History 349: African Americans and the Transformation of the City, 1890-1945
Tuesday/Thursday
Peter Rachleff rachleff@macalester.edu X6371 Old Main 306
The U.S. Census
of 1890 revealed that African Americans were the most rural racial or ethnic
group in
In our pursuit of these – and related – questions, we will read a variety of secondary sources and examine a rich trove of primary sources. Our class sessions will mix lecture, discussions, small group work, student presentations, and other formats. It is vital that you come to class regularly, prepared to work with the day’s reading assignment. Your grades will reflect your participation in the course’s daily work. There will be no exams, but there will be a mix of writing assignments, from short, directed “reaction papers” to essay assignments which ask you to synthesize reading materials to a research paper which asks you to do some additional digging on an artist of your choice.
While this course is not restricted to History majors or students with a background in African American Studies or History, it does assume that you have experience working with primary and secondary sources, that you know what an argument is and are comfortable evaluating others’ arguments and formulating your own, and that you have some experience writing papers. The reading load is substantial, but I am confident that you will find it engaging and stimulating. I am also hoping that you will bring into the classroom your work in related areas – literature, music, theater, the visual arts, politics, economics, sociology, and the study of race and race relations in an international context. We will all get more out of this class if we share our knowledge and direct it at the subject at hand. It is important that we maintain an environment in which all feel comfortable speaking up, whether it is to ask a question or to share particular knowledge.
The following books are available for purchase:
Lawrence Levine, BLACK CULTURE AND BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS
Eric Arnesen, ed., BLACK PROTEST AND THE GREAT MIGRATION
Farah Jasmine Griffin, WHO SET YOU FLOWIN’?
James Grossman, LAND OF HOPE
Milton Sernett, BOUND FOR THE PROMISED LAND
William Maxwell, NEW NEGRO, OLD LEFT
Theodore Kornweibel, SEEING RED
Alain Locke, ed., THE NEW NEGRO
Harvard Sitkoff, A NEW DEAL FOR BLACKS
2.
daily syllabus (subject to change)
1/27 Introduction to the course
Historical context: Defeat of Reconstruction and Rise of Jim Crow
1/29 African American Culture During Slavery
read: BLACK CULTURE AND BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS, 1 & 2
2/3 African American Culture and Emancipation
read: BLACK CULTURE AND BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS, 3 & 4
2/5 African American Popular Culture at the Turn of the Century
read: BLACK CULTURE AND BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS, 5 & 6
**Hand out topic for Reaction Paper #1, due 2/10
PM: Performance: “OF Ebony Embers/Vignettes of the Harlem Renaissance”
2/10 The Great Migration: Historical and Cultural Context
read: BLACK PROTEST AND THE GREAT MIGRATION, Part One, 1-44
WHO SET YOU FLOWIN’? Intro and 1, 3-47
** Reaction Paper #1 due
2/11 African American Studies Symposium (Wednesday evening 7 – 9 PM)
“Class, Gender, and Generation: Negotiations within Black Families”
2/12 The Migration: Observations and Perspectives on the Scene
read: BLACK PROTEST AND THE GREAT MIGRATION, Part Two, 45-66
LAND OF HOPE, 1 & 2, 13-65
**Hand out topic for Reaction Paper #2, due 2/17
2/13 – 2/14 – 2/15: African American Studies Conference
“Fifty Years Since Brown v. Board of Education: Where Are We Now?”
Friday evening, Saturday day, Sunday morning/early afternoon
2/17 Urbanization
read: WHO SET YOU FLOWIN’? 2, 48-99
LAND OF HOPE, 3 & 4, 66-122
**Reaction Paper #2 due
2/19 Urbanization
read: LAND OF HOPE, 5 & 6, 123-180
BLACK PROTEST AND THE GREAT MIGRATION, Two, 2, 67-86
3.
2/24 Remaking the City
read: WHO SET YOU FLOWIN’? 3, 100-141
BLACK PROTEST AND THE GREAT MIGRATION, Two, 3, 87-127
2/26 Proletarianization
read: LAND OF HOPE, 7 & 8, 181-245
BLACK PROTEST AND THE GREAT MIGRATION, Two, 4, 128-146
Needleman, BLACK FREEDOM FIGHTERS IN STEEL , pp. 13-26
(electronic course folder)
3/2 Transplantation & Transformation of African American Christianity
read: BOUND FOR THE PROMISED LAND, Intro, 1-5, 1-153
**Hand out topics for Essay Paper #1, due 3/11
3/4 Transplantation & Transformation of African American Christianity
read: BOUND FOR THE PROMISED LAND, 6-8, Conclusion, 154-250
3/9 Culture, Politics, and a New Radicalism
read: NEW NEGRO, OLD LEFT, Intro and 1
3/11 Culture, Politics, and a New Radicalism
read: BLACK PROTEST AND THE GREAT MIGRATION, Two, 5-6, 147-198
**Essay Paper #1 due
**Hand out guidelines for Research Paper on an artist, due 4/8
3/15 – 3/21 SPRING BREAK (read Kornweibel, SEEING RED)
3/23 Radicalism and Repression
read: SEEING RED
3/25 Culture, Politics, and the New Negro
read: NEW NEGRO, OLD LEFT, 2
SEEING RED
3/30 Culture, Politics, and the New Negro
read: THE NEW NEGRO, selections to be announced
4/1 Culture, Politics, and the New Negro
read: THE NEW NEGRO, selections to be announced
4/6 Culture, Politics, and the New Negro
read: THE NEW NEGRO, selections to be announced
4.
4/8 A New Culture? Another Look
read: LAND OF HOPE, 9 & Conclusion
WHO SET YOU FLOWIN’?, 4
4/13 The Great Depression and the New Deal
read: A NEW DEAL FOR BLACKS, chaps. 1-4
Trotter, “From a Raw Deal to a New Deal” (course folder)
4/15 The Great Depression and the New Deal
read: A NEW DEAL FOR BLACKS, 5-7
Needleman, BLACK FREEDOM FIGHTERS IN STEEL, 27-45, 66-76
(electronic course folder)
**Hand out topic for Reaction Paper #3, due 4/22
4/20 The Great Depression and the New Deal
read: A NEW DEAL FOR BLACKS, 8-13
4/22 A New Radicalism?
read: NEW NEGRO, OLD LEFT, 3
**Reaction Paper #3 due
**Hand out topics for Final Essay Paper, due 5/7
4/27 A New Radicalism?
read: NEW NEGRO, OLD LEFT, 4
4/29 A New Radicalism?
read: NEW NEGRO, OLD LEFT, 5
5/4 The Legacy
read: NEW NEGRO, OLD LEFT, 6
WHO SET YOU FLOWIN’?, 5
5/7 **Final Essay Paper due at noon