Overview:
This course investigates the history and culture of the American South. Throughout the semester, we will trace the region’s past, from its Native American origins to its antebellum opulence and from the devastation of the Civil War to the development of the modern, multicultural “Sun Belt.” At present, there is some question as to whether this new multicultural South is still distinctly “southern.” Yet, the dogged devotion of some southerners to the region’s history and culture—proudly flying the Confederate battle flag, for instance, despite its association with a defense of slavery—suggests that “old times there are not forgotten.” If the South remains distinctive in many ways it also embodies both the promise and problems of the United States, as it has since Virginia slaveholders articulated the young nation’s desire for independence in 1776. In other words, if we understand the American South, we can better understand America.

Readings:
Edward Ball, Slaves in the Family
Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic
Edward Jones, The Known World
Nicholas Lemann, Redemption
Matthew Lassiter, The Silent Majority
Roger Wilkins, Jefferson's Pillow

Requirements:
This course meets on Mondays and Wednesdays. Regular attendance and participation are mandatory. You are allowed five absences without any excuse. After the fifth absence, your participation grade suffers. Class attendance is important because I do not assign a textbook that gives a course overview. The midterm test and the final exam will be based on information covered in course lectures, discussions, and outside readings. There will also be six short quizzes on the outside readings, which will be factored in with classroom participation. Students will write a four-page book review on one of six outside readings for the course. Finally, students will write a ten-page term paper on a topic of their choice relating to southern history. A one-page proposal is due on November 9, and the full paper is due on November 23.

Assignments, Exams, & Grades:
Term Paper: Each student in the class will write a ten-page term paper to be handed in at the beginning of class on November 23. Your paper should examine an event, person, place, or cultural phenomenon that highlights a watershed in southern history. In terms of events, for example, you could examine the experiences of Southern troops during the Vietnam War or the impact of feminism on southern women during the 1960s and 1970s. In terms of people or places, you could do a biographical study of a civil rights leader or Confederate general. If you are interested in cultural history, you might write about blues music, the Gullah language, or Creole cuisine.

A one-page proposal that outlines the source material and tentative argument for your paper is due on November 9. Whatever you decide to write about, you must come speak with me about your topic during my office hours at least two weeks before the term paper is due.

Papers must be typed double-spaced with 12-point font and normal margins. They must be based on both primary and secondary research. Primary materials are sources produced during the time you are studying. They include published sources such as newspapers, magazines, movies, songs, letters, speeches, diaries, records of organizations, and (for recent topics) oral history interviews. The secondary research should include a survey of the previously published scholarly work on your topic. What have other historians said about your topic? How is your paper adding to the work that has already been done?

Book Review: Each student will do a four-page paper on one of the outside readings assigned to the class. You will choose which book to review on the first day. Papers must be typed double-spaced with 12-point font and normal margins. Essays must answer a broad question that will be given out in class two weeks before papers are due. Students will turn in papers before class on the day we discuss the outside readings.

Quizzes/Discussions: There will be six in-class discussions of the outside readings over the course of the semester. Students should have completed the assigned sections of each book before the discussion and should be prepared to contribute to a conversation about the major themes covered by the author. At the beginning of each in-class discussion, there will be a short quiz of multiple-choice questions about the book. The grades on these quizzes and quality of discussion participation determine students’ grades for this portion of the class.

Mid-Term and Final Exam: These exams are broken into two parts. The first section requires students to answer five out of seven short answer questions describing historical figures, organizations, and events covered in lectures or outside readings. The midterm covers material in the first half of the course, while the final exam focuses on the second half.

Grading:
All assignments will be graded on a 100-point scale. The grading breakdown will be:
Book Review 10%
Term Paper 20%
Midterm 20%
Final Exam 20%
Quizzes/Discussion 30%

Course Schedule

Section I: From Slavery to Freedom

Section II: From the New South to the Sun Belt