History 592: Research - Slavery in America

Professor Jonathan Rees

Colorado State University - Pueblo

Fall 2010

Office: Psych 118

Office Phone: 549-2541

Office Hours: MWF 2-3PM, T 4:30-5:30PM, Th 1-2PM.

E-Mail: Jonathan [dot] Rees [at] colostate-pueblo [dot] edu

This course will examine the history of slavery from a predominately American perspective. As there is no prerequisite for this course it will be necessary for me to acquaint you with the history of slavery in America before you get a chance to learn the research techniques that are the reason you as graduate students are required to be here. Therefore, there will be a considerable amount of required reading before you ever get to the writing.

This syllabus will evolve over the course of the semester, so you may wish to bookmark this page in order to come back for new links and updates.

The taping of class lectures/discussions or the taking of notes on a laptop computer is not permitted unless you have my explicit permission. Please turn off your cell phones before class begins.

In order to facilitate communication between you and I, having an e-mail is a requirement of this course. I will be collecting e-mails from you on the first day of the course. You will want to give me an address that you check fairly frequently because I will use it if I need to get a hold of you for course-related business. All correspondence with me should go through the university e-mail listed above. All assignments (including draft papers, but excluding final papers) should be sent to reesassignments@gmail.com. All final papers should be handed to me in paper format in class on the day they are due.

This University abides by the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which stipulates that no student shall be denied the benefits of an education "solely by reason of a handicap." If you have a documented disability that may impact your work in this class and for which you may require accommodations, please see the Disability Resource Coordinator as soon as possible to arrange accommodations. In order to receive accommodations, you must be registered with and provide documentation of your disability to: the Disability Resource Office, which is located in the Psychology Building, Suite 232.

Required Reading

Berlin, Ira. Many Thousands Gone.

Davis, David Brion. Inhuman Bondage.

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass..., Norton Critical Edition.

Johnson, Walter. Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market.

Kolchin, Peter. American Slavery, 1619-1877.

Rediker, Marcus. The Slave Ship: A Human History.

Grading and Attendance Policies

It is assumed that students will make every effort to attend each class period, arrive on time and stay for the entire class. An attendance sheet will be passed around at the beginning of each class. If you arrive late to class, make sure your name is on the attendance sheet before you leave. Otherwise, you will be counted as absent. You will be permitted one unexcused absences during the course of the semester (to account for the random mishaps, mistakes and burdens of everyday life). After that, you will automatically fail 15% of the course (I'll take it out of your preliminary paper score so that you don't fail the class on the spot). Miss three class FOR ANY REASON and you will be dropped from the course. If I get the impression that people are disappearing early I will pass the attendance sheet around more than once in a single evening. If you aren't there to check your name, you will be marked absent for that week.

I reserve the right to call on you if you do not speak regularly. This is not an idle threat. If I get the impression that the majority of you are not keeping up on your reading I will quiz you and replace your question grades with those grades. That is not an idle threat either.

Paper Assignments and Grading

Your final grade will be determined by this formula:

Successful completion of five out of six sets of questions related to the required reading 25% (5% each). These sets of three questions will be available on links from this syllabus in the course schedule below at least one week before the book is set to be discussed. For books that will be discussed over a two-week period, the questions will be due during the second week of those discussions.
A research paper dealing with slave suicide, detailed here: 15%.
One research paper related to slavery in America on the topic of your choice: 40%.* For more information about your research paper, click here.
DBQ (Final Exam): 20%. The DBQ (or Document Based Question) test will be the same exam that you will be taking the first night of class. It will be given again to determine whether you have learned the skills you need in order to be a successful historian.

*A passing grade on the research paper is required to pass the course.

Grading will be done on an A-F scale with pluses and minuses with the exception of the exception of the grade C- which has been banned across the University. Your final grades will be recorded the same way. I will do my best to explain the criteria by which each assignment is graded before you undertake them.

Any form of academic dishonesty will result in a failing grade for the entire course. This includes plagiarism, the taking of words and/or ideas of another and passing them off as your own. If another person's work is quoted directly in a formal paper, this must be indicated with quotation marks and a citation. Paraphrased or borrowed ideas must be identified in the footnotes of the text. If you do not understand this definition of plagiarism, it is your responsibility to discuss this topic with me further.