AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN'S HISTORY
THROUGH AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Course number: HIST 3400, 340
Semester: Fall, 2000
Time: Tues/Thurs, 12:15 pm. - 1:30 pm.
Location:
Professor: Dr. TJ Boisseau
Office: 217 OLIN, Hours: Tues/Thurs 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm, and by appointment
Phone: x6277, Email: tjboiss@uakron.edu
"What if such women as are here described should rise among our
sable race? And it is not impossible; for it is not the color of the skin
that makes the man or the woman, but the principle formed within the soul."
~Maria Stewart, 1833
"What the colored girl craves, above all things, is to be respected
and believed in."
~Fannie Barrier Williams, 1905
"I have all the guns and all the money. I can withstand challenge
from without and from within. Am I right, Comrade?"
~Elaine Brown, 1974
As these quotes demonstrate so emphatically, African American women have been neither complacent nor silent actors in U.S. history. Autobiographical writings by African American women constitute valuable evidence of this fact and, as such, form the foundation of this course.
The African-American authors featured in this course bear most eloquent and revealing witness to two intertwined categories of identity that have operated as defining categories of existence and have profoundly shaped the course of American history: race and gender. Rather than invoking an unchanging African American male subjected to varying forms of racial control or a perpetually embattled white female unaffected by racial hierarchies, taken together these writings demand that students confront the complexities of racial identity as a relation always in construction and formed in dialogue with other foundational aspects of identity such as class, sexuality, and national identity.
Boisseau / African-American Women's History / Fall, 2000
Course objectives: In this course, students will become familiar with the major issues and debates within African-American women's history. They will be expected to acquire a historical perspective on race and gender, as cultural and historical constructs rather than as things immutable, natural, or rooted in physical differences. In addition to exposing the changing historical conditions under which American women of African heritage have labored for self-definition and autonomy, this course seeks to illuminate the many ways raced and gendered identities have been invented and reinvented in the American context. While autobiographical writings (such as slave narratives) form the core, some fictional as well as nonfictional additional sources will help students become aware of the main political and social issues at stake in each period of time under study.
Required Texts: Apart from the course reader, all texts may be purchased from the University bookstore, ordered from Amazon.com, or found in local bookstores.
( R ) Course Reader (will be made available for purchase)
Reconstructing Womanhood, by Hazel Carby (Oxford UP, 0195060717)
The Classic Slave Narratives, ed. H. L. Gates (Penguin, 0451627261)
Our Nig, by Harriet E. Wilson, ed. H. L. Gates (Random, 0394715586)
Three Classic African American Novels, ed. H. L. Gates (Vintage, 0679727426)
A Black Woman's Civil War Memories, S. K. Taylor (MarkusWiener, 0910129851
Passing/Quicksand, by Nella Larson, ed. D. McDowell (Rutgers UP, 0813511704)
Coming of Age in Mississippi, by Anne Moody (Doubleday, 0440314887)
A Taste of Power, by Elaine Brown (Doubleday, 0385471076)
Assignments and Evaluation: Overview
Attendance at all class meetings is mandatory and will count towards students' course grade. Lateness will not be tolerated. Thorough and timely reading of course materials as well as serious, active and focused participation in class discussion is expected.
There is one main written assignment due each week, the short essay. Students are required to submit 8 short essays (out of the 10 weeks in which essays are assigned). Late essays will not be accepted. Failure to submit 8 short essays, on time, may result in failure for the course. In addition to short essays, student leaders will be assigned and given responsibility for the organization of class discussion. Leaders will compose a one-page commentary (in response to their reading of their peers' short essays) for discussion on Thursdays.
Students are also required to pass a simple timeline quiz early in the
semester and to submit a final essay during the last week of classes.
Boisseau / African-American Women's History / Fall, 2000
Description of assignments:
Short essays: Each week, students should read carefully and make notes
on the reading as they move through the texts assigned. Students may want
to first read the articles included in the Course Reader which accompany
each primary text, then read the primary text and then return to the accompanying
articles to refresh their memories before beginning to write their response
to that week's reading. Two copies of the weekly short essay are due at
the beginning of class on Tuesdays. Late papers will not be accepted.
The length of student responses should be two typewritten, double-spaced
pages, with space equally distributed between responses to the two questions
listed below:
1. Of what is the writer of this autobiographical text trying to convince the reader?
(Hint: Students need to consider less what the story means to them personally than it might have to those towards whom the narrative seems to have been originally directed ... which gender? which class? which race? which political interest group? Also, in light of the particular issues of the time - the accompanying articles in the course reader selections should be helpful in determining what those were - students should identify which elements of this narrative might have proved most appealing or persuasive to such readers.)
2. In what ways does this purpose and these methods of persuasion (the author's "narrative strategies") differ from those of the last text you read? Using the secondary sources as a guide, what do you suppose is the reason for this change in approach?
(Hint: This question asks you to identify which arguments and issues have shifted - either as a result of a different readership or in response to a changed context or both. Keep in mind that strategies and arguments which may have proved effective in one period are often transformed - even reversed - in the next.)
Leadership and commentary: Discussion leaders will be assigned for
each of the ten units which make up the major portion of the course. Prior
to the start of class on Tuesdays, leaders, in concert with each other,
will decide on a format for class discussion and will make a brief presentation
to the class based on their short essays. Leaders will collect copies of
their peers' short essays to review. On Thursdays, leaders will submit
sufficient copies of a brief, written commentary as a general response to
their peers' short essays. Commentaries should be one page, typewritten.
Late commentaries will not be accepted.
Boisseau / African-American Women's History / Fall, 2000
Timeline Quiz: On September 12, students will be expected to list the major periods of U.S. history and major events from memory (as outlined by handout provided). Students must receive full credit for this quiz or arrange to retake the quiz before the end of the semester. Students must pass this quiz in order to receive a passing grade in this course.
Final Essay: In the final week of class, students must submit a 7-10 page (typewritten, double-spaced) Final Essay and be prepared to discuss their findings with their peers. The Final essay should comprise a short life history of someone interviewed for this purpose as compared to an autobiographical portrait of yourself. After a brief biographical description of yourself and your interviewee, your final essay should answer the question: What were the primary issues which informed and shaped your and your interviewee's experiences as gendered and raced persons in America? Be sure to note the historical contexts in which your and your interviewee's experiences are/were embedded.
Evaluation Summary
Attendance ………………………………………………………….…….…
24 x 2 = 48
Short Essays ……………………………………………………….…….….
8 x 3 = 24
Leadership and Commentaries …………………………………….………
2 x 6 = 12
Timeline Quiz ………………………………………………………..………………
1
Final Essay ……………………………………………………………..…………..
15
100
Reminder: Regardless of total points earned, course failure may result from neglect of any one of the following 5 course requirements: consistent attendance, submission of 8 short essays on time, submission of a lead commentary, passing of timeline quiz, or submission of a satisfactory final essay on time.
Additional class policies
Plagiarism: The presentation of statements or ideas as one's own that have been culled from others' works (whether published or unpublished) will not be tolerated. University guidelines will be followed in prosecution of cases of suspected plagiarism.
Withdrawals from course must be requested prior to the 10th week of classes, in accordance with departmental policy.
Incompletes will be granted only in cases of unexpected crises, when
students have completed at least 80% of the coursework required to pass.
Boisseau / African-American Women's History / Fall, 2000
Class Schedule:
Aug 29/31 Introduction to course
Read for Thursday: b. hooks, excerpts from Yearning, 15-22, 41-49, 51-55
Sept 5/7 Learning from autobiography
Reading: E. Barkley Brown, "African-American Women's Quilting,"
9-18
S. Cudjoe, "Maya Angelou" 272-306.
b. hooks, "Writing Autobiography," 1036-039.
Sept 12/14 Topic I: Inventing Africans and Afro-America
Reading: Equiano/Vassa, The Interesting Narrative … (1789), 5-9,
24-46, 51-
54, 62-73, 80-81, 83-107, 152-178
M. Rust, "The subaltern as imperialist," 21-36 [R]
R. Reddock, "Women and Slavery in the Caribbean," 127-41 [R]
Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince (1831) 185-215
Sept19/21 Topic II: Ain't I a Citizen?
Reading: A. Boylan, "Benevolence and Antislavery Activity…,"
119-37 [R]
Sojourner Truth, Maria Stewart excerpts from African American Literature,
ed. H. L. Gates, 196-207 [R]
N. Painter, "Difference, Slavery, Memory…", 139-58 [R]
H. Carby, Reconstructing Womanhood, 20-39
Sept 26/28 Topic III: Slavery, writ South
Reading: H. Carby, Reconstructing Womanhood, 40-61
Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
D. Nelson, "Read the characters,…" 131-145 [R]
Oct 3/5 Topic IV: Slavery, writ North
Reading: Harriet Wilson, Our Nig (1851)
K. C. Bassard, "Beyond Mortal Vision," 187-200 [R]
Oct 10/12 Topic V: From War to Jim Crow
Reading: Charlotte Forten Grimke from African American Literature, 472-88
[R]
S. K. Taylor, A Black Woman's Civil War Memories (1902)
T. Glymph, "This Species of Property," 55-71 [R]
K. Mack, "Law, Society, Identity …," 377-409 [R]
Boisseau / African-American Women's History / Fall, 2000
Oct 17/19 Topic VI: Uplifting as we climb: the black women's club
movement
Reading: H. Carby, Reconstructing Womanhood 62-94
Frances Harper, Iola Leroy (1892)
Oct 24/26 Topic VII: Fighting, lynching, and fighting lynching
Reading: Bederman, Manliness and Civilization, 1-76 [R]
Ida B. Wells-Barnett, excerpt from A Red Record, 595-604 [R]
J. Hall, "A truly subversive affair," 361-387 [R]
Oct 31/ Nov 2 Topic VIII: Passing through the Harlem Renaissance
Reading: M. Cutter, "Sliding Significations," 75-99 [R]
Nella Larsen, Quicksand (1928), Passing (1929)
H. Carby, Reconstructing Womanhood, 163-75
Nov 7/9 Topic IX: From brown to black (power)
Reading: E. Cantarow, excerpt from Moving the Mountain, 52-93 [R]
Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (1968)
Nov 14/16 Topic X: Black and feminist
Reading: M. Wallace, "A Black Feminist's Search…" 5-22
[R]
A. Davis, excerpt from Women, Race and Class, 149-171 [R]
Elaine Brown, A Taste of Power (1992)
Nov 21 Student conferences
Nov 28/30 Representing race? gender? … do we have to choose?
Tuesday in-class viewing: Imitation of Life (1959, dir. Douglas Sirk)
Read for Thursday: Byars, excerpt from All That Hollywood Allows, 210-217,
38-58 [R]
No essay due.
December 5/7 Writing ourselves into history
Student presentations
Final papers due.