Bound Slave by Michelangelo HUMANITIES 532 SLAVERY IN HISTORY AND LITERATURE California State University, Dominguez Hills Humanities Master of Arts External Program (HUX) www.csudh.edu/hux HUXCRSGD. 532 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Prerequisites page 4 II. Course Description page 4 III. Books Required page 4 IV. Course-Level Student Learning Goals page 5 V. Description of Student Activities to Fulfill Goals page 5 VII. Grading Policy page 6 VIII. HUX Academic Integrity Statement page 6 IX. Course Organization page 7 X. Schedule of Readings page 7 XI. Writing Assignments page 8 XII. page 10 Websites XIII. Introduction page 14 XIV. The Nature of Slavery page 15 XV. Origins of Slavery page 31 XVI. Slavery in the Ancient Near East page 32 XVII. Slavery in Ancient Greece page 34 XVIII. Slavery in Medieval Europe page 43 XIX. Slavery in the Islamic World page 47 XX. Slavery in Africa page 49 2 HUXCRSGD. 532 XXI. The Transatlantic Slave Trade page 55 XXII. Slavery in the New World page 61 XXIII. American Slavery page 69 XXIV. Slave Narratives page 78 XXV. The African-American Slave Community page 83 XXVI. The Ante-Bellum South and the Civil War page 89 XXVII. Slavery in the Modern World page 97 Course design by Dr. Bryan Feuer, October 2001. PLEASE NOTE: Due dates have been revised due to the new 14 week calendar. 3 HUXCRSGD. 532 PREREQUISITES: HUX 501 COURSE DESCRIPTION Examines the institution of slavery from an interdisciplinary humanistic perspective utilizing a comparative approach. Surveys slavery from ancient times to the present in all parts of the world, with focus upon American slavery. COURSE INSTRUCTOR Be sure to read the faculty letter of introduction accompanying this course guide for information from and about your instructor for this term and section of the course. Any additional instructions or requirements he or she presents supercede this course guide. If you did not receive a letter of introduction from your faculty member, contact the HUX office immediately to request a replacement. REQUIRED TEXTS Orlando Patterson. Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study. Harvard University Press, 1982. Milton Meltzer. Slavery: A World History. Da Capo Press, 1993. David Brion Davis. Slavery and Human Progress. Oxford University Press, 1986. Peter Kolchin. American Slavery 1619-1877. Hill and Wang, 2003. Lawrence B. Goodheart, Richard D. Brown and Stephen G. Rabe, eds. Slavery in American Society, 3rd ed. D.C. Heath & Company, 1993. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., ed. The Classic Slave Narratives. Mentor, 1987. Toni Morrison. Beloved. Signet, 2004. Octavia Butler. Kindred. Beacon Press, 2003. 4 HUXCRSGD. 532 COURSE-LEVEL STUDENT LEARNING GOALS Students will gain: 1. an understanding of the nature of slavery and its manifestations in various societies and at various times 2. an understanding of the personal, psychological and social impacts of slavery on the individual, the family and society 3. an appreciation for how slavery has been interpreted by historians and by writers of fiction and autobiography 4. enhanced skills in synthesizing, analyzing and interpreting interdisciplinary materials. DESCRIPTION OF STUDENT ACTIVITIES TO FULFILL GOALS Students will be able to: 1. identify and describe the elements of slavery 2. name several societies that have practiced slavery and explain how each is similar to or different from the others 3. summarize the psychological and social impact of slavery on individuals, both slave and master 4. explain the impact of slavery on the family 5. reconstruct the long- and short-term impact of slavery on a society, providing both historical and contemporary examples 6. discuss the way in which slave narratives demonstrate the impact of slavery on individuals 7. interpret the way in which fictional accounts demonstrate the impact of slavery on individuals 8. explain several significant controversies among historians of slavery, providing relevant examples 5 HUXCRSGD. 532 GRADING POLICY Your course grade will be based upon the individual grades for each of the four writing assignments. Each of the first three assignments will comprise 20% of your grade; the final research paper will be worth the remaining 40%. HUX ACADEMIC INTEGRITY STATEMENT Most scholars scrupulously uphold their responsibilities to do their own intellectual work on each assignment for HUX courses and to credit sources-primary and secondary- unambiguously and precisely according to Modern Language Association guidelines. In practicing these principles of scholastic honesty, we ensure the value of knowledge and the authority of this master’s degree. In keeping with the University’s commitment to the learning objectives that our academic programs set forth, we want to affirm the benefits of academic integrity, as explained in our 1999 – 2000 University Catalog (15), and to advise students strongly to avoid practices that are dishonest. As discussed in the Catalog (15, 64), academic dishonesty encompasses forms of cheating and plagiarism, including fabrication (“intentional invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise”), facilitating academic dishonest (“knowingly helping or attempting to help another to violate a provision of the institutional code of academic integrity”), plagiarism (“deliberated adoption or reproduction of ideas or words or statements of another person as one’s own without acknowledgement”). The nature of plagiarism is detailed in the Catalog. “Thus, all academic work submitted by a student as his or her own should be his or her own unique style, words and form. When a student submits work [or part of a work] that purports to be his/her original work, but actually is not, the student has committed plagiarism” (64). To elaborate, scholars are legally and morally bound to credit every direct quotation, paraphrase or summary (of work, whole or in part, in the writer’s own words) and to cite sources for information, which is not considered common knowledge. Acknowledgement of sources should be clear and precise, according to the conventions and forms of the Modern Language Association manual. The consequences of violating standards of intellectual honesty can be severe. “Plagiarism is cause for formal university discipline and is justification for an instructor to assign a lower grade or a failing grade in the course…In addition, the University may impose its own disciplinary measures” (64). 6 HUXCRSGD. 532 COURSE ORGANIZATION This course is divided into four sections: 1) an overview of slavery; 2) an historical survey of slavery; 3) historical perspectives on American slavery; 4) American slavery as seen from the perspective of literature, including slave narratives and novels. After completing each of the first three sections you will write a short paper in response to one of the assigned topics; after competing the final section you will write a longer research paper (see the schedule of readings and writing assignments for specific details). SCHEDULE OF READINGS SLAVERY: AN OVERVIEW Read: Course Guide, pp. 14-31 Patterson, Slavery and Social Death Due: Weeks 1-2 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SLAVERY Read: Course Guide, pp. 31-68 Meltzer, Slavery: A World History Due: Weeks 3-5 AMERICAN SLAVERY: HISTORY Read: Course Guide, pp. 69-95 Davis, Slavery and Human Progress Kolchin, American Slavery 1619-1877 Goodheart, Brown and Rabe, Slavery in American Society Due: Weeks 6-8 AMERICAN SLAVERY: LITERATURE Read: Course Guide, pp. 96-97 Gates, The Classic Slave Narratives Morrison, Beloved Butler, Kindred Due: Weeks 9-13 7 HUXCRSGD. 532 WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Each assignment is due in the instructor’s mailbox during the week indicated below. Count Week 1 as the first week that classes begin and Week 13 as the final week of the term. Trimester dates are listed at the upper left hand corner of your registration form. All papers must be typed and mailed in before the assignment deadline. All papers should include citations of assigned texts where relevant; your research paper should include citations of all sources and a bibliography using the MLA Handbook format. Send in an extra copy, marked “For HUX Files,” and keep a copy for yourself. Also, keep a copy of the title page of the paper returned by the instructor which contains your grades, comments, and date. Send a self-addressed, stamped (with adequate postage) envelope for the return of each assignment. If you do not fully understand the assignment or need help, telephone or e-mail the instructor. Write a 3-4 page paper on one of the following topics for each of the first three sections; your final paper should be between 10 and 12 pages. The first three assignments require you analyze and synthesize the assigned readings in respect to specific topics; please make sure that you understand what the assignment is and what aspect or aspects of the readings you are being asked to focus on. Since many of the topics are quite broad in their scope, you will also need to make your discussion well-focused and selective. For the research paper, it will be necessary to read materials not specifically assigned for the final section of the course. Given the moderate length of the research paper, you should try to narrow its focus somewhat so as to be able to discuss your topic in some depth. Week 2 1. Discuss, in some detail, the relationship between the major elements, features or characteristics of slavery. Give your own definition of slavery based upon your discussion. 2. Discuss and evaluate the following quotation from Orlando Patterson’s Slavery and Social Death (pp. 341- 342): It has been my objective in this book to come to a definitive statement of the fundamental processes of slavery, to grasp its internal structure and the institutionalized patterns that support it. Throughout this work, however, the ghost of another concept has haunted my analysis, and in this final chapter I have tried to exorcize it. That is the problem of freedom.