HIS2028
THE AMERICAN SOUTH, 1619-1865
Convener:
Brian Kelly
b.kelly@qub.ac.uk
UQ14.105
x3435
[please contact individual tutors about scheduled office hours]
‘King Cotton’
With the dramatic increase in cotton cultivation after 1800, the antebellum white South became increasingly
committed to defending their ‘peculiar institution’ in the face of all internal and external threats.
CONTENT:
From the founding of the American republic to the destructive but liberating force
unleashed by civil war in the 1860s, the American South maintained a distinctive culture
rooted in racially-based slavery and a set of cultural values that have become embedded in
historical mythology. This module explores the historical development of the region and the
role of slavery in shaping southern life between the earliest European settlements and the
conclusion of the devastating war over slavery. While revolutionary-era rhetoric, evangelical
religion, and industrial advance encouraged those in the northern US and Europe to detach
themselves from slavery, by the early nineteenth century white Southerners increasingly
pressed for its expansion, defended human bondage as a Christian institution, and
harnessed technology to the task of bolstering their agricultural economy, with dramatic
implications for social relations in the southern states. How did these developments unfold?
How did slaves attempt to create their own culture and communities under such a harsh
regime? What were the roles and burdens of women, black and white, in this patriarchal
society? In what ways did this distinct heritage contribute to the rise and fall of the
Confederacy, and to the shape of the modern South and American society more generally?
Rooms & Times:
Lectures: Mondays, 12-1pm: ELTC/LT
Film Screenings/Workshops: Mondays, 2-4pm: PFC 2.017
Tutorials:
T1: DB
Tuesdays, 10-11am
PFC 1.022
T2: BK
Tuesdays, 11am-12pm
PFC 1.022
T3: LB
Wednesdays, 10-11am
UQ 14.107
T4: LB
Wednesdays, 11am-12pm
PFC 1.024
T5: DB
Thursdays, 12-1pm
PFC 3.010
T6: AS
Thursdays, 1-2pm
PFC 3.010
T7: DB
Thursdays, 11am-12pm
PFC 3.010
Readings:
Required text (available for purchase at discounted rate from No Alibis Bookstore):
Paul D. Escott, et. al., Major Problems in the History of the American South
Peter Kolchin, American Slavery, 1619-1877
Other listed weekly readings are available through JSTOR or Queen’s Online (QOL).
Intended Learning outcomes:
Student performance on exams inevitably varies. But by the end of the semester those of you
who undertake the assigned coursework conscientiously should be able to:
 speak and write with fluency about the major themes and problems in the history of
the American South from the period preceding European settlement to the
conclusion of the Civil War;
 recognize and evaluate interpretive differences in historical writing on the subject;
 critically evaluate primary documents and understand their importance for
reconstructing the past;
 plan and implement an essay project on a centrally related theme.
History workshops:
Students often come into their Level Two coursework with a range of academic strengths
and weaknesses. Those of you aiming to enhance your skills are welcome to attend any or
all of the three ‘History Workshops’ that the module will include over the coming semester.
These are completely optional and will not count toward your final mark. The workshops are as
follows:
History Workshop I: Mon. 30 Sept: ‘Reading in History’
History Workshop II: Mon. 28 Oct: ‘Planning Your Essay’
History Workshop III: Mon. 25 Nov: ‘Draft & Revision’
2-3pm; PFC 2.017
2-3pm; PFC 2.017
2-3pm; PFC 2.017
The one-minute essay:
Just before the conclusion of every class lecture, the lecturer will ask you to submit a ‘oneminute essay’ responding to two key questions: 1) What was the single most important
thing that you learned in today’s lecture? and 2) What important question(s) do you still
have? Feel free to add any additional comments about the lecture or the module generally.
American History Colloquium:
The School of History & Anthropology sponsors a number of seminars that we strongly
encourage you to attend. But we want to especially urge you to attend the American History
Colloquium, which over the past several years has brought a number of outstanding
scholars to QUB—many of them specialists in the history of the American South. While we
welcome you to attend all of the scheduled presentations, it is a course requirement that you
attend at least two over the course of the semester.
Assessment:
Tutorials (10%):
Tutorial marks will be based on your informed participation in weekly discussions. Come to
tutorials with notes based on your reading and questions about any issues that have arisen
in the lecture or the assigned material.
Assessed Essay (40%):
Each of you will be expected to complete a 3500-4000 word essay based on an assigned
theme. Essays should draw upon at least two of the films screened in the module. All essays
will be expected to include a bibliography, notes and references, and to abide by the School
guidelines for written work, which will be found in the Undergraduate Handbook, available
through the Student Sharepoint site on QOL. Essay questions will be distributed in a
separate handout in Week Five, and completed essays must be submitted electronically by
noontime on Monday 2 December. [See ‘Submitting Your Assessed Work’, below]
Exam (50%):
The two-hour final exam will take place in January, at a time and location to be announced
by the Exams Office late in the semester. You will be expected to respond to two out of eight
possible exam questions within a two-hour period. All questions will be based on prominent
themes in the module coursework. Since the exam will involve material from the entire
module, attendance and active participation are essential to success on the exam.
Submitting your assessed work:
Students must submit one electronic copy (via Queen's Online) of all written assessments.
This must include an ‘Assessed Work Coversheet’ as the first page of your essay. The
coversheets cannot be submitted separately.
Procedure for Submitting Assessed Work:
1. Download the coversheet from the Course Submission Documents Section.
2. Complete all sections of the coversheet online.
3. Cut and paste the coversheet into the first page of your essay.
4. Submit your assessed work via QOL Assignment for your module.
PLEASE NOTE:
All assessed coursework is anonymously marked. Therefore students must ensure that
neither their name nor their student number appears on any part of their essay, except for
the coversheet.
Coursework must be submitted electronically by 12.00 noon on the dates specified in the
module handbooks for each course. Coursework submitted after 12:00 will be marked ‘LATE’.