect in the contemporary political economy of black Americans. Specifically, the commodification (sale) of black culture provides the conceptual frame for an examination of the phenomenon of both the superstar black athlete as an entrepreneur and the Hip Hop Superstar as an entrepreneur in post-Civil Rights America. The emphasis in this course, then, is to critically examine and analyze the impact of a multiplicity of societal, cultural and economic factors in the post-modern information age, propelled by new technologies in the New Economy of Global Capitalism.  Also, consideration will be given to the new diversity as it impacts on the political economy of African Americans.

Proceeding from an interdisciplinary perspective, the course considers both the financial successes of superstar black athletes and hip hop entrepreneurs as well as their emergence as cultural icons, contrasted with the comparatively overall poor performance of Black Business not only within the intersection of race, gender, class, but also within the context of transnationalism in the globalization sale of African American Culture in post-Civil Rights America. But who profits?

Most important, why is it that business receipts for African Americans, who comprise almost thirteen percent of this nation's population, amounted in 2007 to only .5%, that is, less than one (1) percent of the nation's total business receipts? In addition, why is it that among the various occupational categories in which blacks participate in the nation's economy, especially as businesspeople, that black entertainers and sports figures are the highest paid? What does this say about race, class, gender and hegemonic masculinities in America at the turn of the new century?

Anderson, Maggie, Our Black Year: One Family's Quest to Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy

Jones, Marvin D. Fear of a Hip Hop Planet: America’s New  Dilemma

Marable, Manning, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems Race, Political Economy, and  Society

Rhoden, William C. Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Stoute, Steve, The Tanning of America:  How Hip Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of a  New Economy

Walker, Juliet E. K. “History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship”          

      Course Packet chapters 6-11 from The History of Black Business in America:  Capitalism, Race,

                      Entrepreneurship (New York/London:  Macmillan/Prentice Hall International, 1998) 

Critical Book Review Analysis                           25%

    (5 reviews, 2-3 pages 5 points each)

Class Discussion/participation                             25%

Oral Summary of Research Paper                         5%

Seminar Research Paper (15 pages)                    45%

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War.

Franklin, John H. and Alfred Moss, FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM, 9th ed

Holt, T. and Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, vol 1

Owens, Leslie, THIS SPECIES OF PROPERTY: SLAVE LIFE AND CULTURE IN THE OLD SOUTH

Tyler, Ron and Lawrence, R. Murphy, The Slave Narratives of Texas

Walker, Juliet E. K., FREE FRANK: A BLACK PIONEER ON THE ANTEBELLUM FRONTIER

Walker, Juliet E. K., THE HISTORY OF BLACK BUSINESS IN AMERICA: CAPITALISM, RACE,    ENTREPRENEURSHIP

White, Deborah G.  AREN’T I A WOMAN:  FEMALE SLAVES PLANTATION SOUTH

MID-TERM EXAM                         35%

RESEARCH PAPER                        30%

EXAM 2 (TAKE-HOME)                 35%

Within the construct of African American Business history, race, contemporary American popular culture and global capitalism, this course will focus on an important aspect in the contemporary political economy of black Americans. Specifically, the commodification (sale) of black culture provides the conceptual frame for an examination of the phenomenon of both the superstar black athlete as an entrepreneur and the Hip Hop Superstar as an entrepreneur in post-Civil Rights America. The emphasis in this course, then, is to critically examine and analyze the impact of a multiplicity of societal, cultural and economic factors in the post-modern information age, propelled by new technologies in the New Economy of Global Capitalism.  Also, consideration will be given to the new diversity as it impacts on the political economy of African Americans.

Proceeding from an interdisciplinary perspective, the course considers both the financial successes of superstar black athletes and hip hop entrepreneurs as well as their emergence as cultural icons, contrasted with the comparatively overall poor performance of Black Business not only within the intersection of race, gender, class, but also within the context of transnationalism in the globalization sale of African American Culture in post-Civil Rights America. But who profits?

Most important, why is it that business receipts for African Americans, who comprise almost thirteen percent of this nation's population, amounted in 2007 to only .5%, that is, less than one (1) percent of the nation's total business receipts? In addition, why is it that among the various occupational categories in which blacks participate in the nation's economy, especially as businesspeople, that black entertainers and sports figures are the highest paid? What does this say about race, class, gender and hegemonic masculinities in America at the turn of the new century?

Anderson, Maggie, Our Black Year: One Family's Quest to Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy

Jones, Marvin D. Fear of a Hip Hop Planet: America’s New  Dilemma

Marable, Manning, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems Race, Political Economy, and  Society  

Rhoden, William C. Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Stoute, Steve, The Tanning of America:  How Hip Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of a  New Economy

Walker, Juliet E. K. “History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship”            

      Course Packet chapters 6-11 from The History of Black Business in America:  Capitalism, Race,

                      Entrepreneurship (New York/London:  Macmillan/Prentice Hall International, 1998) 

Critical Book Review Analysis                           25%

    (5 reviews, 2-3 pages 5 points each)

Class Discussion/participation                             25%

Oral Summary of Research Paper                         5%

Seminar Research Paper (15 pages)                    45%

===================================

HIS 350R - 39510 - 39-HAMILTON/JEFFERSON IN CNTXT Olwell, Robert

HIS 350R - Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson in Context

Spring 2017                                                                              Robert A Olwell, Associate Professor

In this course, students will first read and discuss texts written about and by Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. They will then work collaboratively to design, research, write, and revise analytical essays (approximately 5000 words in length) that examine some aspect of either or both of these men or the world they lived in.

===================================

HIS 356S - 39554 - AMER PRES 1789 TO PRESENT Brands, Henry

HIS 356S - American Presidency: 1789 to the Present

Spring 2017                                                                                                      Bill Brands, Professor

Subject

For more than a century, the presidency has occupied the center of American politics. Yet the modern presidency bears faint resemblance to the institution the founders created in the 1780s. This course will examine the presidency and the individuals who have held it, with an eye toward discovering trends of historical and contemporary interest. Topics will include the presidency in the Constitution, the emergence of political parties, the role of the president as diplomat-in-chief, the presidency and the sectional crisis, the president at war, the emergence of the United States as a world power, the president as a celebrity, the family lives of presidents, and the president and the evolving media.

Method

An essential part of the course will be the attempt to understand what goes into presidential decisions. Successful presidents differ from unsuccessful presidents chiefly in their ability to make good decisions: to do the right thing. How does a president know what is the right thing? Whose interests and opinions does he weigh? How does he enact or enforce right decisions? Students will examine case studies of crucial presidential decisions. By close reading of primary historical documents – letters, diaries, speeches, government documents, newspaper accounts – students will reconstruct the presidential decision process. They will make the arguments for and against presidential decisions. They will explain and defend the decisions they would have made in the president’s place.

Required books

George Washington, by James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn

Thomas Jefferson, by Joyce Appleby

Woodrow Wilson, by H. W. Brands

Harry S. Truman, by Robert Dallek

Richard M. Nixon, by Elizabeth Drew

Case study materials

Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase

Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation

Theodore Roosevelt and Panama

Wilson and the Lusitania

Truman and the atom bomb

Nixon and the Pentagon Papers

Assignments

Daily in-class writing assignments (100 words each)

Two book reviews (500 words each)

Three case studies (1000 words each)

Grading

Daily writing assignments: 25 percent

Book reviews: 25 percent

Case studies: 50 percent

Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post-Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through 2014, provide the focus of this course.  Emphasis will be placed on the political, economic, including the business activities, as well as social and cultural activities of African Americans. The course begins with assessing the Black American experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also, legal and extralegal means, including violence, disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks, that is, the rise of Jim Crow, at the turn of the century and the Great Migration of the WWI era are examined. Ideologies of black leaders during that period, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Marcus Garvey are compared.

The rise of the black urban ghetto and impact of African American working class as it relates to African American culture provide the focus for examining the twentieth century Black Experience. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s, ideologies of Black leaders and black organizations, CORE, SNCC, and Black Panthers. Agendas of post-Civil rights era black social, political and business leaders are examined, such as Houston’s Case Lawal, hip hop entrepreneurs and the first two black billionaires, Robert Johnson (BET) and Oprah Winfrey..

Significantly, the course begins with a Civil War, marking an end of slavery and the beginning of black political participation. It ends with the historical phenomenon of the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States. What does this say about race/racism in America? What about Katrina and Black Reconstruction in New Orleans in 2009 as well as “the $40 Million Dollar slave” 149 years after the 13^th Amendment? The course ends with commentaries on retrenchment in affirmative action, commodification of African American culture, and assessments of America’s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the 21^st century.

Franklin, John H. and Evelyn Higginbotham,  From Slavery to Freedom,9th ed, paper

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a Multiracial Democracy

Holt Thomas and Barkley-Brown, E., Major Problems, African American History vol 2 

Rhoden, William C., Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall,  Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America -course packet

Exam 1  (Take home)                    30

History Research Paper                 30

Student Panel Presentation           10

Exam  2(Take Home) m                 30

Within the construct of African American Business history, race, contemporary American popular culture and global capitalism, this course will focus on an important aspect in the contemporary political economy of black Americans. Specifically, the commodification (sale) of black culture provides the conceptual frame for an examination of the phenomenon of both the superstar black athlete as an entrepreneur and the Hip Hop Superstar as an entrepreneur in post-Civil Rights America. The emphasis in this course, then, is to critically examine and analyze the impact of a multiplicity of societal, cultural and economic factors in the post-modern information age, propelled by new technologies in the New Economy of Global Capitalism.  Also, consideration will be given to the new diversity as it impacts on the political economy of African Americans.

Proceeding from an interdisciplinary perspective, the course considers both the financial successes of superstar black athletes and hip hop entrepreneurs as well as their emergence as cultural icons, contrasted with the comparatively overall poor performance of Black Business not only within the intersection of race, gender, class, but also within the context of transnationalism in the globalization sale of African American Culture in post-Civil Rights America. But who profits?

Most important, why is it that business receipts for African Americans, who comprise almost thirteen percent of this nation's population, amounted in 2007 to only .5%, that is, less than one (1) percent of the nation's total business receipts? In addition, why is it that among the various occupational categories in which blacks participate in the nation's economy, especially as businesspeople, that black entertainers and sports figures are the highest paid? What does this say about race, class, gender and hegemonic masculinities in America at the turn of the new century?

Texts:

Anderson, Maggie, Our Black Year: One Family's Quest to Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy

Jones, Marvin D. Fear of a Hip Hop Planet: America’s New  Dilemma

Marable, Manning, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems Race, Political Economy, and  Society  

Rhoden, William C. Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Stoute, Steve, The Tanning of America:  How Hip Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of a  New Economy

Course Packet-- Walker, Juliet E. K. History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship, chaps 6-11

Grading:

Critical Book Review Analysis                           25%

    (5 reviews, 2-3 pages 5 points each)

Class Discussion/participation                             25%

Oral Summary of Research Paper                         5%

Seminar Research Paper (15 pages)                    45%

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War.

Texts:

Franklin, John Hope and Higginbotham, E. From Slavery to Freedom: 9th edition, paper

Holt, Thomas, Barkely-Brown, E. and Patterson, T.   Major Problems in African American History, Vol 1

Owens, Leslie, This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South

Smithers, Gregory D., Slave Breeding: Sex, Violence, and Memory in African American History

Tyler, Ron and Lawrence R. Murphy: The Slave Narratives of Texas

Walker, Juliet E. K., The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship, Vol 1

Grading:

MID-TERM EXAM                             35%

RESEARCH PAPER                                   30%

EXAM 2 (TAKE-HOME)                    35%

Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post-Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through 2014, provide the focus of this course.  Emphasis will be placed on the political, economic, including the business activities, as well as social and cultural activities of African Americans. The course begins with assessing the Black American experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also, legal and extralegal means, including violence, disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks, that is, the rise of Jim Crow, at the turn of the century and the Great Migration of the WWI era are examined. Ideologies of black leaders during that period, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Marcus Garvey are compared.

The rise of the black urban ghetto and impact of African American working class as it relates to African American culture provide the focus for examining the twentieth century Black Experience. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s, ideologies of Black leaders and black organizations, CORE, SNCC, and Black Panthers. Agendas of post-Civil rights era black social, political and business leaders are examined, such as Houston’s Case Lawal, hip hop entrepreneurs and the first two black billionaires, Robert Johnson (BET) and Oprah Winfrey..

Significantly, the course begins with a Civil War, marking an end of slavery and the beginning of black political participation. It ends with the historical phenomenon of the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States. What does this say about race/racism in America? What about Katrina and Black Reconstruction in New Orleans in 2009 as well as “the $40 Million Dollar slave” 149 years after the 13^th Amendment? The course ends with commentaries on retrenchment in affirmative action, commodification of African American culture, and assessments of America’s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the 21^st century.

Texts:

Franklin, John H. and Evelyn Higginbotham,  From Slavery to Freedom,9th ed, paper

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a Multiracial Democracy

Holt Thomas and Barkley-Brown, E., Major Problems, African American History vol 2 

Rhoden, William C., Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall,  Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America -course packet

Grading:

Exam 1  (Take home)                    30

History Research Paper                 30

Student Panel Presentation           10

Exam  2(Take Home) m                 30

BLACK POLITICAL ECONOMY SLAVERY, RACE, CLASS AND STATE

African Americans made significant economic contributions to this nation's history. Yet, if, as former President Calvin Coolidge said, The Business of America is Business," where is the African American contribution? Is there an African American business history? Why have historians ignored this aspect of the Black Experience in assessments of the Black Political Economy? In examining this neglected aspect of Black American history, this course focuses on slavery, race, class and the state within the context of laws and societal practices that have impacted on the economic life of African Americans. Topics include: 1) the impact of black bodies in the transatlantic slave trade and on slave-produced commodities both in the expansion of America’s preindustrial economy and global capitalism; 2). how slave laws and black codes enacted from the 17th century on to the post-Civil War era to the post-Civil Rights era have attempted to suppress black American independent self-help economic activities; 3) the separate economies that developed in the rise of the 20th century black urban ghettoes; 4) the late post-Civil Rights era commodification of black culture and its impact on global capitalism; 5) how, historically, African American organizations, such as the antebellum National Negro Convention, Booker T. Washington s National Negro Business League, Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, the Nation of Islam, the NAACP, the Urban League and the Black Church have attempted to advance the economic life of black Americans by promoting the development of black business. 6) The continued impact of the state on the black political economy.  7) The impact of the new racial and ethnic diversity and expansion of global capitalism on the political economy of African Americans.

Texts:

Alexander, Michelle, The  New Jim Crow:   Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

Butler, John Sibley,  Entrepreneurship and Self-Help Among Black Americans:  Reconsideration of Race and  Economics

Feagin, Joe R. Racist  America: Roots, Current Realities and Future Reparations

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a MuKatznelson, Ira, When Affirmative Action Was White: Untold History Racial Inequality 20th Century America

Lafeber, Walter, Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism

Marable, Manning, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America, Problems Race, Political Economy    and Society 

Massey, Douglas and Nancy Denton, American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass

Oliver, Melvin and T. Shapiro, Black Wealth/White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality, 2ed Shalhoup, Mara,    BMF: The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family

Smiley, Tavis and Cornel West, The Rich and the Rest of Us:  A Poverty Manifesto

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship, 1998ed

Watkins, Boyce,     Black American Money: How Black Power Can Survive in a Capitalist Society    

Wilson, William Julius,  More  than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City

Grading:

ORAL CLASS PRESENTATION OF A REQUIRED TEXT                  10%

CLASS DISCUSSION CONTRIBUTION                                            10%

RESEARCH PAPER                                                                           70%

ORAL PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH PAPER                              10%

Within the construct of African American Business history, race, contemporary American popular culture and global capitalism, this course will focus on an important aspect in the contemporary political economy of black Americans. Specifically, the commodification (sale) of black culture provides the conceptual frame for an examination of the phenomenon of both the superstar black athlete as an entrepreneur and the Hip Hop Superstar as an entrepreneur in post-Civil Rights America. The emphasis in this course, then, is to critically examine and analyze the impact of a multiplicity of societal, cultural and economic factors in the post-modern information age, propelled by new technologies in the New Economy of Global Capitalism.  Also, consideration will be given to the new diversity as it impacts on the political economy of African Americans.

Proceeding from an interdisciplinary perspective, the course considers both the financial successes of superstar black athletes and hip hop entrepreneurs as well as their emergence as cultural icons, contrasted with the comparatively overall poor performance of Black Business not only within the intersection of race, gender, class, but also within the context of transnationalism in the globalization sale of African American Culture in post-Civil Rights America. But who profits?

Most important, why is it that business receipts for African Americans, who comprise almost thirteen percent of this nation's population, amounted in 2007 to only .5%, that is, less than one (1) percent of the nation's total business receipts? In addition, why is it that among the various occupational categories in which blacks participate in the nation's economy, especially as businesspeople, that black entertainers and sports figures are the highest paid? What does this say about race, class, gender and hegemonic masculinities in America at the turn of the new century?

Texts:

Boyd, Todd,      Young, Black, Rich and Famous:  The Rise of the NBA, The Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture

Curry, Mark,         Dancing With the Devil: How Puff Burned the Bad Boys of Hip Hop

Daniels, Cora,     Black Power, Inc: The New Voice of Black Success

Johnson,  Magic,    32  Ways to Be a Champion in Business

Kitwana, Bakari,   Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality                             of Race in America

Lafeber, Walter, Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism, New Expanded Edition

Oliver, Richard, Tim Leffel, Hip-Hop, Inc. : Success Strategies of the Rap Moguls   

Pulley, Brett, The Billion Dollar BET: Robert Johnson and the Inside Story of BET

Smith-Shomade, Beretta, Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television           

Walker, Juliet E. K. History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship

Chaps, 6-11; Course Packet “The Commodification of Black Culture”   

Grading:

Critical Book Review Analysis                           25%

    (5 reviews, 2-3 pages 5 points each)

Class Discussion/participation                             25%

Oral Summary of Research Paper                         5%

Seminar Research Paper (15 pages)                    45%

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War.

Texts:

Franklin, John Hope and Higginbotham, E. From Slavery to Freedom: 9^th edition, paper

Holt, Thomas, Barkely-Brown, E. and Patterson, T.   Major Problems in African American History, Vol 1

Owens, Leslie, This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South

Smithers, Gregory D., Slave Breeding: Sex, Violence, and Memory in African American History

Tyler, Ron and Lawrence R. Murphy: The Slave Narratives of Texas

Walker, Juliet E. K., The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship, Vol 1

Grading:

MID-TERM EXAM                             35%

RESEARCH PAPER                                   30%

EXAM 2 (TAKE-HOME)                    35%

Within the construct of African American Business history, race, contemporary American popular culture and global capitalism, this course will focus on an important aspect in the contemporary political economy of black Americans. Specifically, the commodification (sale) of black culture provides the conceptual frame for an examination of the phenomenon of both the superstar black athlete as an entrepreneur and the Hip Hop Superstar as an entrepreneur in post-Civil Rights America. The emphasis in this course, then, is to critically examine and analyze the impact of a multiplicity of societal, cultural and economic factors in the post-modern information age, propelled by new technologies in the New Economy of Global Capitalism.  Also, consideration will be given to the new diversity as it impacts on the political economy of African Americans.

Proceeding from an interdisciplinary perspective, the course considers both the financial successes of superstar black athletes and hip hop entrepreneurs as well as their emergence as cultural icons, contrasted with the comparatively overall poor performance of Black Business not only within the intersection of race, gender, class, but also within the context of transnationalism in the globalization sale of African American Culture in post-Civil Rights America. But who profits?

Most important, why is it that business receipts for African Americans, who comprise almost thirteen percent of this nation's population, amounted in 2007 to only .5%, that is, less than one (1) percent of the nation's total business receipts? In addition, why is it that among the various occupational categories in which blacks participate in the nation's economy, especially as businesspeople, that black entertainers and sports figures are the highest paid? What does this say about race, class, gender and hegemonic masculinities in America at the turn of the new century?

Texts:

Boyd, Todd,      Young, Black, Rich and Famous:  The Rise of the NBA, The Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture

Curry, Mark,         Dancing With the Devil: How Puff Burned the Bad Boys of Hip Hop

Daniels, Cora,     Black Power, Inc: The New Voice of Black Success

Johnson,  Magic,    32  Ways to Be a Champion in Business

Kitwana, Bakari,   Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality                             of Race in America

Lafeber, Walter, Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism, New Expanded Edition

Oliver, Richard, Tim Leffel, Hip-Hop, Inc. : Success Strategies of the Rap Moguls   

Pulley, Brett, The Billion Dollar BET: Robert Johnson and the Inside Story of BET

Smith-Shomade, Beretta, Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television           

Walker, Juliet E. K. History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship

Chaps, 6-11; Course Packet “The Commodification of Black Culture”   

Grading:

Critical Book Review Analysis                           25%

    (5 reviews, 2-3 pages 5 points each)

Class Discussion/participation                             25%

Oral Summary of Research Paper                         5%

Seminar Research Paper (15 pages)                    45%

Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post-Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through 2014, provide the focus of this course.  Emphasis will be placed on the political, economic, including the business activities, as well as social and cultural activities of African Americans. The course begins with assessing the Black American experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also, legal and extralegal means, including violence, disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks, that is, the rise of Jim Crow, at the turn of the century and the Great Migration of the WWI era are examined. Ideologies of black leaders during that period, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Marcus Garvey are compared.

The rise of the black urban ghetto and impact of African American working class as it relates to African American culture provide the focus for examining the twentieth century Black Experience. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s, ideologies of Black leaders and black organizations, CORE, SNCC, and Black Panthers. Agendas of post-Civil rights era black social, political and business leaders are examined, such as Houston’s Case Lawal, hip hop entrepreneurs and the first two black billionaires, Robert Johnson (BET) and Oprah Winfrey..

Significantly, the course begins with a Civil War, marking an end of slavery and the beginning of black political participation. It ends with the historical phenomenon of the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States. What does this say about race/racism in America? What about Katrina and Black Reconstruction in New Orleans in 2009 as well as “the $40 Million Dollar slave” 149 years after the 13^th Amendment? The course ends with commentaries on retrenchment in affirmative action, commodification of African American culture, and assessments of America’s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the 21^st century.

Texts:

Franklin, John H. and Evelyn Higginbotham,  From Slavery to Freedom,9th ed, paper

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a Multiracial Democracy

Holt Thomas and Barkley-Brown, E., Major Problems, African American History vol 2 

Rhoden, William C., Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall,  Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America -course packet

Grading:

Exam 1  (Take home)                    30

History Research Paper                 30

Student Panel Presentation           10

Exam  2(Take Home) m                 30

Within the construct of African American Business history, race, contemporary American popular culture and global capitalism, this course will focus on an important aspect in the contemporary political economy of black Americans. Specifically, the commodification (sale) of black culture provides the conceptual frame for an examination of the phenomenon of both the superstar black athlete as an entrepreneur and the Hip Hop Superstar as an entrepreneur in post-Civil Rights America. The emphasis in this course, then, is to critically examine and analyze the impact of a multiplicity of societal, cultural and economic factors in the post-modern information age, propelled by new technologies in the New Economy of Global Capitalism.  Also, consideration will be given to the new diversity as it impacts on the political economy of African Americans.

Proceeding from an interdisciplinary perspective, the course considers both the financial successes of superstar black athletes and hip hop entrepreneurs as well as their emergence as cultural icons, contrasted with the comparatively overall poor performance of Black Business not only within the intersection of race, gender, class, but also within the context of transnationalism in the globalization sale of African American Culture in post-Civil Rights America. But who profits?

Most important, why is it that business receipts for African Americans, who comprise almost thirteen percent of this nation's population, amounted in 2007 to only .5%, that is, less than one (1) percent of the nation's total business receipts? In addition, why is it that among the various occupational categories in which blacks participate in the nation's economy, especially as businesspeople, that black entertainers and sports figures are the highest paid? What does this say about race, class, gender and hegemonic masculinities in America at the turn of the new century?

This course may be used to fulfill three hours of the U.S. history component of the university core curriculum and addresses the following four core objectives established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board: communication skills, critical thinking skills, personal responsibility, and social responsibility.

Texts:

Boyd, Todd,      Young, Black, Rich and Famous:  The Rise of the NBA, The Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture

Curry, Mark,         Dancing With the Devil: How Puff Burned the Bad Boys of Hip Hop

Daniels, Cora,     Black Power, Inc: The New Voice of Black Success

Johnson,  Magic,    32  Ways to Be a Champion in Business

Kitwana, Bakari,   Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality                             of Race in America

Lafeber, Walter, Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism, New Expanded Edition

Oliver, Richard, Tim Leffel, Hip-Hop, Inc. : Success Strategies of the Rap Moguls   

Pulley, Brett, The Billion Dollar BET: Robert Johnson and the Inside Story of BET

Smith-Shomade, Beretta, Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television           

Walker, Juliet E. K. History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship

Chaps, 6-11; Course Packet “The Commodification of Black Culture”   

Grading:

Critical Book Review Analysis                           25%

    (5 reviews, 2-3 pages 5 points each)

Class Discussion/participation                             25%

Oral Summary of Research Paper                         5%

Seminar Research Paper (15 pages)                    45%

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War.

Texts:

Franklin, John Hope and Higginbotham, E. From Slavery to Freedom: 9^th edition, paper

Holt, Thomas, Barkely-Brown, E. and Patterson, T.   Major Problems in African American History, Vol 1

Owens, Leslie, This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South

Smithers, Gregory D., Slave Breeding: Sex, Violence, and Memory in African American History

Tyler, Ron and Lawrence R. Murphy: The Slave Narratives of Texas

Walker, Juliet E. K., The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship, Vol 1

Grading:

MID-TERM EXAM                             35%

RESEARCH PAPER                                   30%

EXAM 2 (TAKE-HOME)                    35%

Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post-Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through 2014, provide the focus of this course.  Emphasis will be placed on the political, economic, including the business activities, as well as social and cultural activities of African Americans. The course begins with assessing the Black American experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also, legal and extralegal means, including violence, disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks, that is, the rise of Jim Crow, at the turn of the century and the Great Migration of the WWI era are examined. Ideologies of black leaders during that period, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Marcus Garvey are compared.

The rise of the black urban ghetto and impact of African American working class as it relates to African American culture provide the focus for examining the twentieth century Black Experience. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s, ideologies of Black leaders and black organizations, CORE, SNCC, and Black Panthers. Agendas of post-Civil rights era black social, political and business leaders are examined, such as Houston’s Case Lawal, hip hop entrepreneurs and the first two black billionaires, Robert Johnson (BET) and Oprah Winfrey..

Significantly, the course begins with a Civil War, marking an end of slavery and the beginning of black political participation. It ends with the historical phenomenon of the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States. What does this say about race/racism in America? What about Katrina and Black Reconstruction in New Orleans in 2009 as well as “the $40 Million Dollar slave” 149 years after the 13th Amendment? The course ends with commentaries on retrenchment in affirmative action, commodification of African American culture, and assessments of America’s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the 21st century.

REQUIRED BOOKS

Franklin, John H. and Evelyn Higginbotham,  From Slavery to Freedom,9th ed, paper

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a Multiracial Democracy

Holt Thomas and Barkley-Brown, E., Major Problems, African American History vol 2 

Rhoden, William C., Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall,  Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America -course packet

COURSE REQUIREMENTS    PERCENT OF GRADE

Exam 1  (Take home)                    30

History Research Paper                 30

Student Panel Presentation           10

Exam  2(Take Home) m                 30

BLACK POLITICAL ECONOMY SLAVERY, RACE, CLASS AND STATE

African Americans made significant economic contributions to this nation's history. Yet, if, as former President Calvin Coolidge said, The Business of America is Business," where is the African American contribution? Is there an African American business history? Why have historians ignored this aspect of the Black Experience in assessments of the Black Political Economy? In examining this neglected aspect of Black American history, this course focuses on slavery, race, class and the state within the context of laws and societal practices that have impacted on the economic life of African Americans. Topics include: 1) the impact of black bodies in the transatlantic slave trade and on slave-produced commodities both in the expansion of America’s preindustrial economy and global capitalism; 2). how slave laws and black codes enacted from the 17th century on to the post-Civil War era to the post-Civil Rights era have attempted to suppress black American independent self-help economic activities; 3) the separate economies that developed in the rise of the 20th century black urban ghettoes; 4) the late post-Civil Rights era commodification of black culture and its impact on global capitalism; 5) how, historically, African American organizations, such as the antebellum National Negro Convention, Booker T. Washington s National Negro Business League, Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, the Nation of Islam, the NAACP, the Urban League and the Black Church have attempted to advance the economic life of black Americans by promoting the development of black business. 6) The continued impact of the state on the black political economy.  7) The impact of the new racial and ethnic diversity and expansion of global capitalism on the political economy of African Americans. 

REQUIRED BOOKS

Alexander, Michelle, The  New Jim Crow:   Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

Butler, John Sibley,  Entrepreneurship and Self-Help Among Black Americans:  Reconsideration of Race

                                       and  Economics

Feagin, Joe R. Racist  America: Roots, Current Realities and Future Reparations

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a MuKatznelson, Ira, When Affirmative Action Was White: Untold History Racial Inequality 20th Century America

Lafeber, Walter, Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism

Marable, Manning, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America, Problems Race, Political Economy    and Society 

Massey, Douglas and Nancy Denton, American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass

Oliver, Melvin and T. Shapiro, Black Wealth/White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality, 2ed Shalhoup, Mara,    BMF: The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family

Smiley, Tavis and Cornel West, The Rich and the Rest of Us:  A Poverty Manifesto

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship, 1998ed

Watkins, Boyce,     Black American Money: How Black Power Can Survive in a Capitalist Society    

Wilson, William Julius,  More  than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City

COURSE REQUIREMENTS                              PERCENT OF GRADE

ORAL CLASS PRESENTATION OF A REQUIRED TEXT                  10%

CLASS DISCUSSION CONTRIBUTION                                            10%

RESEARCH PAPER                                                                           70%

ORAL PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH PAPER                              10%

Within the construct of African American Business history, race, contemporary American popular culture and global capitalism, this course will focus on an important aspect in the contemporary political economy of black Americans. Specifically, the commodification (sale) of black culture provides the conceptual frame for an examination of the phenomenon of both the superstar black athlete as an entrepreneur and the Hip Hop Superstar as an entrepreneur in post-Civil Rights America. The emphasis in this course, then, is to critically examine and analyze the impact of a multiplicity of societal, cultural and economic factors in the post-modern information age, propelled by new technologies in the New Economy of Global Capitalism.  Also, consideration will be given to the new diversity as it impacts on the political economy of African Americans.

Proceeding from an interdisciplinary perspective, the course considers both the financial successes of superstar black athletes and hip hop entrepreneurs as well as their emergence as cultural icons, contrasted with the comparatively overall poor performance of Black Business not only within the intersection of race, gender, class, but also within the context of transnationalism in the globalization sale of African American Culture in post-Civil Rights America. But who profits?

Most important, why is it that business receipts for African Americans, who comprise almost thirteen percent of this nation's population, amounted in 2007 to only .5%, that is, less than one (1) percent of the nation's total business receipts? In addition, why is it that among the various occupational categories in which blacks participate in the nation's economy, especially as businesspeople, that black entertainers and sports figures are the highest paid? What does this say about race, class, gender and hegemonic masculinities in America at the turn of the new century?

Texts:

Boyd, Todd,      Young, Black, Rich and Famous:  The Rise of the NBA, The Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture

Curry, Mark,         Dancing With the Devil: How Puff Burned the Bad Boys of Hip Hop

Daniels, Cora,     Black Power, Inc: The New Voice of Black Success

Johnson,  Magic,    32  Ways to Be a Champion in Business

Kitwana, Bakari,   Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America

Lafeber, Walter, Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism, New Expanded Edition

Oliver, Richard, Tim Leffel, Hip-Hop, Inc. : Success Strategies of the Rap Moguls   

Pulley, Brett, The Billion Dollar BET: Robert Johnson and the Inside Story of BET

Smith-Shomade, Beretta, Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television           

Walker, Juliet E. K. History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship

Chaps, 6-11; Course Packet “The Commodification of Black Culture”   

Grading:

Critical Book Review Analysis                           25%

    (5 reviews, 2-3 pages 5 points each)

Class Discussion/participation                             25%

Oral Summary of Research Paper                         5%

Seminar Research Paper (15 pages)                    45%

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War.

Texts:

Franklin, John H. and Alfred Moss, FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM, 9th ed

Holt, T. and Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, vol 1

Owens, Leslie, T

HIS SPECIES OF PROPERTY: SLAVE LIFE AND CULTURE IN THE OLD SOUTH

Tyler, Ron and Lawrence, R. Murphy, The Slave Narratives of Texas

Walker, Juliet E. K., FREE FRANK: A BLACK PIONEER ON THE ANTEBELLUM FRONTIER

Walker, Juliet E. K., THE HISTORY OF BLACK BUSINESS IN AMERICA: CAPITALISM, RACE, ENTREPRENEURSHIP

White, Deborah G.  AREN’T I A WOMAN:  FEMALE SLAVES PLANTATION SOUTH

Grading:

MID-TERM EXAM    35%

RESEARCH PAPER   30%

EXAM 2 (TAKE-HOME)  35%

This upper division course surveys the history of Blacks in Texas from before American settlement, beginning in 1528 with Estevanico, the first black in Texas who arrived with Spanish explorers, to the twenty-first century Nigerian-born immigrant, Houston-based Kase Lawal, the second African American to have a billion dollar business. Part one of the course proceeds from an analysis of Black Texas history within the construct of “Six Flags Over Texas.”  Specific focus will be an examination of slavery in Texas as an economic and political institution, with emphasis on antebellum slavery as well as the institutional development of the free black community. Part two of the course examines blacks in Texas from the Civil War to the era of Civil Rights, including a focus on black political participation as well as black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the occupational and entrepreneurial activities of African Americans to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Part three of the course considers the post-Civil Rights era’s impact on Black Texans in response to the state’s changing demographics. These and other topics in Texas black history highlight the agency of Black Texans in attempts to survive racism while forging a political, social and economic liberation.

Texts:

Barr, Alwyn,  Black Texans: A History of African Americans in Texas, 1528-1995 ( University of Oklahoma Press, 1996)

Bernstein, Patricia,  The First Waco Horror: The Lynching of Jesse Washington and the Rise of the NAACP (TAMU Press, 2006)

Glasrud, Bruce A. and James M. Smallwood, eds., The African American Experience in Texas: An ,Anthology (Texas Tech Press, 2007).

Glasrud, Bruce A. and  Merline Pitre, eds.,  Black Women in Texas History (TAMU Press,  2008).

Goldston, Dwonna, Integrating the 40 Acres: The Fifty-year Struggle for Racial Equality at the University of Texas   (University of Georgia Press, 2006).

Grading:

Class Participation 20%

Texas Black History Topic Essay 30%

Texas Oral Black History  Research Paper 50%

This course will focus on the phenomenon of both the superstar black athlete as an entrepreneur and the Hip Hop Superstar entrepreneur in post-Civil Rights America, within the construct of African American Business history, race, contemporary American popular culture and global capitalism. Within the context of superstar black athlete as entrepreneurs, the course will explore the business activities of superstar black athletes, such as Magic Johnson, contrasted, as an example, with that of the business activities of a Michael Jordan. Also, the course will consider the rise of superstar black athlete entrepreneurs as an expansion of African American business activities within the context of the expansion of global capitalism. Does the expansion of global capitalism transcend race when considering the economic success of Tiger Woods and the Williams sisters? ? Is there a glass ceiling for Black women in the Sports Industry or does gender limit the degree of success for all women in the Sports Industry? Does the increasing success of superstar Black athletes suggest a "declining significance of race" or has the expansion of global capitalism superseded race? Also, for consideration, if Blacks gained controlled all aspects of a Sports Industry, basketball and football, as examples, would there be a decline in white consumer support of these industries? Within the context of Hip Hop entrepreneurship, foremost, what are the enterprises that have been generated by the Hip Hop Industry? Who are moguls, the entrepreneurs, in the Hip Hop Industry whose business activities reflect risk-taking and innovation? What market factors precipitated the growth of the Hip Hop Industry? What historic factors in post-Civil Rights America precipitated the growth of the Hip Hop Industry? What are the economic implications for Black America as a result of the Hip Hop Industry? In what ways, economically, has Black America profited or not profited from the Hip Hop Industry? Within the scope of the post-Civil Rights era history of black business, has the commodification of black culture been the most profitable avenue to wealth for black entrepreneurs? Why has the commodification of black culture been the most viable business activity for blacks in the mainstream of American business life? In the overall economic life of Black America, who profits from Hip Hop? And, how do they profit, financially? Proceeding from an interdisciplinary perspective, the course considers both the financial successes of superstar black athletes and hip hop entrepreneurs as well as their emergence as cultural icons, contrasted with the comparatively overall poor performance of Black Business not only within the intersection of race, gender, class, but also within the context of transnationalism in the globalization sale of African American Culture in post-Civil Rights America. But who profits?

Texts 

• Boyd, Todd, Young, Black, Rich and Famous: The Rise of the NBA, The Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture 
• Kelley, Norman, ed. R&B (Rhythm and Business): The Political Economy of Black Music 
• Kitwana, Bakari, Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America 
• Lafeber, Walter, Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism, New Expanded Edition Oliver, Richard, Tim Leffel, Hip-Hop, Inc. : Success Strategies of the Rap Moguls 
• Pulley, Brett, The Billion Dollar BET: Robert Johnson and the Inside Story of BET 
• Rhoden, William, Forty Million Dollar Slaves: Rise, Fall, Redemption Black Athlete 
• Walker, Juliet E. K. History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship
• RECOMMENDED: Westerbeek, Hans and Aaron Smith, Sport Business in the Global Marketplace

Grading Policy 30% Critical Book Review Analysis (6 reviews 2 pages = total 12 pages 20% Class Discussion Contribution 40% Seminar Research Paper (15 pages) 10% Oral Presentation of Research Paper 

Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through the 1990s, provide the focus of this course. It begins with a review of the social, economic and political conditions of Black Americans during the Civil War and Reconstruction. In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also emphasis placed on the legal and extralegal means, including violence, which led to the disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks at the turn of the century. The ideologies of black leaders during that period, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Well, and Marcus Garvey are compared. Also, the Great Migration of the WWI era and the rise of the black urban ghetto provide the focus for examining the early twentieth century experience of Black Americans. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide the basis for an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement in the 1960s. The lectures emphasize important events in both the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s. The ideologies of black leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Stokeley Carmichael, Jesse Jackson, and the rise of elected black political leaders are examined. The course ends with commentaries on the retrenchment in affirmative action policies, the late twentieth century black conservatism, the impact of multiculturalism on Black America, the development of the African American Hip Hop youth culture and assessments on the impact of America?s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the twenty-first century.

Throughout the course, special emphasis will be placed on the business activities of African Americans: first, to underscore the economic self-help tradition that is usually ignored in the study of the Black Experience; and second, to provide a basis to understand the emerging Civil Rights Movement for the Twenty-First century with its focus on Black Economic Empowerment.

REQUIRED BOOKS

Franklin, John H. and Alfred Moss, FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM: A HISTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICANS 8th ed Holt, T.

Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY 1865-1990s, vol 1 

Kitwana, Bakari, HIP HOP GENERATION: YOUNG BLACKS AND CRISIS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE 

Martin, Waldo E., BROWN VS. BOARD OF EDUCATION 

Walker, Juliet E. K., HISTORY OF BLACK BUSINESS IN AMERICA: CAPITALISM, RACE ENTREPRENEURSHIP 

Your Choice (Choose One of the following) Hutchinson, Earl O., THE ASSASSINATION OF THE BLACK MALE IMAGE McWhorter, John H., LOSING THE RACE: SELF-SABOTAGE IN BLACK AMERICA Parker, Gwendolyn M., TRESPASSING: MY SOJOURN IN THE HALLS OF PRIVILEGE Robinson, Randall N., THE DEBT: WHAT AMERICA OWES TO BLACKS

GRADING

MIDTERM EXAM I (Essay Take home) 30% RESEARCH PAPER 30% FINAL EXAM (Essay Take home) 40% Extra Credit (Volunteer) Panel Presentation; Critical Book Review Essay

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Within the construct of African American Business history, race, contemporary American popular culture and global capitalism, this course will focus on an important aspect in the contemporary political economy of black Americans. Specifically, the commodification (sale) of black culture provides the conceptual frame for an examination of the phenomenon of both the superstar black athlete as an entrepreneur and the Hip Hop Superstar as an entrepreneur in post-Civil Rights America. The emphasis in this course, then, is to critically examine and analyze the impact of a multiplicity of societal, cultural and economic factors in the post-modern information age, propelled by new technologies in the New Economy of Global Capitalism.  Also, consideration will be given to the new diversity as it impacts on the political economy of African Americans.

Proceeding from an interdisciplinary perspective, the course considers both the financial successes of superstar black athletes and hip hop entrepreneurs as well as their emergence as cultural icons, contrasted with the comparatively overall poor performance of Black Business not only within the intersection of race, gender, class, but also within the context of transnationalism in the globalization sale of African American Culture in post-Civil Rights America. But who profits?

Most important, why is it that business receipts for African Americans, who comprise almost thirteen percent of this nation's population, amounted in 2007 to only .5%, that is, less than one (1) percent of the nation's total business receipts? In addition, why is it that among the various occupational categories in which blacks participate in the nation's economy, especially as businesspeople, that black entertainers and sports figures are the highest paid? What does this say about race, class, gender and hegemonic masculinities in America at the turn of the new century?

REQUIRED BOOKS

Boyd, Todd,      Young, Black, Rich and Famous:  The Rise of the NBA, The Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture

Curry, Mark,         Dancing With the Devil: How Puff Burned the Bad Boys of Hip Hop

Daniels, Cora,     Black Power, Inc: The New Voice of Black Success

Johnson,  Magic,    32  Ways to Be a Champion in Business

Kitwana, Bakari,   Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality 

                                 of Race in America

Lafeber, Walter, Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism, New Expanded Edition

        Oliver, Richard, Tim Leffel, Hip-Hop, Inc. : Success Strategies of the Rap Moguls   

Pulley, Brett, The Billion Dollar BET: Robert Johnson and the Inside Story of BET

Smith-Shomade, Beretta, Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television            

Walker, Juliet E. K. History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship 

                    Chaps, 6-11; Course Packet “The Commodification of Black Culture”   

COURSE REQUIREMENTS          PERCENT OF GRADE

Critical Book Review Analysis                           25%

    (5 reviews, 2-3 pages 5 points each)

Class Discussion/participation                             25%

Oral Summary of Research Paper                         5%

Seminar Research Paper (15 pages)                    45%

This course partially fulfills the legislative requirement for American history. 

PURPOSE OF COURSE

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War. 

REQUIRED BOOKS

Franklin, John H. and Alfred Moss, FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM, 9th ed

Holt, T. and Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, vol 1

Owens, Leslie, THIS SPECIES OF PROPERTY: SLAVE LIFE AND CULTURE IN THE OLD SOUTH

Tyler, Ron and Lawrence, R. Murphy, The Slave Narratives of Texas

Walker, Juliet E. K., FREE FRANK: A BLACK PIONEER ON THE ANTEBELLUM FRONTIER

Walker, Juliet E. K., THE HISTORY OF BLACK BUSINESS IN AMERICA: CAPITALISM, RACE,    ENTREPRENEURSHIP

White, Deborah G.  AREN’T I A WOMAN:  FEMALE SLAVES PLANTATION SOUTH

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

MID-TERM EXAM 35%

RESEARCH PAPER 30%

EXAM 2 (TAKE-HOME) 35%

This course partially fulfills the legislative requirement for American history. 

This upper division course surveys the history of Blacks in Texas from before American settlement, beginning in 1528 with Estevanico, the first black in Texas who arrived with Spanish explorers, to the twenty-first century Nigerian-born immigrant, Houston-based Kase Lawal, the second African American to have a billion dollar business. Part one of the course proceeds from an analysis of Black Texas history within the construct of “Six Flags Over Texas.”  Specific focus will be an examination of slavery in Texas as an economic and political institution, with emphasis on antebellum slavery as well as the institutional development of the free black community. Part two of the course examines blacks in Texas from the Civil War to the era of Civil Rights, including a focus on black political participation as well as black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the occupational and entrepreneurial activities of African Americans to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Part three of the course considers the post-Civil Rights era’s impact on Black Texans in response to the state’s changing demographics. These and other topics in Texas black history highlight the agency of Black Texans in attempts to survive racism while forging a political, social and economic liberation.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Barr, Alwyn,  Black Texans: A History of African Americans in Texas, 1528-1995 

( University of Oklahoma Press, 1996)

Bernstein, Patricia,  The First Waco Horror: The Lynching of Jesse Washington and the Rise of the NAACP 

(TAMU Press, 2006)

Glasrud, Bruce A. and James M. Smallwood, eds., The African American Experience in Texas: An ,Anthology (Texas Tech Press, 2007).

Glasrud, Bruce A. and  Merline Pitre, eds.,  Black Women in Texas History (TAMU Press,  2008)

Goldston, Dwonna, Integrating the 40 Acres: The Fifty-year Struggle for Racial Equality at the University of Texas   (University of Georgia Press, 2006)

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Class Participation                                        20%

Texas Black History Topic Essay                     30%

Texas Oral Black History  Research Paper        50%

Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post-Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through 2014, provide the focus of this course.  Emphasis will be placed on the political, economic, including the business activities, as well as social and cultural activities of African Americans. The course begins with assessing the Black American experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also, legal and extralegal means, including violence, disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks, that is, the rise of Jim Crow, at the turn of the century and the Great Migration of the WWI era are examined. Ideologies of black leaders during that period, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Marcus Garvey are compared.

The rise of the black urban ghetto and impact of African American working class as it relates to African American culture provide the focus for examining the twentieth century Black Experience. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s, ideologies of Black leaders and black organizations, CORE, SNCC, and Black Panthers. Agendas of post-Civil rights era black social, political and business leaders are examined, such as Houston’s Case Lawal, hip hop entrepreneurs and the first two black billionaires, Robert Johnson (BET) and Oprah Winfrey..

Significantly, the course begins with a Civil War, marking an end of slavery and the beginning of black political participation. It ends with the historical phenomenon of the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States. What does this say about race/racism in America? What about Katrina and Black Reconstruction in New Orleans in 2009 as well as “the $40 Million Dollar slave” 149 years after the 13^th Amendment? The course ends with commentaries on retrenchment in affirmative action, commodification of African American culture, and assessments of America’s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the 21^st century.

Texts:

Franklin, John H. and Evelyn Higginbotham,  From Slavery to Freedom,9th ed, paper

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a Multiracial Democracy

Holt Thomas and Barkley-Brown, E., Major Problems, African American History vol 2 

Rhoden, William C., Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall,  Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America -course packet

Grading:

Exam 1  (Take home)                    30

History Research Paper                 30

Student Panel Presentation           10

Exam  2(Take Home) m                 30

This course considers the economic life of African Americans within a conceptual frame of African Americans as “captive capitalists.” Black Americans have made significant contributions to this nation's economic life. Yet, just as there was the slave labor exploitation of Blacks in America, paradoxically, there were blacks before the Civil War who also owned large slave-holding plantations. Then, with the commodification of black culture in the post-Civil Rights era, there has been the rise of multi-millionaire superstar black athletes and entertainers notwithstanding that the majority of African Americans remain at the bottom in the economic life of this nation not only in wealth holding but also in business profits. As former President Calvin Coolidge said, “The Business of America is Business," but why have historians and scholars in other disciplines, who have considered race, class and ethnicity in America, ignored the history of African Americans as capitalists?  Also, what accounts for the failure of blacks to achieve economic parity with white Americans?  Will racial economic parity provide the basis for equality in educational achievement and employment opportunities? Or, in a “post-racial” America, with its changing demographics, is class now taking precedence over race, ethnicity and skin color? Then, too, what factors in America life now account for the growing gender economic disparities in Black America?  

To answer these questions and others within the context of race, class, ethnicity and gender, this course is open to graduate students in all disciplines who wish to expand their knowledge of the black historical experience and its continuing impact on racial inequalities and disparities in America.

In examining black economic life), this course considers historical factors, such as how slavery, race, class and the state have impacted on the economic life of African Americans including a focus on the following topics, including: 1) legal impediments to slave laws and black codes enacted to suppress black American independent self-help economic activities; 2) race-based separate economies that developed in the 20th century black urban ghettoes; 3).African American organizations that have attempted to advance the economic life of black Americans by promoting black business; 4) the post-Civil Rights era commodification of black culture; 5) White Corporate America’s appropriation of black businesses; and, 6) the nation’s changing demographics impact on the expansion of global capitalism on the political economy of African Americans.

Texts

Andrews, Marcellus, Political Economy of Hope and Fear, Capitalism and the Black Condition in America

Boyd, Todd,   Young, Black, Rich and Famous:  The Rise of the NBA, The Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture

Brown, Michael, et al. Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society [Paperback] 

Burnett, Leonard E and Andrea Hoffman, Black is the New Green: Marketing to Affluent African Americans

Daniels, Cora,     Black Power, Inc: The New Voice of Black Success

Katznelson, Ira, When Affirmative Action Was White: Untold History Racial Inequality 20th Century America 

Marable, Manning, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America, Updated Edition 

Massey, Douglas and Nancy Denton, American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass 

Oliver, Melvin and Shapiro, Thomas, Black Wealth, White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality

Smith-Shomade, Beretta, Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television            

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship 

Weems, Robert, Business in Black and White: American Presidents and Black Entrepreneurs in the Twentieth Century

Winbush, Raymond, Should America Pay?:  Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations 

Grading

Class Discussion Required Book Participation, 20%

Research Paper Historiographical Review Essay 15%

Written Critique of Fellow Students’ Historiographical Review Essay 5%

Final Research Paper, 60%

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
HISTORY BLACK ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE USACOMMODIFICATION OF BLACK CULTURE: Sports and Hip Hop Entrepreneurs

HIS 350R-39360 AFR 374D -35362
FALL 2010  TTH 12:30-2:00 GAR 1.122       

Professor Juliet E K. Walker                                              Office: Garrison Hall 2-136
Phone 471-5581                                                                    Office Hours: TTH 10:0-11:00;
jekwalker@mail.utexas.edu                                                             2:00-3:30; W by appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Within the construct of African American Business history, race, contemporary American popular culture and global capitalism, this course will focus on an important aspect in the contemporary political economy of black Americans. Specifically, the commodification (sale) of black culture provides the conceptual frame for an examination of the phenomenon of both the superstar black athlete as an entrepreneur and the Hip Hop Superstar as an entrepreneur in post-Civil Rights America. The emphasis in this course, then, is to critically examine and analyze the impact of a multiplicity of societal, cultural and economic factors in the post-modern information age, propelled by new technologies in the New Economy of Global Capitalism.  Also, consideration will be given to the new diversity as it impacts on the political economy of African Americans.

Proceeding from an interdisciplinary perspective, the course considers both the financial successes of superstar black athletes and hip hop entrepreneurs as well as their emergence as cultural icons, contrasted with the comparatively overall poor performance of Black Business not only within the intersection of race, gender, class, but also within the context of transnationalism in the globalization sale of African American Culture in post-Civil Rights America. But who profits?

Most important, why is it that business receipts for African Americans, who comprise almost thirteen percent of this nation's population, amounted in 2007 to only .5%, that is, less than one (1) percent of the nation's total business receipts? In addition, why is it that among the various occupational categories in which blacks participate in the nation's economy, especially as businesspeople, that black entertainers and sports figures are the highest paid? What does this say about race, class, gender and hegemonic masculinities in America at the turn of the new century?

Within the context of superstar black athlete as entrepreneurs, the course will explore the business activities of superstar black athletes, such as Magic Johnson, contrasted, as an example, with that of the business activities of a Michael Jordan.  Also, the course will consider the rise of superstar black athlete entrepreneurs as an expansion of African American business activities within the context of the expansion of global capitalism.  Are there factors beyond race that explain the economic success of a Don King or George Foreman, Mike Tyson, and Muhammad Ali, as contrasted with their predecessors such as Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson in the world of boxing? Does the expansion of global capitalism transcend race when considering the economic success of Tiger Woods and the Williams sisters?  Does the increasing success of superstar Black athletes suggest a “declining significance of race” or has the expansion of global capitalism superseded race?  Also, for consideration, if Blacks gained controlled all aspects of a Sports Industry, basketball and football, as examples, would there be a decline in white consumer support of these industries?   In addition, what factors contribute to the limitations of Black Athletes in the Sports Industry beyond the playing fields such as sports wearing apparel manufacturing, team ownership, as well as top management positions in various aspects of the sports industry? Is there a glass ceiling for Black women in the Sports Industry or does gender limit the degree of success for all women in the Sports Industry? 

Particularly,  the course will consider student interpretation of the impact of the forces of race, class and the commodification of black cultural expressions as factors, e.g., the phenomenal athletic abilities of these Black athletes, that have contributed to their successes on the playing fields, courts, links, tracks,

Within the context of Hip Hop entrepreneurship, foremost, what are the enterprises that have been generated by the Hip Hop Industry?  Who are moguls, the entrepreneurs, in the Hip Hop Industry whose business activities reflect risk-taking and innovation?  Can these entrepreneurs be viewed within the tradition of the Schumpeterian tradition of creative capitalist, where entrepreneurial motivation extends beyond the desire for the accumulation of profits, but rather is motivated by non-economic forces:  “the will to conquer, the impulse to fight, to prove oneself superior to others, to succeed for the sake, not of the fruits of success but of success itself.”   What market factors precipitated the growth of the Hip Hop Industry? What historic factors in post-Civil Rights America precipitated the growth of the Hip Hop Industry?  What are the economic implications for Black America as a result of the Hip Hop Industry?  In what ways, economically, has Black America profited or not profited from the Hip Hop Industry? Within the scope of the post-Civil Rights era history of black business, has the commodification of black culture been the most profitable avenue to wealth for black entrepreneurs? Why? Also, how do the profits in the Hip Hop Industry compare with profits in other American industries, as well as those industries that distinguish the expansion of in global capitalism? Why has the commodification of black culture been the most viable business activity for blacks in the mainstream of American business life?  In the overall economic life of Black America, who profits from Hip Hop? And, how do they profit, financially? Or, has the Hip Hop culture marked a turning point whereby black labor and black culture are now benefiting the progenitors? Then, too, in what ways and in what financial amounts or financial benefits have hip hop profits trickled down to the black community? 

Within comparative context of  People of Color and White Corporate American  Entrepreneurship,

From slavery to freedom, the economic value of the labor of African Americans has benefited White America.  Does it continue to do so? Or, has the Hip Hop culture marked a turning point whereby black labor and black culture are now benefiting the progenitors?  Or, do we find that the in the instance of Hip Hop, i.e., the commodification of black culture continues to benefit White America? In the overall economic life of Black America, who profits from Hip Hop? Who profits from the labor of superstar sports athletes? And, how do they profit, financially?  Finally, who provides a model for the economic advancement of African Americans in the 21^st century?   Bob Johnson, Oprah Winfrey,  Tyler Perry, Dave Bing, Magic Johnson,  Michael Jordan, Russell Simmons, Fifty Cent,  Beyonce’ Tyra, Tiger, Williams Sisters?  Why not  more  Black American entrepreneurs, such as Reginald Lewis, the first black American with sales above $1 billiion?  Also, there are black-owned companies such as World Wide Technology Inc., St. Louis-based IT products and services,  $2 billion sales; CAMAC International Corp., a Houston-based crude oil, gas exploration, and production and trading company,  $1.6 billion sales, established by a Nigerian immigrant,  Kase Lawal ; or Bridgewater Interiors L.L.C. Detroit-based Automotive parts supplier, revenues, $1,186, billion?  Why not an African American Bill Gates, Michael Dell,  Ray Kroc, Sam Walton, Warren Buffett?  Why not an African American Jerry Yang, Vinod Khosla

Also, what about African Americans in White Corporate America?. Why less than eight African Americans have been heads of Fortune 500 companies including CEOs Kenneth Chenault, American Express, Stanley O’Neal, formerly CEO Merrill Lynch & Co,  Richard Parsons, former Time Warner CEO and, Ursula Burns, now CEO Xerox Corporation. Then, too, who are their American counterparts among people of color: Africans, Latinos, Asians (,Japanese, Koreans, Chinese,  Indians, Middle-Easterners)  and those people of color globally who participate in the mainstream global capitalist economy?  Who are their American counterparts among people of color: Africans, Latinos, Asians (,Japanese, Koreans, Chinese,  Indians, Middle-Easterners) . And, how does Black American Entrepreneurship compare with White Corporate American Entrepreneurship and also within the context of Global Capitalism

REQUIRED BOOKS

Boyd, Todd,      Young, Black, Rich and Famous:  The Rise of the NBA, The Hip Hop Invasion and the

                                  Transformation of American Culture

Curry, Mark,         Dancing With the Devil: How Puff Burned the Bad Boys of Hip Hop

Daniels, Cora,     Black Power, Inc: The New Voice of Black Success

Johnson,  Magic,    32  Ways to Be a Champion in Business

Kitwana, Bakari,   Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality  

                                 of Race in America

Lafeber, Walter, Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism, New Expanded Edition 

        Oliver, Richard, Tim Leffel, Hip-Hop, Inc. : Success Strategies of the Rap Moguls    

Pulley, Brett, The Billion Dollar BET: Robert Johnson and the Inside Story of BET

Smith-Shomade, Beretta, Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television            

Walker, Juliet E. K. History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship

                    Chaps, 6-11; Course Packet “The Commodification of Black Culture”    

COURSE REQUIREMENTS            DATE DUE          PERCENT OF GRADE

Critical Book Review Analysis                                     TBA                                            25%

    (5 reviews, 2-3 pages 5 points each) 

Class Discussion/participation                                                                                        25%

Oral Summary of Research Paper                                                                                    5%

Seminar Research Paper (15 pages)                        Dec  3                                               45%

Critical Book Review Essays 25 points.

The course is divided into the following five sections.  Each student is to select one book from each section and write a review of the book;, that is, five book reviews are required.Each is worth five points of your grade for a total of 25 points..

20^TH CENTURY BLACK BUSINESS

1. Before Cultural Commodification: A Separate Economy   
2. Compared to Cultural Commodification Enterprises
3. Superstar BLACK AthleteS: Entrepreneurs vs Businesspeople
4. HIP-HOP ENTREPRENEURS  AND BUSINESS ENTERPRISES
5. ATERNATIVE BLACK CULTURE COMMODIFICATION

Your critical  two-three page book review should include:

1.  brief overview/summary of the book

2.  your assessment of the significance of  the book’s content as it relates to race, black business and  the          expansion of global capitalism in the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries.

3.  insight gained from the book on the implications of race as it relates to the commodification of black culture and the implications of the future of black business in America

4.   why you would or would not recommend this book as a source of information on the commodification of black culture of black culture and the implications of the future of black business in America

Class Participation

Each student will present a five minute summary of his/her critical book review analysis. This oral presentation along with class participation of the book = five points for a total of 25 points. 

Course Research Paper

A research paper guideline will be provided. Topics for student research paper will be generated from both class readings and class discussion in addition to the various questions raised above in the above “Course Description.”   Various sources, both primary and secondary, can be used, e.g., business as well as sports magazines, biographies, scholarly studies, both books and journal articles, which provide information on the business of sports and the sports industry, and various internet sources.  Finally, your research paper should provide a discussion on how the topic has contributed/changed/broadened your perspectives of African American history, African American Business history and the impact of race and the commodification of black culture through sports participation as this relates to the expansion of global capitalism.  

Students are strongly encouraged to see me during my office hours during both the conceptualization and writing phases of your research paper.

A research paper guide will be provided.  All papers are due before or by December 3 -- NO LATE RESEARCH PAPERS ACCEPTED

                                            COURSE OUTLINE

Introduction to Course

Aug 26   Black Business in Historical Perspective From Slavery to Freedom

Topic 20^TH CENTURY BLACK BUSINESS

A. BEFORE DESEGREGATION BLACK BUSINESS IN A SEPARATE ECONOMY

Aug 31, Sept  2, 7,   

Walker, Juliet E. K. History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship

                                 Chaps, 7, 8, 9  

B. IN POST-CIVIL RIGHTS AMERICA Sept 14, 16,  21, 23

Sept  9, 14,  

Walker, Juliet E. K. History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship

                                 Chaps, 10, 11       

Sept  16, 21

Daniels, Cora,     Black Power, Inc: The New Voice of Black Success

Sept 21,  23

Kitwana, Bakari,   Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality  

                                 of Race in America

Superstar BLACK AthleteS: Entrepreneurs vs Businesspeople

Sept 28, 30, Oct 5

Boyd, Todd,      Young, Black, Rich and Famous:  The Rise of the NBA, The Hip Hop Invasion and the

                                  Transformation of American Culture

Oct 7 

Johnson,  Magic,   32  Ways to Be a Champion in Business 

Oct 12, 14

Lafeber, Walter, Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism

HIP-HOP ENTREPRENEURS  AND BUSINESS ENTERPRISES

Oct 19. 21

Curry, Mark,         Dancing With the Devil: How Puff Burned the Bad Boys of Hip Hop

Oct 26, 28

         Oliver & Lefel        Hip-Hop, Inc. : Success Strategies of the Rap Moguls   

ATERNATIVE BLACK CULTURE COMMODIFICATION

Nov 2,

Pulley, Brett, The Billion Dollar BET: Robert Johnson and the Inside Story of BET

Nov 9, 

Smith-Shomade, Beretta, Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television            

Nov 14  Daniels, Cora,     Black Power, Inc: The New Voice of Black Success

 Student discussion and oral summary of research paper

November 16,

November 18, 

November  23,

November  30

 December  2

 RESEARCH PAPER DUE--A research paper guide will be provided.  All papers are Due before or by DEC 3 .    NO LATE RESEARCH PAPERS ACCEPTED

Students, a Research Paper Guide will be provided. In addition, as you begin to write your research paper, please consider the Undergraduate Writing Center, which provides professional consulting services for students who want to improve their writing.

The Undergraduate Writing Center’s mission--improving undergraduate writing and supporting undergraduate education at The University of Texas at Austin--has effective and ethical rhetoric at its core.  We train our writing consultants to approach each session from the following points of departure: the assignment of the particular instructor, the expectations of the particular discipline, and the goals of the particular student. 

Students can bring their assignments to the UWC and work with a consultant on any aspect of their writing--from brainstorming, to developing and organizing an argument, to learning the conventions of usage and punctuation. 

Their consultants will use my directions as well as your student notes to define the goals of each session, but ultimately, students are responsible for the quality of their papers. 

Also, consultants will be happy to send you a brief letter describing each session, if the student requests it.

The Undergraduate Writing Center Located in FAC 211 (Flawn Academic Center), and the UWC is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday.

Because of recent budget constraints that have limited our hiring, they are expecting an unprecedented demand for our services this year. And although they will continue to work with students on a walk-in basis, students should be encouraged to call ahead for an appointment (471-6222).   

To better familiarize your students with our the Undergraduate Writing Center services, the UWC brochure, which details  hours and policies can be downloaded from their main website at . www.uwc.utexas.edu.

Most important, your paper must be your own work. By following the above directions, there will be no concern that your paper is not your own--See  UT’S POLICIES at:

UT Links : Division of Rhetoric and Composition Student Resources

Student Government/Student Advocates

Honor Code

LBJ School of Public Affairs A Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism (384K PDF file)http://www.lib.utexas.edu/admin/cird/bibliographer/bibsubject.html#subject

CLASS ATTENDANCE

University regulations mandate that students with more than three unexcused absences must be given an F grade. There are occasions when a student will miss class due to illness or personal problems. If illness or personal problems require you to miss more than three classes, you must present verification of these circumstances from your Physician, Dean or funeral director.  If your circumstances prevent you from meeting class attendance requirements, please discuss with your Dean the necessity of dropping the course. If your absence is due to university obligations, arrangements must be made in advance to make up any missed work.  When absent, it is your responsibility to get the class lecture notes from a classmate. Once this is done and, if you have questions on the lecture notes, please see me.

SPECIAL NEEDS The University of Texas at Austin provides, upon request, academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities.  To determine if you qualify, please contact the Dean of Students at 471-6259; 471-4641 TTY to certify your needs, which will allow me to make appropriate arrangements

NOTES: CHANGES, ADDENDUM

Co-op CFO introduces textbook rental program at Student Government ...

Apr 28, 2010 ... The book can either be returned at the Co-op buy back counter or purchased at a discount of the rental price. If needed the rental period ...
www.readthehorn.com/.../co_op_cfo_introduces_textbook_rental_program_at_student_government_meeting - Cached

Information regarding emergency evacuation routes and emergency procedures can be found at http://www.utexas.edu/emergency.

Classroom Instruction and Recommended Syllabus Information  To  implement this policy and reinforce building evacuation procedures, each faculty member shall provide the following information and instructions to students:

Occupants of buildings on The University of Texas at Austin campus are required to evacuate buildings when a fire alarm is activated. Alarm activation or announcement requires exiting and assembling outside.

Familiarize yourself with all exit doors of each classroom and building you may occupy.  Remember that the nearest exit door may not be the one you used when entering the building.

Students requiring assistance in evacuation shall inform their instructor in writing during the first week of class.

In the event of an evacuation, follow the instruction of faculty or class instructors.

Do not re-enter a building unless given instructions by the following: Austin Fire Department, The University of Texas at Austin Police Department, or Fire Prevention Services office.

aUG  26 Lecture  INTERPRETING AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Aug 26   Black Business in Historical Perspective From Slavery to Freedom

I   History, Definition, Purpose,

2. African American History Chronology 1619-2010—almost 400 years

3. State of Black America 2010 – William E. B.  Du Bois in his 1903 Souls of Black Folk made the following prediction for the 20^th century?  “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line -- the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea. It was a phase of this problem that caused the Civil War.” 

4. Reconstruction of the African American Experience-- Why?  Does DuBois’ prediction apply to America and the global community of nations in the 21^st century?   Why?  Slavery ended 145 years ago, but racial societal and economic inequalities continue. Is there still a “problem of the color-line” in America?  If so, why? Can and does African American history provide insight?

5. Historiography –Interpreting history, impact of subjective factors vs objectivity, presentism

6. Sources, Oral /Written/Visual Primary vs, Secondary

This course contains a Writing flag.

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS at AUSTIN
AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY TO 1860
History 357C, African American Studies 357C, American Studies 321
Fall 2010

Professor Juliet E.K. Walker                                                                Office Hours
Office: Garrison 2-136                                                                             TTH  10:00-11:00; 2-3:30
512-471-5581                                                                                           W By appointment
jekwalker@mail.utexas.edu                                                              . 

Teaching Assistant                                                                                Office Hours
Adrienne Sockwell                                                                                    W 11-12; TH 3-4; by appointment
Office: Burdine 302                                                                                     acsockwell@gmail.com

PURPOSE OF COURSE

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War.

REQUIRED BOOKS
Franklin, John H. and Alfred Moss, FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM, 9th ed
Holt, T. and Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, vol 1
Owens, Leslie, THIS SPECIES OF PROPERTY: SLAVE LIFE AND CULTURE IN THE OLD SOUTH
Tyler, Ron and Lawrence, R. Murphy, The Slave Narratives of Texas
Walker, Juliet E. K., FREE FRANK: A BLACK PIONEER ON THE ANTEBELLUM FRONTIER
Walker, Juliet E. K., THE HISTORY OF BLACK BUSINESS IN AMERICA: CAPITALISM, RACE,    ENTREPRENEURSHIP
White, Deborah G.  AREN’T I A WOMAN:  FEMALE SLAVES PLANTATION SOUTH

COURSE REQUIREMENTS                   DATE DUE                   PERCENT OF GRADE
MID-TERM EXAM  (take-home)                          OCT  12                                     35%

RESEARCH PAPER                                            NOV 18                                     30%

 EXAM  2  (Take-Home)                                       DEC 4                                       35%

EXAMS

Class lecture outlines include “consider” questions, some of which will be on the exams. Students are strongly  encouraged to prepare for the exams by answering  the “consider” questions at the end of each week’s lectures.  Students are also encouraged, but not required, to show their answers to the TA or Professor for information on whether answers are correct.  Also, each exam will include questions on the video documentaries shown in class. .

Your research papers, due Nov 18, will be returned Nov 30.  NO LATE PAPERS ACCEPTED

The  Second  Exam is a  take-home exam,  distributed Thursday, Dec  2 ; due by Saturday, Dec.4 11:00AM-2:00 PM.

 NO LATE EXAMS ACCEPTED!

EXTRA CREDIT

Up to ten (10) extra points on the following assignment (five points each) can be added to the total of your three grades on the above requirements..  

Assignment One--Write a two-page review of one of the video documentaries—one page summarizing the documentary; the second page, critiquing it from the perspective of: a) how it broadened your knowledge of the topic; or, b) how, from your readings and lectures, additional historical information could have strengthened the documentary.  

Assignment Two  Write a two-page review summarizing and interpreting two of the primary source documents ifom  the MAJOR PROBLEMS book.  Extra credit assignments must be turned in on November 18. 

RESEARCH PAPERS

The research paper (TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED IN CLASS AND DURING OFFICE HOURS) will be based on both primary and secondary source materials. .

 A Research Paper Guide will be provided with specified dates that must be met in researching and writing term paper. You will have ten weeks to research and write your paper. Research topics can be on issues regarding slavery as well as topics regarding comparative slavery. Also, antebellum newspapers, both black and white can be used as primary sources, comparing the difference in information on particular historic events. Research papers can include topics on free blacks, including information on the goals of black leaders, both men and women, organizations to which they belonged, if any, their various kinds of protest activities, supporters, opposition, including a discussion of their successes and/or failures. Also, the paper will assess the realities of their protest within the historic conditions of the times and whether or not their protest made a difference. Other research paper topics that can be considered are: Causes of Civil War; White or/and Black Attitudes Towards Slavery; Blacks and International  Issues, Emigration/Colonization; Abolitionism; Dred Scott Decision; John Brown's Raid;  Lincoln's Election; Black/Native American relationships, Free Blacks in the South/West/North/Texas. Or, students can compare the  economic conditions of blacks before the Civil War with those of Mexicans in Texas and California and Chinese in California. Also, students can compare 19^th century conditions of slaves and free blacks in USA with those in Latin America. Another comparison can be that of the conditions of fugitive slaves to those of illegal immigrants as well as a comparison of fugitive slave laws with today’s illegal immigrant laws.  Also, students can make comparisons or show parallel conditions of blacks during age of slavery with blacks in 21^st century, such as in kinds of business participation...

      Students are encouraged to use the resources of the Undergraduate Writing Center (UWC).  

 The research paper will include footnotes. Additional information will be provided. Also, students are  encouraged to discuss their paper with both the TA and Professor. Also, students are encouraged to provide a finished draft of the paper for comments. Successful research papers will include both primary and secondary sources. The research paper must be a minimum of six pages in addition to the  endnotes page, at the end of the paper, rather than placing footnotes in the main body of the paper. For appropriate documentation, quotations, footnote/endnote and bibliographic forms, see, Kate L. Turabian, A MANUAL FOR WRITERS OF TERM PAPERS, THESES AND DISSERTATIONS  

As Frederick Douglass said:

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. ….

 People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get."  

                                            COURSE OUTLINE

DATE                   LECTURE TOPICS AND ASSIGNED READINGS

Aug  26                    INTRODUCTION TO COURSE: SOME PERSPECTIVES ON
                           AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, CHRONOLOGY, HIISTORIOGRAPHY

Aug 31                        INTERPRETING AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY
                                       Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS, 1-35

Sept 2                     West and West Central African Political Economy and Culture 
                                                  Franklin, chap. 2
                                                 Walker, History of Blk Bus, 1-20

Sept  7, 9                Transatlantic Slave Trade/Africans and Atlantic World
                                                  Franklin,  chaps. 3,
                                                  Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS, 36-81
                                                “Ship of Slaves : The Middle Passage”               

Sept 14, 16         African Survivalisms, Slaves and Free Blacks in Colonial America   
                                                      Franklin, chap. 4
                                      Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS,  83-155
                                                    Walker, History of Blk Bus. Chap. 2
                                “A Son of Africa The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Oloudah Equiano,                                                      or Gustavus Vaasa the African”

Sept  21, 23               Revolutionary War America, Blacks and Slavery
                                                               Walker, FREE FRANK, chap. 1
                                                                Franklin/, chap.5
                                                   Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS, 158-193

Sept 28, 30                      The Constitution, Slavery, Masters and  Property
                                          Freehling, “Founding Fathers and Slavery, on reserve/Blackboard
                                             “Slavery and the making of America. 1740s-1830s” Volume 2  

Oct 5, 7                      African Americas, the New Nation, and Westward Movement
                                                          Franklin/ chaps. 6,
                                                       Walker, FREE FRANK, chaps. 2, 3, 4, 5

Oct 12                                                 MIDTERM EXAM  DUE
                                          The midterm take-home exam will be distributed in class Friday Oct  7 .
                                           The exam is due Tuesday, October 12. NO LATE EXAMS ACCEPTED                 

Oct 12, 14                             Antebellum  Slavery and, Plantation Life
                                                                  Franklin, chap. 7
                                            Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS   195-244
                                            Owens, THIS SPECIES OF PROPERTY: SLAVE LIFE AND CULTURE                    

Oct 19, 21                              Slave Women, Families and Children
                                                  White, AREN’T I A WOMAN

 Oct 26, 28                        Slave  Realities /Economic Resistance
                                               Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS, 246-291    
                                                        Walker, History of Blk Bus. Chap. 3
                                “Slavery and the making of America. Volume 3, Seeds of destruction”  

Nov 2, 4                                Slave Activism and Texas Slavery  
                                              Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS ,  Ch 7    
                                                  The Slave Narratives of Texas
                                          Nat Turner [videorecording] : a troublesome property        

Nov 9, 11                  Antebellum Free Blacks and Protest Activism 
                                                     Franklin, chap. 9
                                                    Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS , chap 8    

Nov 16, 18                     Antebellum Free Blacks  Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
                                                     Walker, History of Blk Bus. Chaps. 4 and 5
                                                      Walker, FREE FRANK, chaps. 6,7,8

Nov 23                                          Blacks, The Decade of Crisis  
                                                         Franklin, chap. 10

Nov 25                                            THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

Nov 30, Dec 2                    Blacks, Slavery and Impact of Civil War
                                                          Walker, chap. 6

Dec 2                               Take-Home  EXAMINATION 2
                                               Distributed Dec 2
                                               DUE  Dec 4  11:00 AM-2:00 PM (no late exams accepted; if exigencies
                                                         prevent completion, arrangements can be made to take the
                                                        three-hour in-class final exam                             

CLASS ATTENDANCE

University regulations mandate that students with more than three unexcused absences must be given an F grade. There are occasions when a student will miss class due to illness or personal problems. If illness or personal problems require you to miss more than three classes, you must present verification of these circumstances from your Physician, Dean or funeral director.  If your circumstances prevent you from meeting class attendance requirements, please discuss with your Dean the necessity of dropping the course. If your absence is due to university obligations, arrangements must be made in advance to make up any missed work.  When absent, it is your responsibility to get the class lecture notes from a classmate. Once this is done and, if you have questions on the lecture notes, please see me.

The New Grading System:

SPECIAL NEEDS

The University of Texas at Austin provides, upon request, academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities.  To determine if you qualify, please contact the Dean of Students at 471-6259; 471-4641 TTY to certify your needs, which will allow me to make appropriate arrangements

NOTES: CHANGES, ADDENDUM

Co-op CFO introduces textbook rental program at Student Government ...

Apr 28, 2010 ... The book can either be returned at the Co-op buy back counter or purchased at a discount of the rental price. If needed the rental period ...
www.readthehorn.com/.../co_op_cfo_introduces_textbook_rental_program_at_student_government_meeting - Cached

Emergency Evacuation Policy
Information regarding emergency evacuation routes and emergency procedures can be found at <http://www.utexas.edu/emergency>www.utexas.edu/emergency.

Classroom Instruction and Recommended Syllabus Information  To  implement this policy and reinforce building evacuation procedures, each faculty member shall provide the following information and instructions to students:

Occupants of buildings on The University of Texas at Austin campus are required to evacuate buildings when a fire alarm is activated. Alarm activation or announcement requires exiting and assembling outside.

Familiarize yourself with all exit doors of each classroom and building you may occupy.  Remember that the nearest exit door may not be the one you used when entering the building.

Students requiring assistance in evacuation shall inform their instructor in writing during the first week of class.

In the event of an evacuation, follow the instruction of faculty or class instructors.

Do not re-enter a building unless given instructions by the following: Austin Fire Department, The University of Texas at Austin Police Department, or Fire Prevention Services office.

AUG  26 Lecture  INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY

I   History, Definition, Purpose,

2. African American History Chronology 1619-2010—almost 400 years

3. State of Black America 2010 – William E. B.  Du Bois in his 1903 Souls of Black Folk made the following prediction for the 20^th century?  “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line -- the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea. It was a phase of this problem that caused the Civil War.” 

4. Reconstruction of the African American Experience-- Why?  Does DuBois’ prediction apply to America and the global community of nations in the 21^st century?   Why?  Slavery ended 145 years ago, but racial societal and economic inequalities continue. Is there still a “problem of the color-line” in America?  If so, why? Can and does African American history provide insight?

5. Historiography –Interpreting history, impact of subjective factors vs objectivity, presentism

6. Sources, Oral /Written/Visual Primary vs, Secondary

AUG  31 Lecture  INTERPRETING AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY

Assigned Readings Holt/ Barkley-Brown, MAJOR PROBLEMS, 1-35  

DOCUMENTS
1. The Brownies' Book Encourages Black Children to Know Their History, 1920
2. Carter G. Woodson on His Goals for Black History, 1922
3. Mary McLeod Bethune Outlines the Objectives of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1937
4. John Hope Franklin Explains the Lonely Dilemma of the American Negro Scholar, 1963
5. Vincent Harding on the Differences Between Negro History and Black History, 1971
6. Lucille Clifton and the Nurturing of History, c. 1990

ESSAYS
John Hope Franklin, The History of African-American History
David  Blight, The Burden of African-American History: Memory, Justice, a Usable Past
Fath David Ruffins, Sites of Memory, Sites of Struggle: The "Materials" of History

CONSIDER:

1. From information in the documents, discuss reasons for writing African American history.

2. .Of the three essays, which seems the most relevant to you in providing insight as to the importance of understanding why African American History is important in the 21^st century, particularly within the context of the statement made by Dr. Carter G, Woodson, the father of African American history, who  said: “Those who fail to understand the past live to repeat it.”  "those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it?

Sept 2 Lecture WEST AFRICAN HERITAGE:  Precolonial West and West Central  African Political Economy and Culture 

 AFRICAN APHORISMS

 Sika sene, biribara nsen bio: "There is nothing as important as wealth."  

"The Wise Person who does not learn ceases to be wise."

 "Knowledge is like a garden, if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested." 

 I Importance of Studying Precolonial West African and West Central African History

 II From Egypt to Sudanese Empires:  Overview, Ghana, Mali, Songhay

III Geographic Origins of Africans in Colonial America

IV  Political Structure and Organizations, Precolonial West/West Central Africa
          A. Stateless Societies       B  Family/Clan States
          C.  Village States               D  Kingdoms, Division of Power, Separation of Power

V Social Structure in Precolonial West and West Central Africa
      A. Social Stratification and classes, marriage monogamous, polygamous
      B. Kinship Groups and Lines of Descent, matrilineal or patrilineal
      C. Land Ownership and Access to Property
      D. Slavery

Vl Economic Structure and Organization in Precolonial West and West Central Africa
      A. Specialization, Agriculture, Mining, Fishing, Crafts
      B. Trade and Commerce, Local, Regional, International
      C. Craft and Merchant Guilds and Trading Organizations
      D. Role of Women in the Economy
      E. West and West Central African Business Ethic

VII Cultural Life in West and West Central Africa
      A. Morality and Values        B. Religion
      C. Philosophy                       D. Music, Art, and Dance

CONSIDER:

1.  Why should this course begin with information on precolonial West and West Central African History during transatlantic slave trade era?

2.  Why is it important to recognize that complexity and diversity distinguished the political, social, and economic life of Africans brought to the Americas.  

3.  Describe economic activities in West and West Central Africa during the  transatlantic slave  trade era.

4.  What four African proverbs provide insight into understanding  the culture and values of Africans brought to the Americas?  Briefly explain.

5. From assigned readings, compare info from secondary sources with that from primary sources in the MAJOR PROBLEMS book, Which two primary sources do you consider most important in information on Africa and why?  ..

This course contains a Cultural Diversity flag.

Lectures, discussion, reading, and research on selected topics in the field of history.

May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Designed for History majors. 

History 350L and 350R may not both be counted unless the topics vary.

Course carries Writing flag. 

Spring 2010  TTH  UTC 4-112 

Dr. Juliet E K. Walker                                                       Office Hours

Office: Garrison 2-136                                                        TTH 12:30-2:00

Phone 471-5581                                                                   W By appointment: (11-2)

jekwalker@mail.utexas.edu                                                          Drop-In 7:30-10:30  AM

                                                                                             (day announced in class)                                                                                     

Teaching Assistant                                                               Office Hours 

Lauren W. Hammond                                                           TBA                        

Office:  Burdine 304                                                                          

 l.w.hammond@gmail.com                                            

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through 2000, provide the focus of this course.  Emphasis will be placed on the political, economic, including the business activities, as well as social and cultural activities of African Americans. The course begins with assessing the Black American experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also, the legal and extralegal means, including violence, which led to the disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks, that is, the rise of Jim Crow, at the turn of the century and the Great Migration of the WWI era are examined. Ideologies of black leaders during that period, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Marcus Garvey are compared.

The rise of the black urban ghetto and impact of African American working class as it relates to African American culture provide the focus for examining the twentieth century Black Experience. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s, ideologies of Black leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Stokley Carmichael, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, Angela Davis, Kathleen Cleaver, black organizations, CORE, SNCC, Black Panthers. Agendas of post-Civil rights era black leaders Jesse Jackson, Minister Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Al Sharpton and black business leaders, Bob Johnson (BET); Oprah Winfrey, Case Lawal and hip hop entrepreneurs. The post-Civil Rights era rise of national black political leaders is examined; US Senators, Edward Brooke, Carol Moseley-Braun, Barack Obama, Roland Burris, Congresswomen Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, Sheila Jackson-Lee and presidential appointee Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. The course ends with commentaries on retrenchment in affirmative action policies, late twentieth century black conservatism, commodification of African American culture, and assessments on impact of America’s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the 21^st century.

Technology led to first two black billionaires, Robert Johnson (BET) and Oprah.  Also, the Internet with viral social networking websites, MySpace, FaceBook, Black Planet and YouTube streaming videos, provided a basis for Barack Obama to emerge as the front-runner in the presidential primaries. Significantly, course begins with a Civil War, marking an end of slavery and beginning of black political participation. The course ends with the historical phenomenon of the election of the first African American President of the United States. What does this say about, race/racism in America in the twenty-first century? What about Katrina and Black Reconstruction in New Orleans in 2010? What about the economic recession, 2008-2010 for African Americans compared to impact of the Great Depression on African Americans in the 1930s? Where do we, all Americans go from here?  

REQUIRED BOOKS

Davidson, James W., ‘They Say’: Ida B. Wells and the Reconstruction of Race,

Franklin, John H. and Alfred Moss, From Slavery to Freedom

Holt, Thomas and Barkley-Brown, E., Major Problems, African American History vol 2

Hutchinson, Earl, The Assassination of the Black Male Image

Martin, Waldo,  Brown v. The Board of Education: Brief History with Documents

Sitton, T. and Conrad, J., Freedom Colonies: Independent Black Texans in the Time

                                            of Jim Crow 

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America -course packet

COURSE REQUIREMENTS                        DATE DUE                        PERCENT OF GRADE

Exam 1 (Take-home)                          Feb 23                                          25

Exam  2 (Take-home)                         Apr   6                                          25

Oral History Research Paper              Apr 27                                                      25

Exam  3 (In-class, 75%)                          May 4                                           25

             (Take-home 25%)

EXAMINATIONS

All exams are essay. There are two take-home exams. Exam 3  is two parts: (25% take-home) and (75% In-class). The take-home question for Exam 3 will be given on Thursday, April 29. The in-class exam will be given Tuesday, May 4.  The entire exam will be turned in May 4.  Lecture outlines include “consider” questions, the basis of the exam questions, and should be answered each week. I strongly suggest that you keep up-to-date in answering the consider questions so, when you get the exam, you will have literally answered the exam questions. Also, TA Lauren Hammond and I are always available during our office hours to check your “consider question” answers.

No late exams accepted. If exigencies preclude you from turning in Exams I and II on due date, we will accept exams emailed dated to be received by 11l:00 AM on exam due date. A hard copy of the exam must subsequently be turned in. Only the hard copy of the exam will be graded. Students who fail to turn in take-home exams on date due will have to take an in-class exam; that is, make-up exams are in-class at a specific time scheduled by the History Department. These make-up exams are usually scheduled on a Friday. Each day the exam is late, five points taken off exam grade=20 points from exam grade.

The Course will focus on three chronological time periods

Exam 1, due Feb 23, will cover course material from 1860 to 1915  

.Civil War, Reconstruction, Post-Reconstruction, Black Economic Life, Rise of Jim Crow, Early twentieth century Black Leaders 1860s to 1900s

Exam 2, due Apr 6  will cover course materials from 1915 to 1954

Great Migration, WWI, UNIA, Harlem Renaissance, 1900s-1929

Great Depression, New Deal, WWII, Black Urban and Economic life Prelude to Brown,

Exam 3, in-class May 4, will cover course material from 1955 to 2000s

Freedom Movement, Civil Rights Protest, Black Power, Riots, Civil Rights Acts, Vietnam,

 Post Civil Rights Era, Black Entrepreneurship, Diversity, Black Politics, Hip Hop and commodification of black culture, black economics, and African American images

ORAL HISTORY RESEARCH PAPER

Your topic for the oral history paper can be selected from any 20^th century topics mentioned in the Course Introduction, including post-Civil Rights era contemporary issues in African American life, thought and culture, such as black business and entrepreneurship, working class blacks, conservative, liberal and radical black thought, impact of media and IT, nation’s changing demographics and diversity on Black Americans, Black feminism, black leaders, sports, music, film, Blacks and the Military, black urban life, migration, activities of anti-Black Hate Groups, Terrorism, African Diaspora immigration, Blacks and global capitalism. Or, your research paper can explore historical controversy, such as: Who was responsible for the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Your research paper will include three kinds of sources, primary,  secondary  and oral sources, which can be a family member, friend, and/or an authority or any person but that person must have participated in, witnessed or has expert opinion on your selected  topic in the historical experience of African Americans in the twentieth century.  Do not select a topic if you do not have a person to interview.  Your interviewee/s can be from 18 years old to over 100 years old and of any race or ethnicity, as long as this person has personal experience/ views on the topic.

A research paper guide will be provided.  All papers are due before or by April 27.   NO LATE RESEARCH PAPERS ACCEPTED

Extra Credit, Students can earn up to 10 points added to total final grade points by selecting two of the following.

Lecture Report                                     5 points added to final grade average

Report on LBJ Museum Visit                        5 points added to final grade average      

Obama Grade for 1^st year                  5 points added to final grade

All reports are two pages. A report on a  non-class lecture  that provides insight on Black History in 20^th century is acceptable. With LBJ museum visit, report on exhibits related to African American history. The Obama report – answer what has he done for Black America since he took office.  

EXTRA CREDIT All Extra Credit reports DUE at one time, May 6. 

COURSE OUTLINE

DATE                                    LECTURE TOPICS AND ASSIGNED READINGS

Jan  19       INTRODUCTION TO COURSE: PERSPECTIVES ON AFRICAN

                                     AMERICAN HISTORY, CHRONOLOGY, HISTORIOGRAPHY

                                    BLACKS, THE CIVIL WAR AND FREEDMEN    

Jan 21, 26      CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION FOR BLACK AMERICA

                                           From Slavery to Freedom, chaps. 11, 12

   Major Problems in African American History,  chap. 2, 36-74        Slavery and the making of America. Volume 4, The challenge of  

         freedom [videorecording] 

Jan 28          POST-CIVIL WAR BLACK LIFE, ECONOMICS, BLACK BUSINESS,  

                History of Black Business, chap. 6 

                          Major Problems in African American History, 87-91, 166        

Feb 2                             POST-CIVIL WAR BLACK LIFE IN TEXAS  

                         Freedom Colonies: Independent Black Texans in the Time Jim Crow

Feb 4, 9              VIOLENCE, RISE OF JIM CROW, POLITICAL AND LEGAL                                              

                                     CONSTRAINTS AND BLACK LEADER RESPONSES,

From Slavery to Freedom, chap. 13

                     Major Problems in African American History, chap. 5

                 Booker T. Washington [videorecording] : the life & the legacy

Feb 11                       GENDER RESPONSES TO JIM CROW 

                           INVITED  LECTURE, LAUREN HAMMOND, ABD

                             They Say’: Ida B. Wells and the Reconstruction of Race

Feb 16, 18              BLACK ECONOMIC RESPONSES TO JIM CROW: BLACK BUSINESS  

                                  AND “SEPARATE ECONOMY AND AMERICAN IMPERIALISM

     From Slavery to Freedom, chap. 14

                                           History of Black Business,  pp 182-211

Feb 18       EXAM I 1861- 1915 (Take-home due Feb 23 )

Feb  23       Take-home EXAM due Feb 23, 11:00 AM    

Feb  23, 25             GREAT MIGRATION, RISE OF BLACK URBAN GHETTO  WWI                                 

                                                        THE RED SUMMER

           From Slavery to Freedom, chaps. 15 -16

Major Problems in African American History, chap. 4

                 History of Black Business,  pp 211-219 

Mar 2, 4               MARCUS GARVEY, ORGANIZED BLACK WORKERS AND THE                    

                                              HARLEM  RENAISSANCE

From Slavery to Freedom, chaps. 17-18

Major Problems in African American History, chap. 6

                                    History of Black Business,  pp 219-224 

                               “Marcus Garvey [video]: look for me in the whirlwind”

Mar 9. 11    CONFRONTING THE GREAT DEPRESSION, NEW DEAL FOR BLACKS? 

                                    From Slavery to Freedom, chaps. 19, 20

                               Major Problems in African American History, chaps. 7, 8

                                       History of Black Business,  pp 219-224; chap 8

Mar 16, 18                     SPRING BREAK

Mar 23, 25       CONFRONTING  WWII AND THE COLD WAR ERA

                                    From Slavery to Freedom, chaps.  21, 22

                               Major Problems in African American History, chaps. 7, 8

Mar 30, Apr 1  BROWN DECISION, COLD WAR AND PROLOGUE TO CIVIL RIGHTS

                             ,

                             Brown v. The Board of Education: Brief History with Documents 

                        “The Road to Brown [video] : the untold story of "the man who

                                                killed Jim Crow"

Apr 1           EXAM II  1915-1950s Take-home Distribued in class  Due April 1

Apr 6           EXAM II  Due 11:00 AM—NO LATE EXAMS-MAKE-UPS IN-CLASS

Apr 6, 8         BOYCOTTS, SIT-INS, MARCHES, MILITANCY, RIOTS, BLACK 

                              POWER DEMANDS, SUCCESSES, FAILURES

From Slavery to Freedom, chap. 23

                                  Major Problems in African American History, chap 9

Apr 13, 15            BLACK REVOLUTION, BLACK LEADERS, GOVERNMENT  

                                RESPONSES, CIVIL RIGHTS, POLITICAL RIGHTS

                               Major Problems in African American History, chap.10

Apr 20, 22            POST-CIVIL RIGHTS AMERICA: SOCIETAL/ECONOMIC ADVANCES,                      

From Slavery to Freedom, chap. 24, 25

History of Black Business, chap 11

                                   Major Problems in African American History, 313--336

Apr 27, 29    FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM REACTION, PROGRESS, CHANGE

                           The Assassination of the Black Male Image

                   Student Panel (EX CR) Panel Moderator, TA Lauren Hammond

                    Black American Conservatism [video]: an exploration of ideas 

May 4,   Exam III In-Class Failure to take exam, students have, May 5,6,7,  to make up exam:  five points taken off final grade each day exam is late.   

May 6      WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?  All extra credit papers due

ATTENDANCE

University regulations mandate that students with more than three unexcused absences must be given an F grade. There are occasions when a student will miss class due to illness or personal problems. If illness or personal problems require you to miss more than three classes, you must present verification of these circumstances from your Physician, Dean or funeral director.  If your circumstances prevent you from meeting class attendance requirements, please discuss with your Dean the necessity of dropping the course. If your absence is due to university obligations, arrangements must be made in advance to make up any missed work.

When absent, it is your responsibility to get the lecture outline from TA Lauren and class lecture notes from a classmate. Once this is done and, if you have questions on the lecture notes, please see either the TA or me. 

SPECIAL NEEDS

The University of Texas at Austin provides, upon request, academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities.  To determine if you qualify, please contact the Dean of Students at 471-6259; 471-4641 TTY to certify your needs, which will allow me to make appropriate arrangements

UNDERGRADUATE WRITING CENTER

In addition, as you begin to write your research paper, please consider the Undergraduate Writing Center, which  provides professional consulting services for students who want to improve their writing.

The Undergraduate Writing Center’s mission--improving undergraduate writing and supporting undergraduate education at The University of Texas at Austin--has effective and ethical rhetoric at its core.  We train our writing consultants to approach each session from the following points of departure: the assignment of the particular instructor, the expectations of the particular discipline, and the goals of the particular student. 

Students can bring their assignments to the UWC and work with a consultant on any aspect of their writing--from brainstorming, to developing and organizing an argument, to learning the conventions of usage and punctuation. 

Their consultants will use my directions as well as your student notes to define the goals of each session, but ultimately, students are responsible for the quality of their papers.  Also, consultants will be happy to send a brief letter describing each session, if student requests

The Undergraduate Writing Center Located in FAC 211 (Flawn Academic Center), and the UWC is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday. Although consultants will continue to work with students on a walk-in basis, students should be encouraged to call ahead for an appointment (471-6222).   

To better familiarize your students with our the Undergraduate Writing Center services, the UWC brochure, which details  hours and policies can be downloaded from their  main website at . www.uwc.utexas.edu. Undergraduate Writing Center

Most important, your paper must be your own work. By following the above directions, there will be no concern that your paper is not your own--See  UT’S POLICIES at:

UT Links :

• Division of Rhetoric and Composition Student Resources
• Student Government/Student Advocates
• Honor Code
• LBJ School of Public Affairs A Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism (384K PDF file)
• http://www.lib.utexas.edu/admin/cird/bibliographer/bibsubject.html#subject

NOTES: CHANGES, ADDENDUM

AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY TO 1860
History 357C, American Studies 321,  African American Studies 357C

Professor Juliet E.K. Walker                                                                Office Hours
Office: Garrison 2-136                                                                             TTH  12:30-2:00 p.m
512-471-5581                                                                                           MW By appointment
jekwalker@mail.utexas.edu                                                              .

Teaching Assistant                                                                                Office Hours
Lauren Hammond                                                                                     TTH  12:30-1:30
Office Grad Student Room                                                                     lwhammond@gmail.com

PURPOSE OF COURSE

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War.

REQUIRED BOOKS
Baker, James T.,  NAT TURNER: CRY FREEDOM
Franklin, John H. and Alfred Moss, FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM, 8th ed
Franklin, John H and Loren Schweninger,  IN SEARCH OF THE PROMISED LAND: A SLAVE FAMILY IN THE OLD SOUTH
Holt, T. and Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, vol 1
Owens, Leslie, THIS SPECIES OF PROPERTY: SLAVE LIFE AND CULTURE IN THE OLD SOUTH
Tyler, Ron and Lawrence, R. Murphy,  THE SLAVE NARRATIVES OF TEXAS
Walker, Juliet E. K., FREE FRANK: A BLACK PIONEER ON THE ANTEBELLUM FRONTIER
Walker, Juliet E. K., THE HISTORY OF BLACK BUSINESS IN AMERICA: CAPITALISM, RACE, ENTREPRENEURSHIP (course packet)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS                   DATE DUE                   PERCENT OF GRADE

MID-TERM EXAM                                               OCT  13                                     30%

RESEARCH PAPER                                            NOV 19                                       30%

FINAL EXAM  (Take-Home Dec 4)                       DEC 5                                      40%

EXAMS

Class lecture outlines provide "consider" questions, some of which will be on the exams. Students are strongly  encouraged to prepare for the in-class exams by answering  the "consider" questions at the end of each week?s lectures.  Students are also encouraged, but not required,  to show their answers to the TA or Professor for information on whether answers are correct.. Also, each exam will include questions on the seven video-recordings that will be shown in class.

Also, your research papers due Nov 19 will be returned Dec 1.

The  Final Exam is a  take-home exam,  distributed Thursday, Dec 3 ; due by Saturday, Dec.5, 11:00AM-2:00 PM.

 EXTRA CREDIT

Up to ten (10) extra  points on the following assignment (five points each) can be added to the total of your three grades on the above requirements..

Assignment Write a two-page review of one of the video documentaries?one page summarizing the documentary; the second page, critiquing it from the perspective of: a) how it broadened your knowledge of the topic; or, b) how, from your readings and lectures, additional historical information could have strengthened the documentary.

Extra credit assignments must be turned in on  November 24.

RESEARCH PAPERS

The research paper (TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED IN CLASS AND DURING OFFICE HOURS) will be based on both primary and secondary source materials.

A Research Paper Guide will be provided with specified dates that must be met in researching and writing term paper. You will have ten weeks to research and write your paper. Research topics can be on issues regarding slavery as well as topics regarding comparative slavery. Also, antebellum newspapers, both black and white can be used as primary sources, comparing the difference in information on particular historic events. Research papers can include topics on free blacks. The book BLACK LEADERS of the NINETEENTH CENTURY (on reserve) can be used as a secondary source. Research papers can include information on the goals of black leaders, both men and women, organizations to which they belonged, if any, their various kinds of protest activities, their supporters, opposition, detractors, including a discussion of their successes and/or failures. Also, the paper will assess the realities of their protest within the historic conditions of the times and whether or not their protest made a difference. Other research paper topics that can be considered are: Causes of Civil War; White or/and Black Attitudes Towards Slavery; Blacks and International  Issues, Emigration/Colonization; Abolitionism; Dred Scott Decision; John Brown's Raid;  Lincoln's Election; Black/Native American relationships, Blacks in the West.

The research paper will, of course, be typed, and include footnotes. Additional information will be provided. Also, students are encouraged to discuss their paper with both the TA and Professor. Also, students are encouraged to provide a finished draft of the paper for comments. Successful research papers will include both primary and secondary sources. The research paper must be a minimum of six pages in addition to the  endnotes page, at the end of the paper, rather than placing footnotes in the main body of the paper. For appropriate documentation, quotations, footnote/endnote and bibliographic forms, see, Kate L. Turabian, A MANUAL FOR WRITERS OF TERM PAPERS, THESES AND DISSERTATIONS

As Frederick Douglass said:

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning....

 People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get."


                                            COURSE OUTLINE

DATE                   LECTURE TOPICS AND ASSIGNED READINGS

Aug  27                    INTRODUCTION TO COURSE: SOME PERSPECTIVES ON
                           AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, CHRONOLOGY, HIISTORIOGRAPHY


Sept 1                        INTERPRETING AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY
                                       Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS, 1-35

Sept 3                      West and West Central African Political Economy and Culture

                                                   Franklin, Moss, chaps, 1,2
                                                   Walker, History of Blk Bus, 1-20

Sept  8, 10                Transatlantic Slave Trade/African Survivalisms in Colonial America

                                                       Franklin, Moss, chaps. 3
                                                  Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS, 36-81
                                                "Ship of Slaves : The Middle Passage"


Sept 15, 17                      Slaves and Free Blacks in Colonial America

                                      Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS,  83-155
                                                        Walker, History of Blk Bus. Chap. 2
                                "A Son of Africa The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Oloudah Equiano,
                                                     or Gustavus Vaasa the African"

Sept  22, 24               Revolutionary War America, Blacks and Slavery

                                                               Walker, FREE FRANK, chap. 1
                                                                Franklin/Moss, chap.5
                                                   Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS, 158-193


Sept 29, Oct 1                    The Constitution, Slavery, Masters and  Property

                                          Freehling, "Founding Fathers and Slavery," on reserve/Blackboard
                                             "Slavery and the making of America. 1740s-1830s" Volume 2



Oct 6, 8                      African Americas, the New Nation, and Westward Movement

                                                          Franklin/Moss, chaps. 6,7
                                                       Walker, FREE FRANK, chaps. 2, 3, 4, 5

Oct 13                                                 MIDTERM EXAM


Oct 15                             Antebellum  Slavery, Introduction/Overview

                                                                  Franklin, Moss, chap. 8
                                            Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS   195-244

Oct 20, 22                                        Plantation Slavery

                                     Owens, THIS SPECIES OF PROPERTY: SLAVE LIFE AND CULTURE

Oct 22                                               Slavery in Texas

                                              THE SLAVE NARRATIVES OF TEXAS


Oct  27,                                  Slave Women, Families and Children
                              IN SEARCH OF THE PROMISED LAND: A SLAVE FAMILY IN THE OLD SOUTH
 Oct 29, Nov 3                           Slave  Realities /Economic Resistance

                                               Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS, 246-291
                                                        Walker, History of Blk Bus. Chap. 3
                                ?Slavery and the making of America. Volume 3, Seeds of destruction?

Nov 5, 10                                Slave Activism and Protest Resistance

                                        Baker, James T.,  NAT TURNER: CRY FREEDOM
                                          Nat Turner [videorecording] : a troublesome property
Nov 12, 17                 Antebellum Free Blacks and Protest Activism
                                                     Franklin, Moss, chap. 9
                                                    Holt/ Barkley-Brown, E. MAJOR PROBLEMS

Nov 19, 24                     Antebellum Free Blacks  Enterprise and Entrepreneurship

                                                     Walker, History of Blk Bus. Chaps. 4 and 5
                                                      Walker, FREE FRANK, chaps. 6,7,8

Nov 26                                            THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

Dec 2.4                              Blacks, The Decade of Crisis and Causes of Civil War

                                                          Franklin, Moss, chap. 10

Dec 6                               Take-Home FINAL EXAMINATION DUE   11:00 AM-2:00 PM


The course is designed so that each student will get an A grade, but only if one attends all classes (university regulations state a student who is absent  more than three times must fail the course), studies diligently and consistently.

Most helpful will be to answer the "consider" questions each week provided on the lecture outline and have your answers looked at by the TA or Professor.


CLASS ATTENDANCE

University regulations mandate that students with more than three unexcused absences must be given an F grade. There are occasions when a student will miss class due to illness or personal problems. If illness or personal problems require you to miss more than three classes, you must present verification of these circumstances from your Physician, Dean or funeral director.  If your circumstances prevent you from meeting class attendance requirements, please discuss with your Dean the necessity of dropping the course. If your absence is due to university obligations, arrangements must be made in advance to make up any missed work.  When absent, it is your responsibility to get the class lecture notes from a classmate. Once this is done and, if you have questions on the lecture notes, please see me.

The New Grading System:
System for Fall '09
A    4.0    92-100
A-   3.67  89-91
B+  3.33  88-90
B    3.0    82-87
B-   2.67  79-81
C+  2.33  77-78
C    2.0    72-76
C-   1.67    69-71
D+  1.33    67-68
D    1.0      62-66
D-   0.67  59-61
F     0.0   0-58

SPECIAL NEEDS
The University of Texas at Austin provides, upon request, academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities.  To determine if you qualify, please contact the Dean of Students at 471-6259; 471-4641 TTY to certify your needs, which will allow me to make appropriate arrangements

UNDERGRADUATE WRITING CENTER

In addition, as you begin to write your research paper, please consider the Undergraduate Writing Center, which  provides professional consulting services for students who want to improve their writing.

The Undergraduate Writing Center's mission--improving undergraduate writing and supporting undergraduate education at The University of Texas at Austin--has effective and ethical rhetoric at its core.  We train our writing consultants to approach each session from the following points of departure: the assignment of the particular instructor, the expectations of the particular discipline, and the goals of the particular student.

Students can bring their assignments to the UWC and work with a consultant on any aspect of their writing--from brainstorming, to developing and organizing an argument, to learning the conventions of usage and punctuation.

Their consultants will use my directions as well as your student notes to define the goals of each session, but ultimately, students are responsible for the quality of their papers.  Also, consultants will be happy to send a brief letter describing each session, if student requests

The Undergraduate Writing Center Located in FAC 211 (Flawn Academic Center), and the UWC is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday. Although consultants will continue to work with students on a walk-in basis, students should be encouraged to call ahead for an appointment (471-6222).

To better familiarize your students with our the Undergraduate Writing Center services, the UWC brochure, which details  hours and policies can be downloaded from their  main website at: http://www.uwc.utexas.edu.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/admin/cird/bibliographer/bibsubject.html#subject

Most important, your paper must be your own work. By following the above directions, there will be no concern that your paper is not your own--See  UT'S POLICIES at:
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Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post-Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through 2014, provide the focus of this course.  Emphasis will be placed on the political, economic, including the business activities, as well as social and cultural activities of African Americans. The course begins with assessing the Black American experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also, legal and extralegal means, including violence, disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks, that is, the rise of Jim Crow, at the turn of the century and the Great Migration of the WWI era are examined. Ideologies of black leaders during that period, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Marcus Garvey are compared.

The rise of the black urban ghetto and impact of African American working class as it relates to African American culture provide the focus for examining the twentieth century Black Experience. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s, ideologies of Black leaders and black organizations, CORE, SNCC, and Black Panthers. Agendas of post-Civil rights era black social, political and business leaders are examined, such as Houston’s Case Lawal, hip hop entrepreneurs and the first two black billionaires, Robert Johnson (BET) and Oprah Winfrey..

Significantly, the course begins with a Civil War, marking an end of slavery and the beginning of black political participation. It ends with the historical phenomenon of the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States. What does this say about race/racism in America? What about Katrina and Black Reconstruction in New Orleans in 2009 as well as “the $40 Million Dollar slave” 149 years after the 13^th Amendment? The course ends with commentaries on retrenchment in affirmative action, commodification of African American culture, and assessments of America’s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the 21^st century.

Texts:

Franklin, John H. and Evelyn Higginbotham,  From Slavery to Freedom,9th ed, paper

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a Multiracial Democracy

Holt Thomas and Barkley-Brown, E., Major Problems, African American History vol 2 

Rhoden, William C., Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall,  Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America -course packet

Grading:

Exam 1  (Take home)                    30

History Research Paper                 30

Student Panel Presentation           10

Exam  2(Take Home) m                 30

Lectures, discussion, reading, and research on selected topics in the field of history.

May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Designed for History majors. 

History 350L and 350R may not both be counted unless the topics vary.

Course carries Writing flag. 

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War.

Texts:

Franklin, John Hope and Higginbotham, E. From Slavery to Freedom: 9^th edition, paper

Holt, Thomas, Barkely-Brown, E. and Patterson, T.   Major Problems in African American History, Vol 1

Owens, Leslie, This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South

Smithers, Gregory D., Slave Breeding: Sex, Violence, and Memory in African American History

Tyler, Ron and Lawrence R. Murphy: The Slave Narratives of Texas

Walker, Juliet E. K., The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship, Vol 1

Grading:

MID-TERM EXAM                             35%

RESEARCH PAPER                                   30%

EXAM 2 (TAKE-HOME)                    35%

Lectures, discussion, reading, and research on selected topics in the field of history.

May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Designed for History majors. 

History 350L and 350R may not both be counted unless the topics vary.

Course carries Writing flag. 

Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post-Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through 2014, provide the focus of this course.  Emphasis will be placed on the political, economic, including the business activities, as well as social and cultural activities of African Americans. The course begins with assessing the Black American experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also, legal and extralegal means, including violence, disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks, that is, the rise of Jim Crow, at the turn of the century and the Great Migration of the WWI era are examined. Ideologies of black leaders during that period, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Marcus Garvey are compared.

The rise of the black urban ghetto and impact of African American working class as it relates to African American culture provide the focus for examining the twentieth century Black Experience. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s, ideologies of Black leaders and black organizations, CORE, SNCC, and Black Panthers. Agendas of post-Civil rights era black social, political and business leaders are examined, such as Houston’s Case Lawal, hip hop entrepreneurs and the first two black billionaires, Robert Johnson (BET) and Oprah Winfrey..

Significantly, the course begins with a Civil War, marking an end of slavery and the beginning of black political participation. It ends with the historical phenomenon of the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States. What does this say about race/racism in America? What about Katrina and Black Reconstruction in New Orleans in 2009 as well as “the $40 Million Dollar slave” 149 years after the 13^th Amendment? The course ends with commentaries on retrenchment in affirmative action, commodification of African American culture, and assessments of America’s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the 21^st century.

Texts:

Franklin, John H. and Evelyn Higginbotham,  From Slavery to Freedom,9th ed, paper

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a Multiracial Democracy

Holt Thomas and Barkley-Brown, E., Major Problems, African American History vol 2 

Rhoden, William C., Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall,  Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America -course packet

Grading:

Exam 1  (Take home)                    30

History Research Paper                 30

Student Panel Presentation           10

Exam  2(Take Home) m                 30

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War.

Texts:

Franklin, John Hope and Higginbotham, E. From Slavery to Freedom: 9^th edition, paper

Holt, Thomas, Barkely-Brown, E. and Patterson, T.   Major Problems in African American History, Vol 1

Owens, Leslie, This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South

Smithers, Gregory D., Slave Breeding: Sex, Violence, and Memory in African American History

Tyler, Ron and Lawrence R. Murphy: The Slave Narratives of Texas

Walker, Juliet E. K., The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship, Vol 1

Grading:

MID-TERM EXAM                             35%

RESEARCH PAPER                                   30%

EXAM 2 (TAKE-HOME)                    35%

Lectures, discussion, reading, and research on selected topics in the field of history.

May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Designed for History majors. 

History 350L and 350R may not both be counted unless the topics vary.

Course carries Writing flag. 

Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post-Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through 2014, provide the focus of this course.  Emphasis will be placed on the political, economic, including the business activities, as well as social and cultural activities of African Americans. The course begins with assessing the Black American experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also, legal and extralegal means, including violence, disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks, that is, the rise of Jim Crow, at the turn of the century and the Great Migration of the WWI era are examined. Ideologies of black leaders during that period, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Marcus Garvey are compared.

The rise of the black urban ghetto and impact of African American working class as it relates to African American culture provide the focus for examining the twentieth century Black Experience. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s, ideologies of Black leaders and black organizations, CORE, SNCC, and Black Panthers. Agendas of post-Civil rights era black social, political and business leaders are examined, such as Houston’s Case Lawal, hip hop entrepreneurs and the first two black billionaires, Robert Johnson (BET) and Oprah Winfrey..

Significantly, the course begins with a Civil War, marking an end of slavery and the beginning of black political participation. It ends with the historical phenomenon of the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States. What does this say about race/racism in America? What about Katrina and Black Reconstruction in New Orleans in 2009 as well as “the $40 Million Dollar slave” 149 years after the 13^th Amendment? The course ends with commentaries on retrenchment in affirmative action, commodification of African American culture, and assessments of America’s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the 21^st century.

Texts:

Franklin, John H. and Evelyn Higginbotham,  From Slavery to Freedom,9th ed, paper

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a Multiracial Democracy

Holt Thomas and Barkley-Brown, E., Major Problems, African American History vol 2 

Rhoden, William C., Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall,  Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America -course packet

Grading:

Exam 1  (Take home)                    30

History Research Paper                 30

Student Panel Presentation           10

Exam  2(Take Home) m                 30

Lectures, discussion, reading, and research on selected topics in the field of history.

May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Designed for History majors. 

History 350L and 350R may not both be counted unless the topics vary.

Course carries Writing flag. 

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War.

Texts:

Franklin, John Hope and Higginbotham, E. From Slavery to Freedom: 9^th edition, paper

Holt, Thomas, Barkely-Brown, E. and Patterson, T.   Major Problems in African American History, Vol 1

Owens, Leslie, This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South

Smithers, Gregory D., Slave Breeding: Sex, Violence, and Memory in African American History

Tyler, Ron and Lawrence R. Murphy: The Slave Narratives of Texas

Walker, Juliet E. K., The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship, Vol 1

Grading:

MID-TERM EXAM                             35%

RESEARCH PAPER                                   30%

EXAM 2 (TAKE-HOME)                    35%

Lectures, discussion, reading, and research on selected topics in the field of history.

May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Designed for History majors. 

History 350L and 350R may not both be counted unless the topics vary.

Course carries Writing flag. 

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War.

Texts:

Franklin, John Hope and Higginbotham, E. From Slavery to Freedom: 9^th edition, paper

Holt, Thomas, Barkely-Brown, E. and Patterson, T.   Major Problems in African American History, Vol 1

Owens, Leslie, This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South

Smithers, Gregory D., Slave Breeding: Sex, Violence, and Memory in African American History

Tyler, Ron and Lawrence R. Murphy: The Slave Narratives of Texas

Walker, Juliet E. K., The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship, Vol 1

Grading:

MID-TERM EXAM                             35%

RESEARCH PAPER                                   30%

EXAM 2 (TAKE-HOME)                    35%

Lectures, discussion, reading, and research on selected topics in the field of history.

May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Designed for History majors. 

History 350L and 350R may not both be counted unless the topics vary.

Course carries Writing flag. 

Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post-Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through 2014, provide the focus of this course.  Emphasis will be placed on the political, economic, including the business activities, as well as social and cultural activities of African Americans. The course begins with assessing the Black American experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also, legal and extralegal means, including violence, disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks, that is, the rise of Jim Crow, at the turn of the century and the Great Migration of the WWI era are examined. Ideologies of black leaders during that period, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Marcus Garvey are compared.

The rise of the black urban ghetto and impact of African American working class as it relates to African American culture provide the focus for examining the twentieth century Black Experience. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s, ideologies of Black leaders and black organizations, CORE, SNCC, and Black Panthers. Agendas of post-Civil rights era black social, political and business leaders are examined, such as Houston’s Case Lawal, hip hop entrepreneurs and the first two black billionaires, Robert Johnson (BET) and Oprah Winfrey..

Significantly, the course begins with a Civil War, marking an end of slavery and the beginning of black political participation. It ends with the historical phenomenon of the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States. What does this say about race/racism in America? What about Katrina and Black Reconstruction in New Orleans in 2009 as well as “the $40 Million Dollar slave” 149 years after the 13^th Amendment? The course ends with commentaries on retrenchment in affirmative action, commodification of African American culture, and assessments of America’s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the 21^st century.

Texts:

Franklin, John H. and Evelyn Higginbotham,  From Slavery to Freedom,9th ed, paper

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a Multiracial Democracy

Holt Thomas and Barkley-Brown, E., Major Problems, African American History vol 2 

Rhoden, William C., Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall,  Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America -course packet

Grading:

Exam 1  (Take home)                    30

History Research Paper                 30

Student Panel Presentation           10

Exam  2(Take Home) m                 30

Lectures, discussion, reading, and research on selected topics in the field of history.

May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Designed for History majors. 

History 350L and 350R may not both be counted unless the topics vary.

Course carries Writing flag. 

Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post-Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through 2014, provide the focus of this course.  Emphasis will be placed on the political, economic, including the business activities, as well as social and cultural activities of African Americans. The course begins with assessing the Black American experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also, legal and extralegal means, including violence, disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks, that is, the rise of Jim Crow, at the turn of the century and the Great Migration of the WWI era are examined. Ideologies of black leaders during that period, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Marcus Garvey are compared.

The rise of the black urban ghetto and impact of African American working class as it relates to African American culture provide the focus for examining the twentieth century Black Experience. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s, ideologies of Black leaders and black organizations, CORE, SNCC, and Black Panthers. Agendas of post-Civil rights era black social, political and business leaders are examined, such as Houston’s Case Lawal, hip hop entrepreneurs and the first two black billionaires, Robert Johnson (BET) and Oprah Winfrey..

Significantly, the course begins with a Civil War, marking an end of slavery and the beginning of black political participation. It ends with the historical phenomenon of the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States. What does this say about race/racism in America? What about Katrina and Black Reconstruction in New Orleans in 2009 as well as “the $40 Million Dollar slave” 149 years after the 13^th Amendment? The course ends with commentaries on retrenchment in affirmative action, commodification of African American culture, and assessments of America’s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the 21^st century.

Texts:

Franklin, John H. and Evelyn Higginbotham,  From Slavery to Freedom,9th ed, paper

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a Multiracial Democracy

Holt Thomas and Barkley-Brown, E., Major Problems, African American History vol 2 

Rhoden, William C., Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall,  Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America -course packet

Grading:

Exam 1  (Take home)                    30

History Research Paper                 30

Student Panel Presentation           10

Exam  2(Take Home) m                 30

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War.

Texts:

Franklin, John Hope and Higginbotham, E. From Slavery to Freedom: 9^th edition, paper

Holt, Thomas, Barkely-Brown, E. and Patterson, T.   Major Problems in African American History, Vol 1

Owens, Leslie, This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South

Smithers, Gregory D., Slave Breeding: Sex, Violence, and Memory in African American History

Tyler, Ron and Lawrence R. Murphy: The Slave Narratives of Texas

Walker, Juliet E. K., The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship, Vol 1

Grading:

MID-TERM EXAM                             35%

RESEARCH PAPER                                   30%

EXAM 2 (TAKE-HOME)                    35%

This is a graduate reading course that will examine some of the new and old literature on American foreign relations, broadly defined, since the late 19th century. The course will analyze diverse analytical approaches, historical methodologies, and empirical findings. Course requirements will center on intensive readings and discussions, with short weekly papers, and a final historiographical assignment. The aim of the course is to give students a deep familiarity with the different ways historians have written about foreign relations, and the relevance of that work for various fields of research and teaching.


Graduate standing and consent of the graduate adviser.

May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post-Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through 2014, provide the focus of this course.  Emphasis will be placed on the political, economic, including the business activities, as well as social and cultural activities of African Americans. The course begins with assessing the Black American experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also, legal and extralegal means, including violence, disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks, that is, the rise of Jim Crow, at the turn of the century and the Great Migration of the WWI era are examined. Ideologies of black leaders during that period, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Marcus Garvey are compared.

The rise of the black urban ghetto and impact of African American working class as it relates to African American culture provide the focus for examining the twentieth century Black Experience. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s, ideologies of Black leaders and black organizations, CORE, SNCC, and Black Panthers. Agendas of post-Civil rights era black social, political and business leaders are examined, such as Houston’s Case Lawal, hip hop entrepreneurs and the first two black billionaires, Robert Johnson (BET) and Oprah Winfrey..

Significantly, the course begins with a Civil War, marking an end of slavery and the beginning of black political participation. It ends with the historical phenomenon of the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States. What does this say about race/racism in America? What about Katrina and Black Reconstruction in New Orleans in 2009 as well as “the $40 Million Dollar slave” 149 years after the 13^th Amendment? The course ends with commentaries on retrenchment in affirmative action, commodification of African American culture, and assessments of America’s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the 21^st century.

Texts:

Franklin, John H. and Evelyn Higginbotham,  From Slavery to Freedom,9th ed, paper

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a Multiracial Democracy

Holt Thomas and Barkley-Brown, E., Major Problems, African American History vol 2 

Rhoden, William C., Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall,  Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America -course packet

Grading:

Exam 1  (Take home)                    30

History Research Paper                 30

Student Panel Presentation           10

Exam  2(Take Home) m                 30

Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War.

Texts:

Franklin, John Hope and Higginbotham, E. From Slavery to Freedom: 9^th edition, paper

Holt, Thomas, Barkely-Brown, E. and Patterson, T.   Major Problems in African American History, Vol 1

Owens, Leslie, This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South

Smithers, Gregory D., Slave Breeding: Sex, Violence, and Memory in African American History

Tyler, Ron and Lawrence R. Murphy: The Slave Narratives of Texas

Walker, Juliet E. K., The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship, Vol 1

Grading:

MID-TERM EXAM                             35%

RESEARCH PAPER                                   30%

EXAM 2 (TAKE-HOME)                    35%

This is a graduate reading course that will examine some of the new and old literature on American foreign relations, broadly defined, since the late 19th century. The course will analyze diverse analytical approaches, historical methodologies, and empirical findings. Course requirements will center on intensive readings and discussions, with short weekly papers, and a final historiographical assignment. The aim of the course is to give students a deep familiarity with the different ways historians have written about foreign relations, and the relevance of that work for various fields of research and teaching.


Graduate standing and consent of the graduate adviser.

May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Lectures, discussion, reading, and research on selected topics in the field of history.

May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Designed for History majors. 

History 350L and 350R may not both be counted unless the topics vary.

Course carries Writing flag. 

Assessments of the historic experience of African Americans from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Era and the Second Reconstruction, i.e., the post-Civil Rights Era from the 1970s through 2014, provide the focus of this course.  Emphasis will be placed on the political, economic, including the business activities, as well as social and cultural activities of African Americans. The course begins with assessing the Black American experience during the Civil War and Reconstruction.  In the immediate first post-Reconstruction, the Exodus of 1879 is considered along with the founding and building of Black Towns. Also, legal and extralegal means, including violence, disfranchisement and segregation of Blacks, that is, the rise of Jim Crow, at the turn of the century and the Great Migration of the WWI era are examined. Ideologies of black leaders during that period, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Marcus Garvey are compared.

The rise of the black urban ghetto and impact of African American working class as it relates to African American culture provide the focus for examining the twentieth century Black Experience. The Harlem Renaissance and the conditions of blacks in the Great Depression and WWII to the 1954 Brown decision provide an introduction to the Black Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Assessments are made of the riots in the 1960s, ideologies of Black leaders and black organizations, CORE, SNCC, and Black Panthers. Agendas of post-Civil rights era black social, political and business leaders are examined, such as Houston’s Case Lawal, hip hop entrepreneurs and the first two black billionaires, Robert Johnson (BET) and Oprah Winfrey..

Significantly, the course begins with a Civil War, marking an end of slavery and the beginning of black political participation. It ends with the historical phenomenon of the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States. What does this say about race/racism in America? What about Katrina and Black Reconstruction in New Orleans in 2009 as well as “the $40 Million Dollar slave” 149 years after the 13^th Amendment? The course ends with commentaries on retrenchment in affirmative action, commodification of African American culture, and assessments of America’s changing racial demographics on African Americans in the 21^st century.

Texts:

Franklin, John H. and Evelyn Higginbotham,  From Slavery to Freedom,9th ed, paper

Henry, Charles P, Allen, R , and Chrisma, R. The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a Multiracial Democracy

Holt Thomas and Barkley-Brown, E., Major Problems, African American History vol 2 

Rhoden, William C., Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall,  Redemption of the Black Athlete

Smith-Shomade, Beretta,   Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy: Selling Black Entertainment Television

Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America -course packet

Grading:

Exam 1  (Take home)                    30

History Research Paper                 30

Student Panel Presentation           10

Exam  2(Take Home) m                 30

This upper division course examines the history of Blacks in the United States from the West African Heritage to the Civil War and provides a critical examination on central issues under scholarly debate in the reconstruction of the Black experience in America. The course thus engages the debate on the evolution of African-American slavery as a social, economic and political institution, with a special focus on antebellum slavery, including plantation slavery, industrial slavery, and urban slavery in addition to slave culture.

Also, the course assesses the institutional development of the free black community, during the age of slavery, with emphasis on free black protest activities, organizations, and leaders. Equally important, information is provided on the business and entrepreneurial activities of both slave and free blacks before the Civil War to underscore the long historic tradition of black economic self-help. Invariably, those slaves who purchased their freedom were slaves involved in various business enterprises. Also emphasized in the course are the various ways in which slave and free black women responded to slavery and racism before the Civil War, giving consideration to gender issues within the intersection of the dynamics of race, class, and sex.

The course format is primarily lecture, with informal class discussion, utilizing in part the Socratic method of teaching/pedagogy (especially useful for students who are pre-law), as we examine topics that broaden historical consciousness and critical thinking skills, such as: the role Africans played in the Atlantic slave trade; the historical forces that contributed to the origin of racism in Colonial America; the anomaly of black plantation slave owners in a race-based slave society; how white economic disparities and hegemonic masculinities were played out in class subordination and racial oppression; why race takes precedence over class in assessing the black historical experience; the extent to which judicial cases provide a pragmatic assessment of the realities of slave life; the extent to which American law supported the racial subordination of slave and free blacks; whether or not the economic and political imperatives that prompted antebellum African American settlement in West Africa can be considered colonialist in design and intent.

These and other questions will bring to the forefront the central issue of the agency of African Americans in their attempts to survive racism and slavery in attempts forge their own political and economic liberation. This course, consequently, emphasizes both the deconstruction of prevailing assessments and interpretations of the African American experience as well as provides information for a new reconstruction of the Black Experience from slavery to freedom. In each instance, emphasis will be on exploring different historical interpretations of the Black Experience.

African American slaves did not lead a monolithic slave experience. They shared life-time, hereditary, involuntary servitude, racial oppression and subordination. But many manipulated the institution and slave codes in attempts to mitigate that oppression. Others, such as Nat Turner and Dred Scott used other means to bring about an end to their servitude, while free blacks also fought to end slavery as well as improve their economic, societal and legal status.

The primary purposes of this course, then, are 1) to develop an understanding of the nature of historical inquiry and 2). to heighten historical consciousness 3), encourage critical thinking and analysis of historical material and 4) to recognizing the difference between what might have happened and what actually happened to blacks, both slave and free blacks during the age of slavery to the Civil War.

Texts:

Franklin, John Hope and Higginbotham, E. From Slavery to Freedom: 9^th edition, paper

Holt, Thomas, Barkely-Brown, E. and Patterson, T.   Major Problems in African American History, Vol 1

Owens, Leslie, This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South

Smithers, Gregory D., Slave Breeding: Sex, Violence, and Memory in African American History

Tyler, Ron and Lawrence R. Murphy: The Slave Narratives of Texas

Walker, Juliet E. K., The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship, Vol 1

Grading:

MID-TERM EXAM                             35%

RESEARCH PAPER                                   30%

EXAM 2 (TAKE-HOME)                    35%