African-American History: From Slavery to the White House (10 credit points)

Pre-requisites for enrolment

No prior knowledge required.

Content of Course

1. 1619: The Arrival of Africans in the New World and Colonial Slavery.

2. 1776: All Men Are Created Equal? African Americans and the American Revolution.

3. 1841:Solomon Northup and Antebellum Slavery.

4. 1863: The Emancipation Proclamation and African Americans during the Civil War.

5. 1865: The Abolition of Slavery, and Reconstruction.

6. 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson and Jim Crow.

7. 1925: "The New Negro" and the Harlem Renaissance.

8. 1954: Brown v. Board of Education, and Civil Rights.

9. 1968: Olympic salute and Black Power.

10. 2008: The election of Barack Obama and African Americans in the 21st century.

Teaching method(s)

Lecture-based with class discussion.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Understand the development, nature and impact of slavery;

• Account for the changing status of African Americans in American society;

• Describe the evolution of civil rights protest;

• Explain the role of African Americans in shaping the history of America and the development of its culture;

• Understand the significance of key events in African-American history demonstrate the above points in the assessment.

Sources

Core Readings

Essential:

• Gates, H.L., Jr. and Yacovone, D., 2013. The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross. Carlsbad, California: SmileyBooks.

• 12 Years a Slave, 2014. [film] Directed by Steve McQueen. USA: Twentieth Century Fox Entertainment.

Recommended:

• Berlin, I., 2003. Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American Slaves. Cambridge, Mass. and London: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

• Franklin, J.H and Higgenbotham, E.B., 2011. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans. 9th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.

• Kelley, R.D.G and Lewis, E., (eds.), 2000. To Make Our World Anew: A History of African Americans. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Kolchin, P. 1994. American Slavery: 1619-1877. New York: Hill and Wang.

• Nash, G.B., 2006. The Forgotten Fifth: African Americans in the Age of Revolution. Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press.

• Newman, M., 2004. The Civil Rights Movement. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

• Woodward, C.V., 1974. The Strange Career of Jim Crow. New York: Oxford University Press.

Web Sources

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html

Africans in America

http://www.masshist.org/endofslavery

African Americans and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html

Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction

Reconstruction: The Second Civil War

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize

Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1985

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/brown-brown.html

“With an Even Hand”: Brown v. Board at Fifty

http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/civilrightstv

Television News of the Civil Rights Era

http://www.voicesofcivilrights.org

Voices of Civil Rights

Class Handouts

Handouts will be provided.

Assessments

10 credit courses have one assessment. Normally, the assessment is a 2000 word essay, worth 100% of the total mark, submitted by week 12. To pass, students must achieve a minimum of 40%. There are a small number of exceptions to this model which are identified in the Studying for Credit Guide.

Studying for Credit

If you choose to study for credit you will need to allocate significant time outwith classes for coursework and assessment preparation. Credit points gained from this course can count towards the Certificate of Higher Education.

Queries

If you have questions regarding the course or enrolment, please contact COL Reception at Paterson's Land by email COL@ed.ac.uk or by phone 0131 650 4400.

Student support

If you have a disability, learning difficulty or health condition which may affect your studies, please let us know by ticking the 'specific support needs' box on your course application form. This will allow us to make appropriate adjustments in advance and in accordance with your rights under the Equality Act 2010. For more information please visit the Student Support section of our website.