HI 461/561: CIVILIZATION OF THE OLD SOUTH Monday & Wednesday 1:30-2:45 Prof. Craig Thompson Friend Withers Hall 150 Office: Withers 368; M 3-5, W 3-4 919-513-2227; [email protected] Course Description The distinctive features of the Old South as part of the regional development of United States history. Consideration of colonial factors in the making of the South, development of the plantation system and slavery, Southern social order, intellectual and cultural life, economic development, and rise of Southern nationalism. Credit will not be given for both HI 461 and HI 561. Learning Outcomes Students will be able to define and elaborate on the nature and origins of the Old South. Students will be able to explain the people, ideas, culture, economy, and customs that collectively made the antebellum South a unique region in our country's history. Students will be able to explain the fundamental themes of the Old South. Students will be able to analyze and critically evaluate historical ideas, arguments, and points of view. Students will be able to use different types of historical information, apply critical analysis to this information, and show evidence of this analytical ability in both written and oral forms. In addition, for graduate students: Students will be able to explain the historiographical trends in the history of the Old South. Students will be able to compare historiographical interpretations. Required Books Edward E. Baptist, The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism (New York: Basic Books, 2014) Catherine Clinton, The Plantation Mistress (New York: Pantheon, 1984) Drew Gilpin Faust, James Henry Hammond and the Old South: A Design for Mastery (Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Press, 1982) Stephanie McCurry, Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010) Theda Perdue, Slavery and the Evolution of Cherokee Society, 1540-1866 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1979) Attendance Policy You are grown folk. Attend as you wish. Don’t be surprised if your participation grade suffers because you are not in class to attend, or that your work reflects a general ignorance because you were not in class to hear valuable material or ask relevant questions. If you have any questions about University Attendance Regulations, visit http://policies.ncsu.edu/regulation/reg-02-20- 03. Note, however, that I only teach material once! It is not my obligation to teach you should you miss class, and also note that there is no make-up policy for assignments. The onus of success lies with you, as do the consequences of failure. Reading Policy This course requires reading, lots of it! If you are not prepared to read and then discuss from those readings, you will not pass. It is that simple. Technology Policy Students may use technologies at the professor’s discretion, meaning that if a student is using a technology for anything other than course-related work, the privilege of technology will be stripped from that student. Under no conditions should a phone be seen in the classroom. Students will be asked to leave the class in such situations and not return. Writing Policy As university students, you are expected to write proficiently, meaning your writing should reflect coherence, logic, and an attempt at thoughtful prose. A student who cannot express his or her ideas with the skill normally expected of literate adults will not pass the course, no matter how well the student performs other course requirements. If you need assistance in improving your writing, talk to the professor. All papers must be neatly typed in a regular-sized font and double-spaced. All margins must be either 1 or 1¼ inches. You cannot over cite your sources. All citations must conform to the style found in Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers. Because academic as well as professional success depends upon effective communication, the standard rules of communicating will be observed in this class: points will be deducted for errors in grammar and mechanics. Academic Dishonesty Policy If a student is found guilty of cheating or plagiarism―either copying the words of others or using the ideas of others without proper citation―that student will receive a grade of zero for the course. No exceptions. It is the understanding and expectation of the professor that the student’s signature on any assignment means that the student neither gave nor received unauthorized aid. For more information, visit the university’s honor policies. Policy for Students with Disabilities Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. In order to take advantage of available accommodations, students must register with Disability Services For more information, visit the university’s policies on disabilities. Supporting Fellow Students in Distress As members of the NC State community, we each share a personal responsibility to express concern for one another and to ensure that this classroom and the campus as a whole remains a safe environment for learning. Occasionally, you may come across a fellow classmate whose personal behavior concerns or worries you. When this is the case, I would encourage you to report this behavior to the NC State Students of Concern website. Although you can report anonymously, it is preferred that you share your contact information so they can follow-up with you. CHASS Career Services Explore career options related to your major, make decisions about your major or minor, build resumes and cover letters, prepare for interviews, develop internship/ job search strategies, maximize career fairs, and more. Use ePACK to make an appointment with your career counselor—Jane Matthews or Woody Catoe—through ePACK or the Career Development Center. How to Do Well in Class Participation Talk! One of the primary skills required of professionals and academics is communication of ideas. For that reason, it is absolutely necessary that you talk smartly! At a very minimum, you should 1) be in class and 2) prepared for discussions by reading the assigned materials. But more than that, you should avoid being a minimalist. When you do the readings, find out information about the author, what else they have written, where and what they teach or do, even who they studied under. If reading a book, look up reviews of the book in scholarly journals and consider the critiques that are offered. HI 491: Undergraduate Students Assignments and Grades Class participation 15% Primary source analysis—Runaway slave ads 10% Primary source analysis—Lunsford Lane 10% Primary source analysis—Southern songs 15% (₁⁄₃ of which is presentation) Primary source analysis—Secession declarations 10% Mid-term exam (covers Jan. 9-Feb. 27) 20% Final exam (covers Mar. 13-Apr. 26) 20% Grade Conversions: 98-100=A+; 93-97=A; 90-92=A-; 87-89=B+; 83-86=B; 80-82=B-; 77- 79=C+; 73-76=C; 70-72=C-; 67-69=D+; 63-66=D; 60-62=D-; >60=F Participation You will be graded both on the frequency and the quality of your participation; attendance is clearly important for participation. Students are expected to arrive in class having read and considered the material for discussion that day. Attendance alone is not sufficient for full participation credit. Students must actively engage. A: Student is well prepared, attentive, always responds when called upon and volunteers often with pertinent answers or questions. B: Student is usually prepared, responds when called on and volunteers on occasion. C: Student shows evidence of being unprepared on occasion, has trouble when called on and does not volunteer often. D: Student is unprepared, inattentive, never volunteers, or comes to class late. F: Student exhibits a lack of concern for the class, sleeps in class, or disturbs the class. Primary Source Analyses Reading a source critically is one of the historian’s most fundamental skills. First, read the document for content. What is the document saying? What is the story line? Glean the source for the essential information like Authorship: What do you know about the author's background? Why did the author write the document? What motives did he or she have in putting pen to paper? What personal, class, ethnic, religious, gender or cultural beliefs and assumptions might have influenced the author's viewpoint and writing? Genre: Does the source fall into a distinct genre? How does the genre shape the author's writing? Audience: For whom was the author writing? Did he or she address any particular person or group? Did the author’s audience have any effect on the document’s content? Was the author speaking for (or representing) a particular audience? Was the author trying to silence another audience? How was the document received? Language: What can you tell about a historical period from the language, vocabulary, and rhetoric used? What does the writer’s choice of words tell us about social or cultural assumptions? How have the meanings of the words changed over time? Influence: How important or influential was the source in its own day and age? By what standards can one measure a document’s significance? Was it widely disseminated? Did the document's publication have anticipated and unanticipated consequences? Authenticity: Has the document been altered in any way? If it is a transcription of someone else’s words, who was the scribe? What role might the scribe have played in shaping the document’s tone or content? Reliability: What can the source tell you about the past? How useful is it for understanding the past? Do NOT just answer these questions and think you have a good paper. Are there relationships between the source’s language and authenticity? Reliability and influence? And so on.