African American History
AMH 5930
Professor Paul Ortiz
Department of History
University of Florida
Fall, 2012
Mondays, 3-6 p.m.
Pugh Hall Oral History Conference Room
Course Description:
We will examine African American struggles for political power and economic selfdetermination in segregating America, 1870s through the 1950s, as well as the era of the modern
civil rights movement and the Rainbow Coalition. We will explore the debates that occurred
across lines of class, sex and intellectual perspective over the best methods to challenge and
resist white supremacy. We will conclude with an examination of the multiple historical
meanings of the election of President Barack Obama. The class will sample from sources
including oral histories, music, photographs, audio recordings, film, and poetry.
Course Objectives/Student Learning Outcomes:
Students will gain an enhanced understanding of American history that will allow them to
prepare a PhD examination field in African American history as well as to incorporate black
history into diverse areas including public history, museum installations, K-12 education, and
community redevelopment projects. Students will write synthesis essays on fourteen major
monographs on African American history and will complete a 25-page final historiographical
essay on the development of this field of inquiry from Civil War to present.
The Civil War was a defining moment in American history. We will begin by studying the
experiences of African American men and women who fought to save the union and earn their
freedom. We will assess African American efforts to reconstruct democracy in America. We will
ask several interrelated questions: 1) how did newly-emancipated African Americans define the
meaning of freedom? 2) What kinds of politics did African American women and men pursue in
the late 19th century? 3) What role did gender play in the long-term freedom struggle? 4) Why
did one-party rule and white supremacy eventually triumph? In a related sense, what was the
historical legacy of slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction in America? What are the legacies
of segregation today?
What techniques of resistance and survival did African Americans develop to grapple with white
supremacy and segregating America? What were the connections—and conflicts—between
Black militancy in America, Caribbean radicalism, Pan Africanism and the early anti-colonial
movement? How did the Black expressive cultures influence social life? What roles did African
Americans play in the making of the New Deal?
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: Students requesting classroom accommodation
must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide
documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when
requesting accommodation. Contact the Disability Resources Center
(http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc/) for information about available resources for students with
disabilities.
Counseling and Mental Health Resources: Students facing difficulties completing the course or
who are in need of counseling or urgent help should call the on-campus Counseling and
Wellness Center (352-392-1575; http://www.counseling.ufl.edu/cwc/).
COURSE FORMAT
Synthesis Essays: You will write 14 analytical essays that synthesize, compare, and contrast our
primary texts. The essays will be 5 pages in length. Each essay will be an assessment of
historical content as well as the historiographical contribution of each text.
Class Participation: Participation in discussion seminars is an important element of the course
because it is a place where significant learning occurs. Discussions will be run as research
seminars. Seminar discussions will focus on the primary text of the week as well as the book
review.
Book Review: Each student will give an oral presentation in seminar of a major novel focusing
on African American history. The instructor will assign these novels.
Final Essay: Each student will write a 25-page essay on the historiographical development of the
field of African American history. Students will work individually with the instructor to develop
this paper.
Attendance Policy: Unexcused absences will result in a reduction of grade.
Grading: Synthesis essays, 50%; Book review, 10%; Historiographical essay, 30%; Class
participation 10%.
Office Hours: Mondays/Wednesdays from 12:00 to 1:30 at 241 Pugh Hall. I am available to
meet outside of these times by appointment. My cell phone is 831-334-0131 and my office phone
is 273-1545.
Required Texts:
August Wilson, Gem of the Ocean; W.E.B. Du Bois, Black Reconstruction; Paul Ortiz,
Emancipation Betrayed; Hannah Rosen, Terror in the Heart of Freedom: Citizenship, Sexual
Violence, and the Meaning of Race in the Postemancipation South; Ian Haney-Lopez, White by
Law: The Legal Construction of Race; Michele Mitchell, Righteous Propagation: African
Americans and the Politics of Racial Destiny after Reconstruction; Leslie Brown, Upbuilding
Black Durham: Gender, Class, and Black Community Development in the Jim Crow South
Gerald Horne, Black and Brown: African Americans and the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920
Minkah Makalini, In the Cause of Freedom: Radical Black Internationalism from Harlem to
London; C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins; Danielle McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street:
Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa
Parks to the Rise of Black Power; Charles Payne, I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing
Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle; Michael Honey, Going Down Jericho Road:
The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign; Walter Mosley, Always
Outnumbered, Always Outgunned
Syllabus and Reading List
WEEK OF AUGUST 27: CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION, I
Primary reading: August Wilson, Gem of the Ocean
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 3: CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION, II
Primary reading: W.E. B. Du Bois, Black Reconstruction
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 10: DEMOCRACY & DISENFRANCHISEMENT
Primary reading: Paul Ortiz, Emancipation Betrayed
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 17: SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND CITIZENSHIP
Primary reading: Hannah Rosen, Terror in the Heart of Freedom: Citizenship, Sexual Violence,
and the Meaning of Race in the Postemancipation South
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 24: LEGAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF RACE
Primary reading: Ian Haney-Lopez, White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race
WEEK OF OCTOBER 1: GENDER AND BLACK NATIONALISM
Primary reading: Michele Mitchell, Righteous Propagation: African Americans and the Politics
of Racial Destiny after Reconstruction
WEEK OF OCTOBER 8: INSTITUTION BUILDING AND JIM CROW
Primary reading: Leslie Brown, Upbuilding Black Durham: Gender, Class, and Black
Community Development in the Jim Crow South
WEEK OF OCTOBER 15: THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION
Primary reading: Gerald Horne, Black and Brown: African Americans and the Mexican
Revolution, 1910-1920
WEEK OF OCTOBER 22: BLACK INTERNATIONALISM
Primary reading: Minkah Makalini, In the Cause of Freedom: Radical Black Internationalism
from Harlem to London
WEEK OF OCTOBER 29: THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION
Primary reading: C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 5: ORIGINS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Primary reading: Danielle McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and
Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black
Power
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 11: FREEDOM MOVEMENT IN THE DELTA
Primary reading: Charles Payne, I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and
the Mississippi Freedom Struggle
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 26: THE MEMPHIS SANITATION WORKERS’ STRIKE
Primary reading: Michael Honey, Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin
Luther King's Last Campaign
WEEK OF DECEMBER 3: POST-CIVIL RIGHTS AMERICA
Primary reading: Walter Mosley, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned