History 7B: African American History 1877–Present
Allison Dorsey
Swarthmore College
History 7B is the second half of a one-year survey course in African American history. The purpose of this course is to provide a general knowledge of the social, political, and cultural history of the African American community from Reconstruction through the Civil Rights Movement to the present. The course will address migration, the Harlem Renaissance, the World Wars, and the growth of the black middle class. Emphasis is placed on the construction of “race” in each period as well as the diversity of the black experience in America.
The following is a list of required readings for the course.
Bates, Beth Tompkins, Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest Politics in Black America, 1925–1945 (2001)
Biondi, Martha, To Stand and Fight: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Postwar New York City (2003)
Doyle, William, An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford Mississippi, 1962 (2001)
Du Bois, W.E.B., The Souls of Black Folk* (1903)
Foner, Eric, Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction (2005)
African-American Odyssey, The African American Odyssey, vol. 2 (2006)
Johnson, James W., Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man* (1912)
McKay, Claude, Home to Harlem (1928)
Pattillo-McCoy, Mary, Black Picket Fences: Privilege and Peril among the Black Middle Class (1999)
Washington, Booker T., Up from Slavery* (1901)
Woodruff, Nan, American Congo: The African American Freedom Struggle in the Delta (2003)
*(These three texts are complied in Three Negro Classics)
Additional readings (also required)—on reserve in McCabe Library.
Stevens, Thaddeus. Reparations Bill for the African Slaves in the United States. 40th Cong., 1st sess. (1867).
Johnson, James Weldon. 13th Annual NAACP Conference. 19 June 1922
“The Klan Manual.” Who Built America? From the Great War of 1914 to the Dawn of the Atomic Age in 1946.
cd-rom. New York: Bedford/St. Martin/Worth, 2000
Mershon, Sherie and Steven Schlossman. Foxholes & Color Lines: Desegregating the U.S. Armed Forces. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1998. Chapter 9
Chang, Jeff, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. (2005). Chapters 18 & 19
Edin, Kathryn, “Few Good Men, Why Poor Women Don’t Marry,” The American Prospect vol. 11 no. 4, Jan. 3, 2000
Third World Women’s Alliance. Black Women’s Manifesto. New York: Third World Women’s Alliance (n.d.)
Grades will be based on the quality of classroom discussions, written assignments, and examinations. All students are strongly encouraged to arrive on time, having read their assigned materials prior to class meetings. Students are required to attend all classes for successful completion of the course. Unexcused absences will result in a lower grade. Two examinations, a midterm, and a final are scheduled for the class. Examinations must be taken when scheduled. Unexcused absences from examinations are considered serious infractions of course requirements and will be dealt with accordingly.
Students are also required to write two papers for the course. Students are strongly encouraged to study Jules Benjamin’s A Student’s Guide to History for tips on research and organization of papers. Please read, re-read, and edit all written work prior to submission. Papers submitted to the instructor after the due date will not be accepted. Students who must turn in work after the due date, as a result of documented illness, may do so without penalty.
Suggested Readings
Gubar, Susan, Race Changes: White Skin, Black Face in American Culture
Wells-Barnett, Ida B., Southern Horrors and Other Writings: The Anti-Lynching Campaign & Ida B. Wells
Thomas, Brook, ed., Plessy v. Ferguson: A Reader with Documents
Bates, Daisy, The Long Shadow of Little Rock
Hale, Grace Elizabeth, Making Whiteness
Hunter, Tera, To joy my freedom
White, Deborah Gray, Too Heavy a Load
Reading Assignments
Week 1
Sept. 4 Emancipation
Reconstruction - Political Legacy
Reading: H.R. 29 Slave Reparations Bill 1867
Foner, Forever Free
African-American Odyssey, chapters 12 & 13
Week 2
Sept. 11 Reconstruction – Economic/
Social Reality
Reading: Washington, Up from Slavery
Week 3
Sept. 18 Reconstruction—Social
American Apartheid–The Coming of Jim Crow
Reading: Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk
African-American Odyssey, chapter 14
Week 4
Sept. 25 Strange Fruit or “Low Tech” Lynching
The Great Migration Spawns the Urban League
Reading: Address to the 13th Annual NAACP Conference
1925 Ku Klux Klan Manual
African-American Odyssey, chapters 15 &16
MIDTERM – Sept. 27
Week 5
Oct. 2 Men of Bronze–wwi
The Harlem Renaissance
Reading: Home to Harlem
African-American Odyssey, chapter 17
Week 6
Oct. 9, 1919: The Red Summer
The 1920s: The 20th Century Really Begins
Reading: Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
FIRST PAPER DUE OCTOBER 11
************* FALL BREAK Oct. 14–22 **********
Week 7
Oct. 23 Home Grown Terrorism
White Supremacy and the State
Reading: American Congo
Week 8
Oct. 30 Great Depression
World War II—Fighting on Two Fronts
Reading: Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest Politics in Black America, 1925–1945
African-American Odyssey, chapters 18 & 19
Week 9
November 6 The Cold War Begins
1950s: Civil Rights
Reading: To Stand and Fight
Foxholes & Color Lines, chapter 9
African-American Odyssey, chapters 20 & 21
Week 10
November 13 The Black Bourgeoisie
Amos and Andy - Happy Darkies
Reading: An American Insurrection
Week 11
November 20 1960s: Civil Rights and Cultural Revolution
1970s: Fracturing and Feminism
Reading: Black Women’s Manifesto
African-American Odyssey, chapters 22 & 23
SECOND PAPER DUE NOVEMBER 20
Week 12
November 27 Civil Rights & Affirmative Action
King, Hill, and Elders
Reading: Pattillo-McCoy, Black Picket Fences
Week 13
December 4 The Nadir II: aids, Crack, and Poverty
Reading: “The Worst Thing Bill Clinton Has Done”
Chang, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, chapter 18
“Few Good Men, Why Poor Women Don’t Marry”
Week 14
December 11 Are We Living the “Dream”? Race, Class, and Globalization in the 21st Century
Reading: Chang, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, chapter 19
A FINAL EXAM HAS BEEN SCHEDULED FOR THIS COURSE