History of American Slavery
HIST S138/ AFAM S287
Professor Edward Rugemer
Office: 81 Wall Street #202
Email: edward.rugemer@yale.edu
Class meetings: MWF 9-11:15
Class Location:
Office hours: Monday 11:30-1:30
Course Description:
Most people are familiar with racial slavery as it existed in the American South before the Civil
War, yet slavery has been a part of most human societies since at least ancient Babylon, and
slavery persists in our world today, now typically known as human trafficking. This course will
introduce this history through primary texts, historical monographs, film, and prints. We will
begin with some of the theories on the origins of slavery, definitions of slavery, the emergence
of racial slavery, the slave societies of the Caribbean and North America, the transatlantic slave
trade, nineteenth century abolitionism, the emancipations of the nineteenth century; the final
weeks of the course will explore persistence of slavery in the twentieth century and into our
own time. The course will be organized into a series of seminar discussions, as well as class
visits to some of Yale’s libraries that hold collections documenting slavery’s history, including
the Beinecke Library, the British Art Center, and the Department of Manuscripts in the Sterling
Library.
Required texts
Kevin Bales and Zoe Trodd, To Plead Our Own Cause: Personal Stories by Today’s Slaves
(2008)
David Blight, Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including their Own
Narratives of Emancipation (2009)
T.H.Breen and Stephen Innes, “Myne Owne Ground”: Race and Freedom on Virginia’s
Eastern Shore, 1640-1676 (2004).
David B. Davis, Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World (2006).
Natalie Zemon Davis, Slaves on Screen: Film and Historical Vision (2000).
Trevor Burnard, Mastery, Tyranny & Desire: Thomas Thistlewood and His Slaves in the
Anglo-Jamaican World (2004)
Stephanie Smallwood, Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American
Diaspora (2007).
Robert J. Allison, ed., The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano (2007).
Eric Foner, Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and Its Legacy (1983).
David Oshinsky, Worse than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice
(1997)
Films
Burn!
Amistad
Starring Marlon Brando and directed by Gillo Pontecorvo (1969)
Starring Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, and Djimon Hounsou; directed by
Stephen Spielberg (1997)
Schedule of Topics and Readings
Most class meetings will revolve around discussions of the designated topic based upon the
assigned reading. There will also be three in-class film screenings.
July 8 (M)
Slavery from Ancient times to the Atlantic World
Reading: Davis, Inhuman Bondage, chps. 2-5.
July 10 (W)
The Emergence of Racial Slavery in 17th Century Virginia
Reading: Breen and Innes, “Myne Owne Ground”
July 12 (F)
Slave Insurrection
Viewing of Burn! (1969)
July 15 (M)
Slavery in Jamaica
Visit to the Beinecke Library
Reading: Burnard, Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire.
July 17 (W)
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Reading: Smallwood, Saltwater Slavery
July 19 (F)
MID-TERM EXAM
July 22 (M)
Abolitionist Prints of the 1780s from the Yale British Art Center
Visit by Gillian Forrester, print curator at YBCA
Reading: Equiano, Narrative; Davis, Inhuman Bondage, chp. 12
July 24 (W)
Slavery in the Long 19th Century
Reading: Davis, Inhuman Bondage, chps. 7-10.
July 26 (F)
Slavery and the American Civil War
Visit to the Department of Archives and Manuscripts, Sterling Library
Reading: Blight, Slave No More
July 29 (M)
Postemancipation Societies
Reading: Foner, Nothing But Freedom
July 31 (W)
Viewing of Amistad (1997) [Class will run slightly over today]
Reading, Davis, Inhuman Bondage, chp. 1.
Aug 2 (F)
Slavery in Feature Films
Reading, Davis, Slaves on Screen
Aug 5 (M)
Twentieth century slavery
Reading: Oshinsky, “Worse Than Slavery”
Aug 7 (W)
Twenty-First Century Slavery
Viewing of Not My Life
Reading, To Plead Our Own Cause, pp. 1-19; 98-102; 140-158; 175-180;
219-221; 228-234.
Aug 9 (F)
FINAL EXAM
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Participation and Attendance
I encourage everyone to actively participate in our discussions! This is the best part of learning.
Participation begins with a personal reflection of about 250 words on the assigned reading, and
if appropriate, the film/discussion of the previous meeting. This brief piece of writing is due, on
the Forum section of the Classes V2 Server, by midnight of the day before our class meets.
Laptops are not permitted during seminar discussions.
Note on missed reflections – students may skip one reflection without penalty.
Attendance is mandatory; exceptions include a death in the family or bed-ridden illness; a
Dean’s note is required in order to be excused.
Exams
Both the Mid-Term and the Final Exam will be taken in class, both will be essays.
Grading
Final grades will be based upon four elements of your performance: (1) the mid-term exam, (2)
the final exam, and (3) attendance, (4) the quality of participation in the discussions, which
includes writings on the Classes Server. Final grades will be calculated based on the following
formula:
Attendance
Participation
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
10%
30%
20%
40%
Final grades will be calculated on a four point scale: A 4, A- 3.67, B+ 3.33, B 3, B- 2.67, C+
2.33, C 2, C- 1.67, D+ 1.33, D 1.00, D-.67, F 0. See page 30 of the YPCS (pdf. version)
(http://yalecollege.yale.edu/content/yale-college-programs-study-o)
Academic Honesty
I take academic honesty very seriously. All written work must be the original creation of the
student. Nothing may be copied from other publications, the internet, or another student’s work.
For Yale’s policies on academic honesty see:
http://yalecollege.yale.edu/content/academic-honesty and follow the appropriate links.