Draft Syllabus
HIUS 4591/PLAN 4500/ARH 4500
University of Virginia History: Race and Repair
Co-Taught by Frank Dukes, Phyllis Leffler, Karen Waters
This special topics class will focus on the university and the surrounding community
of Charlottesville with a special emphasis on issues of race. Students will explore
the history of the University from its founding and construction to the late twentieth
century, exploring both the documented history and the community’s perception of
that history. Topics include:
 the early role of the enslaved in both building and maintaining the quality of life
for students and faculty;
 U.Va.’s position and role during the Civil War;
 the evolution of the student body and surrounding communities in the era of
Reconstruction and Jim Crow;
 the values of southern Progressivism;
 the place of eugenics at U.Va.;
 early efforts at racial and gender diversity and administrative responses;
 the acceptance of African American students and the responses of the Black
Charlottesville community;
 employment practices during the twentieth century;
 issues of growth and their impact on communities; and
 how that history has and has not been represented on grounds and throughout
the built environment.
This course will invite and encourage community members who have worked or
lived in the surrounding area to help construct the forgotten or buried histories of
university/community relations from their perspective. Students enrolled in the
course will develop projects that actively engage members of the community, and
will develop final products that serve the wider community needs for revealing and
understanding this history.
Course goals:
 Broaden the understanding of the practice of slavery, segregation and
discrimination and efforts to address those practices within the University;
 Broaden the understanding of the community impact and continuing legacy of
the University’s practice of slavery, segregation and discrimination as well as
efforts to address those practices;
 Explore the mythology of Jefferson’s image and the marketing of that image;
 Offer community members a sense of welcome to the University;
 Understand and validate community knowledge of issues such as employment,
housing, education, health, and neighborhood history;
 Bring discipline of historical research to University-Community relations.
Grades for U.Va. enrolled students will be based on the following:
Active participation in the class (20% - based on analysis of readings,
regular submissions of discussion questions, and other responses to
readings);
Journal kept throughout the semester (submitted on February 24 and April
14 – 40% cumulatively)
Final group project (40%)
The readings for the course will be heavier during the beginning of the semester,
leaving time for people to focus on group projects during the second half of the
term. A reading packet will be available at the bookstore.
Brenda________________ (Theresa Price’s niece)
Demetrius Banks primetime292000@yahoo.com
Marnie Allen mallen@macaa.org
Mo Nichols monich58@embarqmail.com
Jennifer O’Connor jenniferconnorlec@gmail.com
Cyndi Richardson my2kels@yahoo.com
Kelly Richardson
Susan Pleiss susan@cvillleqcc.org
Harry Wicks hmwicks3@yahoo.com
Patrick Costello ptack.costello@gmail.com
Pastor Cathy Ames cathy.ames@gmail.com
Edith Good edith@cvilleqcc.org
Anthony Max Yeboah tonymax77@gmail.com
Roscoe Boxley (Sankofa)
Tracee James tracee.n.james@gmail.com
Edwina St. Rose stroseinva@aol.com
Todd Niemeier todd@cvilleqcc.org
Leora Brown leorabrown@k12albemarle.org
Working schedule (subject to change)
Jan 20
Introduction
The dangers of a single story - Chimamanda Adichie:
Welcome/intro of course instructors
Course structure/content/conduct of class
Individual/group exercise and introductions
1. Frank welcomes everyone initially - talks about class in context of UCARE project.
Karen and Phyllis introduce selves and explain their interests in offering this course.
2. Karen introduces story of Nigerian storyteller - and leads short discussion (1/2
hr maximum)
3. Phyllis talks about syllabus and class....and expectations, class work, and fields
questions....others join in (1/2 hr.)
4. Phyllis leads exercise re news articles...
5. Introductions.....ask them in groups of 3 first to introduce selves, then ask 2-3
ways they relate to their community; we all share –
6. Frank asks final questions re student needs.....
Jan 27
Jefferson, Slavery and its Consequences
Required reading:
Catherine Neale, “Enslaved People and the Early Life of the
University of Virginia”
Gary Wills, “The Negro President,” The New York Review of
Books, Vol. 50, No. 17 (November 6, 2003)
Monticello-Jefferson and Slavery
Peter Onuf, “Thomas Jefferson, Race and National
Identity,” in Mind of Thomas Jefferson, 205-212
Guest speakers:
Cinder Stanton, Leni Sorenson – Monticello (5 pm)
Feb. 3
Tour – Key Race Places at U.Va.
Includes The Lawn, , Foster site, Dawson’s Row
Possible readings:
“Slavery and the University of Virginia,” U Guide Service
(405-410)
References to free Blacks and “Canada” (1 pp.)
Catherine Foster site – listen to video and read article
Meredith Storton, “The University of Virginia Survives,”
HIUS 4501 student paper
Kendra Hamilton, Hiding in Plain Sight
Guest speakers:
Ben Ford – archaeologist, Foster Site (4:00-4:40)
Jeff Hantman-archaeologist, Foster Site (4 pm)
Dion Lewis – OAAA-Dawson’s Row (4:45-5:00)
Maurie McInnis – Lawn (5:00-5:30)
Desiree Smith – Lawn (5:00-5:30)
Feb. 10
Presidents, Deans, and policies of exclusion (1900-1950s)
Includes discussion of Anglo-Saxon Clubs of America, Paul Barringer,
Eugenics at U.Va. Ivey Lewis and admissions policies, Alice
Jackson, Colgate Darden and admissions
Readings:
Paul Barringer, “Education of the Negro,” NY Times, 1900
Eugenics:
Plecker and Powell
Gregory Dorr, “Assuring America’s Place in the Sun: Ivey Foreman Lewis and
the Teaching of
Background: Eugenics at the University of Virginia,
1915- 1953,” The Journal of Southern History, May
2000
Daily Progress, February 6, 2001: “Va. eugenics
victim seeks an apology, B1-2.
Daily Progress, February 15, 2001: “Eugenics
legislation gets final approval”
Alice Jackson application and rejection:
The issues
U.Va. documents and description
Alice Jackson papers come to UVA-2003
Religious Discrimination:
The View From Here: Religion – see section on
Jewish Students:
Virginia Spectator articles: Faulkner, Henderson, Fleming,
Kasper, Boyle
Sarah Patton Boyle, “Southerners will like integration,”
The Saturday Evening Post, Feb. 19, 1955
Sarah Patton Boyle and responses
(see especially
letters between Darden, Boyle, and alumni)
Possible Guest Speaker: Martha Dawson (moved to Feb. 17?)
Class agenda:
Welcome: small group discussion: what is your ethnicity? Your first definition of
racial difference? Frank
Expansion: what we’ve seen an experienced to date (whole group). What questions
do students have of community members? Community members of students? Karen
Background re readings: each of us pick a key big question to share and to invite
deep discussion from the group, and how the readings help us understand the
question.
In three small groups: key ideas that came from the readings.
Distribute evenly students from each reading group based upon student questions.
Closing: confirm Monticello for 20th. Review readings for next week (Phyllis?).
Ideas for group projects, if time -
Feb. 17
Path Breakers who change reality
African American students and alums; University admissions policies
Readings:
Trailblazing against Tradition
The View from Here – materials on Desegregation
(Darden) – read all except link to Sarah Patton
Boyle
Virginia’s Massive Resistance
Ground Beneath Our Feet
Other resources:
Film on Massive Resistance
Tape of Black Alumni Reunion
Oral History database – esp. Shannon (CD 6, 11-13)
Guests: TBA
Feb 24
Group work for research projects
Read: Robert Weyeneth, “The Power of Apology and the Process
of Historical Reconciliation,” The Public Historian, Vol. 23,
No. 3, 9-38 (Summer 2001)
David Glassberg, “Public History and the Study of Memory, The
Public Historian, Vol 18, No. 2 (Spring 1996), 7-23
David Kyvig, Neaby History (selections)
Tour of Vinegar Hill and community sites
Possible speaker: Scot French
Mar 3
Educational Systems: From Massive Resistance to Affirmative Action
Discuss public school system/ role of university faculty in
community
Discuss Shannon, Hereford, O’Neil, Casteen policies
Farmington, Admissions Dean, Affirmative Action
Policies/ Transition program/Upward Bound/
U.Va. Access, Carter Woodson Center, OAAA
Possible readings:
Paul Gaston, Jim Crow’s Demise
1970 – Student Petition to Shannon re Black students
Relevant sections from An Audacious Faith
Access UVA news story-2004
Sustained Dialogue
Guests: TBA
Mar 17
Employment Policies from the 1950s to the present
“Muddy Floor” report
Mar 24
Health Care Issues and U.Va. responses in the community
Hospital policies: 1950s to the present
Possible readings:
Devon Check seminar paper on desegregation of Hospital
Oral History: Lambert Molyneaux- 1823, pt. 1,2 (Darden opened
Employment in hospital)
Mar 31
Housing and Community Isues and Networks
Public Housing in Charlottesville – Bill Harris
Christopher S. Combs, “A Community in turmoil:
Charlottesville’s opposition to Public housing,” The
Magazine of Albemarle County History, vol. 56, 1998,
119-153.
Guests: TBA
Apr 7
What does repair look like?
Physical space, University programs (OAAA/Woodson Center),
Madison House, Office of Diversity,
Guests: TBA
April 14, April 21, April 28: These weeks will be dedicated to group projects –
focusing on research on final presentation to the group. We will meet regularly to
make sure these projects are on track.