Upper-division Writing Requirement Review Form (2/11)
I. General Education Review – Upper-division Writing Requirement
Dept/Program
Course # (i.e. ANTH
History
HSTA 418
Subject
455) or sequence
Course(s) Title
Women and Slavery
Description of the requirement if it is not a single course.
II. Endorsement/Approvals
Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office.
Please type / print name Signature
Instructor
Anya Jabour
Phone / Email
Anya.jabour@umontana
.edu
Program Chair
Kyle Volk
Dean
Chris Comer
III. Type of request
New
One-time Only
Reason for new course, change or deletion
Change
Renewal
Date
Remove
IV Overview of the Course Purpose/ Description
Students will investigate the connections between sexual and racial slavery in
antebellum America, learn to read critically and comparatively, and practice
conveying their ideas effectively in writing.
V Learning Outcomes: Explain how each of the following learning outcomes will be achieved.
Students will analyze both primary and
Student learning outcomes :
Identify and pursue sophisticated questions for secondary sources carefully and
comparatively
academic inquiry
Students will analyze and synthesize
Find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize
information from a variety of primary and
information effectively and ethically from
secondary sources
diverse sources (see
http://www.lib.umt.edu/informationliteracy/)
Students will manage perspectives of
Manage multiple perspectives as appropriate
multiple historians and historical actors
Students will write formal papers according
Recognize the purposes and needs of
to the established standards of the historical
discipline-specific audiences and adopt the
profession and with appropriate
academic voice necessary for the chosen
documentation
discipline
Use multiple drafts, revision, and editing in
conducting inquiry and preparing written work
Follow the conventions of citation,
documentation, and formal presentation
appropriate to that discipline
Develop competence in information
technology and digital literacy (link)
Students will submit rough drafts for
instructor comments and then submit final
drafts with revisions in response to feedback
Students will use Chicago Manual of Style to
document their papers
Students will be acquainted with relevant
websites containing digitized primary source
material
VI. Writing Course Requirements
Enrollment is capped at 25 students.
If not, list maximum course enrollment.
Explain how outcomes will be adequately met
for this number of students. Justify the request
for variance.
Briefly explain how students are provided with
tools and strategies for effective writing and editing
in the major.
Which written assignment(s) includes revision in
response to instructor’s feedback?
Students are provided with handouts and
homework on finding, interpreting, and
documenting material
All; three formal 7-10 page papers.
VII. Writing Assignments: Please describe course assignments. Students should be required to
individually compose at least 20 pages of writing for assessment. At least 50% of the course grade
should be based on students’ performance on writing assignments. Quality of content and writing
are integral parts of the grade on any writing assignment.
Formal Graded Assignments
Three 7-10 page papers (minimum 21
pages) constituting 75% of the course
grade
Informal Ungraded Assignments
Weekly journals; responses to discussion
questions provided by instructor included
in 25% of grade based on participation
VIII. Syllabus: Paste syllabus below or attach and send digital copy with form.  For assistance
on syllabus preparation see: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/syllabus.html
The syllabus must include the following:
1. Writing outcomes
2. Information literacy expectations
3. Detailed requirements for all writing assignments or append writing assignment instructions
Paste syllabus here.
HSTA 418: Women and Slavery
Prof. Jabour
LA 259, ext. 4364
Class hours: MWF 11:10 a.m.- Noon
Office hours: MWF 10-11a.m. and by appointment
Course Description and Goals
Women’s rights activists in antebellum America frequently drew a parallel
between women and slaves. In 1854, Elizabeth Cady Stanton proclaimed,
“The wife . . . holds about the same legal position that does the slave . . . .
She can own nothing, sell nothing. She has no right even to the wages she
earns; her person, her time, her services are the property of another.” In this
course we will address the connection between women’s status and slavery in
antebellum America, looking in turn at slave women, slaveholding women,
and antislavery women. Throughout, we will consider how ideologies of race
and gender were intertwined and how the experiences of slavery and
womanhood intersected.
While investigating the connections between sexual and racial slavery in
antebellum America, students will learn to read critically and comparatively
and will learn to convey their ideas effectively in speech and writing.
Course Requirements and Grading
1.
2.
3.
4.
Class Participation and Journal (25 percent).
First Essay (25 percent).
Second Essay (25 percent).
Third Essay (25 percent).
Class participation consists of regular, prompt attendance, careful reading,
and valuable contributions to class discussion. In addition, each student is
required to keep a journal. The journal should briefly summarize, respond to,
and compare the class readings. Students should use the journal as a
starting point for class discussions and for their essays. Attendance will be
taken each class period. The journal will be collected weekly and will be
returned marked with a check, plus, or minus.
Each essay in this course should develop a thesis about the relationship
between women and slavery, using the experiences of a particular woman
and placing that woman in the context of the relevant secondary reading.
For example, the first paper, on slave women, should use Harriet Jacobs’s
recollections and the secondary sources on slave women to advance an
argument about some aspect of slave women’s lives. Each essay should be 710 typed or laser-printed, double-spaced pages long. Each paper should be
carefully proofread and should have one-inch margins and a reasonable font
or type size. More details will be provided in class. Students will rewrite at
least one of the three papers. Rewrites are due two weeks after the original
due date or one week after the papers are returned, whichever is later.
Grades will be assigned according to the following criteria: A=outstanding;
B=good; C=inadequate; D=seriously inadequate; F=unacceptable. Although
the University does not compute pluses and minuses in your GPA, they will
be used on your individual assignments and to compute your overall grade.
Class Policies
All assignments are due at the beginning of class on the dates noted on the
syllabus. Extensions will be permitted at my discretion. Students needing
extensions should make arrangements with me significantly prior to the
deadline. The day before or the morning of a deadline is not sufficient.
Unless other arrangements are approved well in advance of the deadline,
grades for late assignments will be dropped one letter grade for each day the
assignments are late. For example, a B paper handed in a day late would be
recorded as a C. There is no make-up for an absence from class.
According to University policy, the deadline to add, drop, or change to
Pass/No Pass is March 8, 1999. Students taking the class Pass/No Pass must
receive a solid C (not a C-) in the course to receive a Pass grade.
Incompletes are intended for use by students who have fulfilled all course
requirements (including attendance) prior to a medical, family, or personal
emergency that prevents the student from completing the remainder of the
course. Incompletes will be granted at my discretion based on this criteria.
Students must arrange incompletes as early as possible.
Course Schedule
January 25-29
Catherine Clinton, “Caught in the Web of the Big House: Women and
Slavery”
February 1-5
Angela Davis, “Reflections on the Black Woman’s Role in the Community of
Slaves”; Christie Farnham, “Sapphire? The Issue of Dominance in the Slave
Family, 1830-1865”; and Deborah Gray White, Ar’n’t I a Woman?,
Introduction and Chap. 1
February 8-12
Deborah Gray White, Ar’n’t I a Woman?, Chaps. 2-5 and Epilogue
February 15-19 (No Class Monday)
Minrose C. Gwin, “Green-eyed Monsters of the Slavocracy: Jealous
Mistresses in Two Slave Narratives”; and Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the
Life of a Slave Girl, Introduction and Chaps. I-XVI
February 22-27
Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Chaps. XVII-XLI
First Essay Due (Slave Women) Monday, March 1
March 1-5
Kent Anderson Leslie, “Myth of the Southern Lady”; and Catherine Clinton,
The Plantation Mistress, Chaps. I-VI
March 8-12
Catherine Clinton, The Plantation Mistress, Chaps. VII-XII
March 22-26
Anne Firor Scott, “Women’s Perspective on the Patriarchy of the 1850s”; and
Virginia Burr, The Secret Eye, Introduction and Part I
March 29-April 2
Virginia Burr, The Secret Eye, Parts II-IV
Second Essay Due (Slaveholding Women) Monday, April 5
April 5-9
Jean Yellin, Women and Sisters (selected chapters in copy pack)
April 12-16
Shirley Yee, Black Women Abolitionists (selected chapters in copy pack)
April 19-23
Margaret Kellow, “The Divided Mind of Antislavery Feminism”; and Harriet
Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (begin)
April 26-29
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (complete)
Third Essay Due (Antislavery Women) Monday, May 3
May 3-7
TBA
History 495: Women and Slavery
First Essay: Slave Women
Your first essay will be based on Harriet Jacobs’s account of her life, Incidents in the Life
of a Slave Girl, Deborah Gray White’s Ar’n’t I a Woman?, and the first four articles in
the packet. (Students who took History 370 with me should use The American Slave, Six
Women’s Slave Narrataives, and/or the American Memory website instead of or as a
comparison to Harriet Jacobs’s account.) This assignment is an opportunity for you to
offer your own interpretation of some of the issues that are raised in class. Specifically,
you will select a topic in the history of women and slavery that is illuminated by Jacobs’s
account. You may choose to address a topic such as slave women’s relationships with
other slave women, white men, white mistresses, or northern white women, or you may
choose to speculate on how slavery modified women’s roles (as mothers, workers, lovers)
and redefined womanhood for slave women. Whatever subject you choose, you should
develop a thesis, or argument, about the relationship between women and slavery. You
might begin by asking yourself a question, such as Did slave women belong to a female
community? or What was the role of a slave mother? Your answer to this question
(stated as a complete sentence) is your thesis. In your paper, you will defend your thesis,
presenting evidence from Harriet Jacobs’s recollections and drawing on the context
provided by class lectures, discussions, and readings.
Now, the nuts and bolts of writing your paper. The paper should be 7-10 typed, doublespaced pages. Type or laser-print your paper and number the pages. Staple the paper at
the upper left-hand corner; do not use plastic folders. One-inch margins and a reasonable
font size are recommended (for example, 12-point New Century Schoolbook or 10-point
Courier). Grammar, style, and spelling all count, so proofread your paper carefully!
Your paper should go through at least two drafts, and you should scrutinize your final
draft closely before you hand it in. You may find that reading your paper aloud (to
yourself, a patient roommate, or an intellectually-inclined pet) will help you identify such
common pitfalls as subjects and verbs not in agreement, run-on sentences, passive voice,
or simply awkward phrasing. If you are unsure how to structure your paper, keep this in
mind: the introduction should tell the reader what you are going to say (your thesis), the
body of the paper should say it and support it, and the conclusion should remind the
reader what you just said. Ease the transition between each part of the paper (and
between each paragraph) with a graceful transition sentence—not with a subtitle or a
blank space. Avoid long block quotations, and remember that it is up to you to make sure
that quotations, anecdotes, and other information are clearly related to your thesis. Each
bit of evidence is like a puzzle piece; if you arrange the pieces in a coherent fashion and
connect them with explanation and interpretation, your reader will see the whole picture
(your thesis).
Next, you need to document your paper. You may do this one of two ways. First,
because this is a short paper, you may refer to the source (the author and/or title of the
book or article) in the text and supply the precise page numbers in parentheses at the
conclusion of the sentence or paragraph. If you do this, you will need to attach a
bibliography with complete information for each source (author, title, publication place
and date) to your paper. Second, you may choose to use endnotes. Endnotes are simply
footnotes that are placed at the end of your paper (your computer can do this for you).
Use the Chicago Manual of Style for your notes. If you have questions, see me for a
sample style sheet. Remember, you must provide documentation for all material from
any of the readings (not only for quotations)!
Finally, give your paper its final polish. Go over your introduction and conclusion one
more time. Some people find it helpful to write the body of the paper first and to leave
these for the end. Give your paper a title. Your title serves as an advance notice to your
reader, clearly indicating your topic and time period and hinting at your thesis. Double-
check to make sure that your name is on the paper, and hand it in. Congratulations! You
have now had a hand in what women’s historian Anne Firor Scott calls “making the
invisible woman visible.”
History 495: Women and Slavery
Prof. A. Jabour
Spring 1999
Citation Guide for Paper #1
For First Citations:
Catherine Clinton, “Caught in the Web of the Big House: Women and Slavery,” in Walter J.
Fraser, Jr., R. Frank Saunders, Jr., and Jon L. Wakelyn, eds., The Web of Southern Social
Relations: Women, Family, & Education (Athens, Ga., 1985), 19-33.
Christie Farnham, “Sapphire? The Issue of Dominance in the Slave Family, 1830-1865,” in
Carol Groneman and Mary Beth Norton, eds., “To Toil the Livelong Day”: American Women at
Work, 1780-1980 (Ithaca, 1987), 68-83.
Angela Davis, “Reflections on the Black Woman’s Role in the Community of Slaves,” The Black
Scholar (December 1971), 1-15.
Minrose C. Gwin, “Green-eyed Monsters of the Slavocracy: Jealous Mistresses in Two Slave
Narratives,” in Darlene Clark Hine, ed., Black Women in American History: From Colonial
Times Through the Nineteenth Century (Brooklyn, 1990), 559-572.
Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself, ed. by Jean Fagan
Yellin (Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1987).
Deborah Gray White, Ar’n’t I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South (New York and
London, 1985).
For Subsequent Citations (pages are samples only):
Clinton, “Caught in the Web of the Big House,” 22.
Farnham, “Sapphire?,” 75-78.
Davis, “Reflections on the Black Woman’s Role,” 10.
Gwin, “Green-eyed Monsters of the Slavocracy,” 561.
Jacobs, Incidents, Chap. VI.
White, Ar’n’t I a Woman?, Chap. 1, especially pp. 28-33