Comm 190
Seminar in Scholarly
and Creative Inquiry
Discourses of Slavery
Spring 2006
Instructor:
James Jasinski
404D Jones Hall
879-3463 (office direct line)
761-1591 (home; no calls after 8pm)
e-mail address: jjasinski@ups.edu
Office hours: M, W 1-4pm and by appointment
Overview of Course:
While the institution of American slavery existed as a corporeal, material phenomenon, it
nevertheless was initially implemented via judicial rulings and legislative enactments, was
sustained and challenged through the rhetorical hermeneutics of Biblical and constitutional
exegesis, was promoted as a “positive good” and attacked as an unmitigated evil, was
represented in fictional and dramatic productions, was repeatedly contested and defended
in the legal sphere and in various deliberative forums, and remains an integral part of our
cultural memory. In this seminar students will examine these various discourses of slavery,
developing an understanding of the discursive resources through which our nation’s
peculiar institution has been defended, attacked, and remembered.
Course Objectives:
The University has adopted the following learning objectives for all Scholarly and Creative
Inquiry (SCI) seminars.
The purpose of this core area is to introduce students to the processes of scholarly and
creative inquiry through direct participation in that inquiry. Students in a SCI seminar gain
a degree of mastery that comes with deep exposure to a focused seminar topic. They
increase their ability to frame and explore questions, to support claims, and to respond to
others’ questions and differing opinions. Finally, students develop and demonstrate their
intellectual independence by engaging in substantive written work on the topic in papers or
projects.
Given these common objectives for this core category, upon completing this course
students should be able to:
1. identify the principal goals and major analytic procedures which constitute humanistic
modes of inquiry (historical, interpretive, critical, etc.);
2. display a degree of mastery over multiple “discourses of slavery”;
3. demonstrate increased ability to engage in basic analytic and scholarly activities (frame
questions, support claims, etc.); and
4. demonstrate their ability to employ various approaches to historical-critical inquiry in
substantive written work. Students will be expected to demonstrate (and will be evaluated
in part on) their grasp of the conventions constituting academic or scholarly writing
(including but not limited to grammar and syntax, rules of punctuation, paragraph
coherence, etc.)
Required Reading
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ed. Ann Douglas (New York: Penguin Books,
1986)
David Walker, David Walker’s Appeal, ed. Peter Hinks (University Park, PA:
Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000).
Reading packet available at bookstore.
Some course readings will be available through the University’s Blackboard web site. To
access the Blackboard readings, go to blackboard.ups.edu and look for course (course ID
is: DiscourseSlaveryspring2006). You should enroll yourself in the course (access code:
chicagocubs). Blackboard readings are indicated on schedule below.
All readings should be completed by the date assigned on the schedule below. Doing so
will prepare you for quizzes. To facilitate discussion of the readings, I strongly
recommend that you bring them to class (print copies of blackboard readings and bring
those copies to class).
Recommended Reading
Andrea A. Lunsford, The Everyday Writer, third edition (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
2005).
Course Policies
1. Students must comply with University policies regarding academic honesty. It is your
responsibility to review Logger on-line so that you avoid violating University academic
honesty policies, especially those relating to plagiarism.
2. Turn off your cell phones before class.
3. Please visit appropriate restrooms before class begins.
4. Please do not sit in class with sweatshirt hoods over your head. It is rude.
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Course Requirements
Quick Summary
1. A research project with two discrete components (each component will be evaluated
separately.
A. Part A: A literature review paper due on Tu 3/21 worth 15points or roughly
15% of your final grade.
B. Part B: A final seminar paper (a piece of original scholarship which examines
some aspect of the “discourses” of slavery) due on Tu 5/9 at noon worth 25 points or
roughly 25% of your final grade.
2. Six short analysis papers (each app. 3-4 pp). Due dates and topics are noted in
schedule below. Each short analysis paper will be worth 10 points. Your top four scores
will determine roughly 40% of your final grade.
3. Four lecture summary papers. As we’ll discuss in class, five distinguished scholars
are presenting lectures on campus this spring on the course topic “The Discourses of
Slavery.” You need to attend four of the lectures and prepare short (app. 2pp) summary
papers. See assignment handout for lecture schedule and summary paper due dates. Each
summary paper worth 2 ½ points; score of lecture summary papers will determine
roughly 10% of your final grade.
4. Six (perhaps seven) unannounced quizzes on assigned readings. Each quiz will be
worth two points. Your top five quiz scores will determine roughly 10% of your final
grade
The separate assignment handout contains detailed descriptions of course requirements.
Tentative Course Schedule
1/17 (Tu)
Introduction to course
1/19 (Th)
Slavery comes to North America; discuss course assignments.
Unit One: Critiquing/Defending Slavery
1/24 (Tu)
Quaker origins of abolitionism. Read: Reading Packet (RP) #1-4.
1/26 (Th)
David Walker Attacks Slavery. Read: Excerpts from Jefferson (RP #5)
and Walker’s Appeal (Editor’s Introduction, Preamble, and Article I)
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1/31 (Tu)
Walker’s Appeal and the Emergence of the African-American Jeremiad.
Read: Appeal Articles II-IV; handout on “jeremiad”
Short analysis paper #1 due
2/2 (Th)
William Lloyd Garrison’s Early Critique of Slavery. Read: RP #6 and 6a
2/7 (Tu)
Henry Highland Garnet Exhorts the 1843 National Convention of Negro
Citizens. Read: RP #7
2/9 (Th)
Frederick Douglass on the Meaning of the Fourth of July for America’s
Slaves. Read: RP #8
2/14 (Tu)
Women, Abolitionism, and Race. Read: RP #9-10.
Short analysis paper #2 due
2/16 (Th)
Defending Slavery. Read: RP #11 and 11a
Unit Two: Fictionalizing Slavery
2/21 (Tu)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Read: UTC, pp. 41-225 (Chs. 1-13)
2/23 (Th)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (con’t). Read: UTC, pp. 226-411 (Chs. 14-25)
2/28 (Tu)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (con’t). Read: UTC, pp. 412-629 (Chs. 26-45)
3/2 (Th)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (concluded).
Short analysis paper #3 due
Unit Three: Interpreting Slavery
3/7 (Tu)
Slavery and the Bible. Read: RP #12-15
3/9 (Th)
African-Americans Interpret the Bible. Read: Raboteau book chapter
(on Blackboard)
3/14 (Tu)
Spring Break
3/16 (Th)
Spring Break
3/21 (Tu)
Slavery and the Constitution. Read: RP #16-17
Literature Review paper due
3/23 (Th)
The Amistad Case. Read: See handout for reading assignment for this
class period.
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3/28 (Tu)
Prigg v. Pennsylvania and the Issue of Fugitive Slaves. Read: Finkelman
essay (on Blackboard)
3/30 (Th)
Dred Scott. Read: RP #18 and 18a
Short analysis paper #4 due
Unit Four: Debating Slavery in Congress
4/4 (Tu)
Abolitionist Petitions and the “Gag Rule” Debate. Read: RP #19 and
19a; handout
4/6 (Th)
Recovering Fugitive Slaves. Read: RP #20
4/11 (Tu)
Slavery in the Territories (part one): Oregon (Oregon?). Read: RP #21
4/13 (Th)
Slavery in the Territories (part two): The Mexican Cession and the
“Compromise” of 1850. Read: RP #22
4/18 (Tu)
Slavery in the Territories (part three): The Kansas-Nebraska Act. Read:
RP # 23, 23a, and 23b
Short analysis paper #5 due
4/20 (Th)
The Aftermath of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in Illinois: Abraham Lincoln.
Read: RP #24
Unit Five: Remembering Slavery
4/25 (Tu)
Slavery and the Mass Media. Read: TBA
4/27 (Th)
Slavery and History Textbooks. Read: TBA
5/2 (Tu)
Memory and Policy Debate: The Case of Slavery Reparations.
Short analysis paper #6 due
Final seminar paper due during scheduled exam period (Tuesday 5/9 at noon).
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