HI 299 A1 / AA 310 A1: History of the Civil Rights Movement Spring 2016 CAS B25A, M 3:00-6:00 pm

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1 HI 299 A1 / AA 310 A1: History of the Civil Rights Movement Spring 2016 CAS B25A, M 3:00-6:00 pm Professor Eric Jarvis Teaching Fellow: Jordan Pouliot 226 Bay State Road, Room Bay State Road, Room B5 Phone: jpouliot@bu.edu ejarvis@bu.edu Office Hours: Mondays, Office Hours: Mondays, 1-2:30 pm, 11:30 am- 2:30 pm, and by appointment Wednesdays, 10:30 am-12 pm, and by appointment Course Description: This course examines the emergence and evolution of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the late nineteenth century to present. Drawing on historical scholarship, documentary film, oral history, speeches, and popular culture, students will explore the African American struggle for racial equality in American society, with particular attention to how grassroots activism, racial ideology, violence, federal policy, and literature and music have shaped the pursuit of civil rights. Course Organization/Requirements: This course requires a good deal of reading, writing, and listening along with your active participation in class discussions. For each class, you should arrive prepared to discuss the assigned readings or films. Class meetings will mix lectures with discussions of assigned readings and films and occasionally introduce additional primary and secondary sources. I encourage you to me interesting news items related to the history of the Civil Rights Movement or present-day racial issues so that I can share them with the class. Specific course requirements are as follows: Reading Responses Take-Home Midterm Exam Research Paper Final Exam Attendance and active participation in class discussions Further details about each of these requirements will be provided in class. Please note that each student is required to meet with the Teaching Fellow to discuss his or her selected topic for the research paper. Required Books: The following books are available at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Kenmore Square: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi Stephen Tuck, We Ain t What We Ought to Be: The Black Freedom Struggle from Emancipation to Obama

2 HI 299 A1 pg. 2 James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man Suzanne E. Smith, Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit All other readings will be available on the course Blackboard site (see below). You will always be expected to bring a copy of the reading materials to class on the day on which they are due. You will also need to view the following films: The Negro Soldier, Black Natchez, and Straight Outta Compton. Grade Breakdown: Your final grade will be calculated as follows: Readings Responses: 10% Take Home Midterm Exam: 25% Research Paper: 25% Final Exam: 25% Class participation: 15% Teaching Fellow: In this course, you will be assigned a Teaching Fellow who will take an interest in your course performance, hold office hours, grade your work, and be available to discuss readings and assignments. The Teaching Fellow will also hold optional review sessions that are intended to support students in preparing for exams. While participation in these sessions is not required, students are strongly encouraged to attend them. Each review session will be offered at two different times so that all interested students are able to participate. Blackboard: Our class has a Blackboard site that contains the syllabus, assignments, readings, and other course-related materials. You can log in to our Blackboard page at: You will have a personal Blackboard folder where you will submit completed assignments. Policy: I welcome your communications. Please allow up to 48 hours for a response. I do not discuss grades over , so if you wish to discuss the grade you received on a particular assignment, please schedule a time to meet with me. Laptop Policy: You may use a laptop for select classroom activities, and I will indicate when students are allowed to do so. Otherwise, students may not use laptops during class. Cell Phone Policy: Cell phones are not allowed during class. If you use your cell phone during class, it will lower your class participation grade. Late Assignments: Graded assignments will be penalized by one-third of a letter grade for each day they are late. If you are habitually late with your assignments, you will be unable to participate fully in the class, which will be reflected in your class participation grade. Attendance Policy: Your regular attendance and participation are essential both to your own learning and to your classmates learning. Missing more than one class will lower your participation grade. Missing more than two classes (two weeks) may lead to a failing grade in the course. Note that these absences need not be consecutive. If you have a special obligation that

3 HI 299 A1 pg. 3 will require you to miss several classes (e.g., varsity athletics, religious observances), please talk with me at the beginning of the semester. Formatting for Papers: All assignments must be word-processed and adhere to the Chicago style guidelines. Assignments should be submitted as Microsoft Word files and formatted in the following way: double spaced, 12pt Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins. In addition to submitting hard copies of assignments, you are required to submit all completed assignments electronically by uploading the files to your personal Blackboard folder. BU History Department Writing Guide: For a detailed description of the proper format for historical essays, students should consult the BU History Department Writing Guide: Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the passing off of another s words or ideas as your own, and it is a serious academic offense. Cases of plagiarism will be handled in accordance with the disciplinary procedures described in the College of Arts and Science Academic Conduct Code. All students are subject to the CAS code, which can be read online at: Penalties for plagiarism can range from failing an assignment or course to suspension or expulsion from the university. If you have any questions about plagiarism, please speak with me. Class Schedule Please note: Readings and songs followed by an asterisk (*) are available on our course Blackboard website. All readings, songs, and films should be read, listened to, or watched in advance of the class for which they are assigned. M 1/25 Introduction: The Long Civil Rights Movement M 2/1 The Emergence of Jim Crow 1. Tuck, We Ain t What We Ought to Be, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Southern Horrors* 3. Atticus G. Haygood, The Black Shadow in the South * 4. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)* Deadline: Reading Response for Wells-Barnett

4 HI 299 A1 pg. 4 M 2/8 Leaders of the Early Civil Rights Movement 1. Booker T. Washington, excerpts from Up From Slavery* 2. Booker T. Washington, Atlanta Exposition Address * 3. W.E.B. Du Bois, excerpts from The Souls of Black Folk* 4. Tuck, We Ain t What We Ought to Be, Deadline: Reading Response for Washington or Du Bois M 2/15 Presidents Day-No Class Tu 2/16 Monday Schedule of Classes Culture as Social Protest: Blues Music & African American Literature in the Early Twentieth Century 1. Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (all) Music: 1. Gertrude Ma Rainey, Blame it on the Blues * 2. Bessie Smith, Backwater Blues * Deadline: Reading Response for Johnson M 2/22 The Great Migration, World War I, and the Harlem Renaissance 1. Tuck, We Ain t What We Ought to Be, Marcus Garvey, excerpt from The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey* 3. A. Phillip Randolph and Chandler Owen, The New Negro-What is He? * 4. Alain Locke, Foreword to The New Negro* 5. Langston Hughes, excerpts from The Weary Blues* 6. George S. Schuyler, The Negro-Art Hokum * 7. Langston Hughes, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain * Deadline: Reading Response for Garvey or Hughes M 2/29 Civil Rights from the New Deal to World War II Distribute Take-Home Midterm Exam In-class viewing: The Negro Soldier (1944) 1. Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, Tuck, We Ain t What We Ought to Be, A. Phillip Randolph, The March On Washington *

5 HI 299 A1 pg. 5 Spring Recess: 3/5-3/13 M 3/14 Legal Reform, Grassroots Activism, and Massive Resistance 1. Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, Tuck, We Ain t What We Ought to Be, M 3/21 Nonviolence & Direct Confrontation 1. Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, Tuck, We Ain t What We Ought to Be, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail * Deadline: Reading Response for King or Moody M 3/28 Black Power In-class viewing: Black Natchez (1965) 1. Tuck, We Ain t What We Ought to Be, Malcolm X, The Ballot or the Bullet * 3. Malcolm X, Message to the Grass Roots * 4. Black Panther Party, What We Want, What We Believe * Deadline: Reading Response for X M 4/4 Music & the Civil Rights Movement 1. Smith, Dancing in the Street, Music: 1. The Freedom Singers, We Shall Overcome * 2. Martha and the Vandellas, Dancing in the Street * 3. Nina Simone, Mississippi Goddam * Deadline: Reading Response for Smith M 4/11 Cultural Nationalism and the Post-Civil Rights Era 1. Tuck, We Ain t What We Ought to Be, Larry Neal, The Black Arts Movement *

6 HI 299 A1 pg Brian Ward, Just My Soul Responding, , (available online through Mugar) Music: 1. Parliament, Chocolate City * 2. James Brown, Say It Loud--I m Black and I m Proud * M 4/18 Patriots Day-No Class W 4/20 Monday Schedule of Classes Race Relations in the 1980s and 1990s 1. Tuck, We Ain t What We Ought to Be, Film: 1. Straight Outta Compton Deadline: Research Paper Due M 4/25 Civil Rights in the Age of Obama Distribute Study Guide for Final Exam 1. Tuck, We Ain t What We Ought to Be, Obama, excerpt from The Audacity of Hope* 3. Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me (all) Deadline: Reading Response for Coates Final Exam Date TBD