The American South (HS 3680)
Time: MW (11:00-12:15)
Room: SED 309
Office Hours: MW 1:00-3:00; TR 11:00-12:00
Dr. Tom Ward
Office: SED 103
Phone: 501-4817
Tom.Ward@Rockhurst.edu
Introduction
This course will trace the social, political, economic and cultural developments of the American
South from European settlement to the present. Students should be prepared to discuss the day’s readings and any videos that are shown in class. Personal opinions and perspectives are both welcomed and desired in the class discussions; however, students are expected to know the issues and interpretations presented in the readings and the lectures.
There is a course web page where copies of your syllabus, assignments, PowerPoint presentations, images and announcements are all located. The course web page can be accessed through my website: http://cte.rockhurst.edu/wardt/ . Course materials are also available on Isabel, in the HS3680 folder.
Required Texts
Steven V. Ash, A Year in the South, 1865
Catherine Clinton, The Plantation Mistress
Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul
Edward J. Larson, Summer for the Gods
Timothy B. Tyson, Blood Done Sign My Name
Additional required readings on electronic library reserve
Course Requirements
History is a written discipline, and, in accordance with Rockhurst’s written communication proficiency requirements, students will be expected to produce three book reviews, complete two book review tests, and two essay exams. Student papers will be graded not only on their content, analysis, and interpretation of the readings, but also for proper grammar and style. Students will also be assessed upon both the quantity and quality of their class discussions and questions. The professor reserves the right to give pop quizzes regarding the daily readings which will factor into the participation grade.
The breakdown of a student’s final grade is as follows:
Book Reviews (3) 30% (3x10%)
Book Tests (2)
Participation
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
Grading Policy:
A = 93-100
20% (2x10%)
10%
20% February 23
20% Mon., May 9, 10:30am-12:30pm
C+ = 77-79
A-
B+
B
B-
=
=
=
=
90-92
87-89
83-86
80-82
C
C-
D+
D
=
=
=
=
73-76
70-72
67-69
60-66
F = 59>0
All students are expected to adhere to Rockhurst’s Academic Honesty Policy (catalogue, p. 236-
238). Failure to adhere to this policy will result in either a reduction in the student’s grade or in failure of the class, depending on the severity of the offence.
Attendance and late work:
Regular attendance in mandatory; extreme or excessive tardiness may be recorded as absence at my discretion. Those who miss more than four classes will have ten points deducted from their final participation grade for each additional absence. Late work will be penalized at the rate of five points per day, so get all assignments in on time. No written assignments will be accepted after graded work has been turned back to the class.
Please turn off all cell phones and beepers before entering the classroom.

Students with Disabilities:
Students that have a disability that might affect their work, in or out of class, should contact Sandy
Waddell, Director of the Access Office (109 Massman, 501-4689).
Schedule
January 12
January 17
January 19
January 24
January 26
Introduction—What is the South?
Reed, “The South: What is it? Where is it?” (Handout)
MLK Holiday—NO Classes
Colonists and Indians in the Southland
Garcilasio de la Vega, “On Hernando de Soto’s Expedition” (Reserve)
Powhatan, “Address to John Smith” (Reserve)
John Smith, “Description of Indian Life and Culture” (Reserve)
Pierre Le Moyne, “Journal Entries” (Reserve)
The Colonial South in Turmoil
The Southern Colonial Economy
Usner, “Trade and Settlement in the Lower Mississippi Valley” (Reserve)
January 31 From Servitude to Slavery
Book Test #1—Soul by Soul
February 2 The South and the American Revolution
Frey, “The Impact of African American Resistance…” (Reserve)
February 7
February 9
The Rise of King Cotton
Planters and Yeoman
Charles Bolton, “Edward Isham and the World of Poor Whites” (Reserve)
February 14 Antebellum Society
February 16 Book Review #1—Clinton, The Plantation Mistress
February 21 NO CLASS
February 23 The Rise of Sectionalism
James Henry Hammond, “The Mudsill Speech” (Reserve)
Dred Scott v. Sandford (Justice Taney’s opinion) (Reserve)
Thornton Stringfellow, “The Bible Argument” (Reserve)
February 28 Secession
March 2 MIDTERM EXAM
SPRING BREAK
March 14
March 16
March 21
March 23
The War in the South
Reconstruction and Resistance
Book Review #1—Ash, A Year in the South
Sharecropping
Wiener, “Bound Labor in Southern Agriculture” (Reserve)
Neil R. McMillen, “Farmers Without Land” (Reserve)
The Rise of Jim Crow
Leon Litwack, from Trouble in Mind , p. 283-312 (Library Reserve)
March 28
March 30
NO CLASS—EASTER BREAK
The Revolt of the Farmers
C. Vann Woodward, “The Unredeemed Farmer” (reserve)

April 4
April 6
From Farm to Mill—The Industrialization of the New South
Hall, et. al., “The Lives and Labors of the Cotton Mill People” (reserve)
Southern Progressivism—For Whites Only?
William Link, “The Paradox of Southern Progressivism” (Reserve)
April 11 Snopes to Scopes—Culture and Religion in the New South
Book Test #2—Larson, Summer for the Gods
April 13
April 18
April 20
The Depression and New Deal in the South
WWII—The War that Drove Ol’ Dixie Down?
Cobb, “World War II and the Mind of the Modern South” (Reserve)
Brown and Montgomery
C. Vann Woodward, “The Man on the Cliff” (Reserve)
April 25 The Civil Rights Movement
Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (Reserve)
April 27 The Impact of the Civil Rights Movement
Book Review #3 Due—Tyson, Blood Done Sign My Name
May 2
May 9
Dixie Rising—The South in Modern American
Reed, “New South or No South?” (Reserve)
FINAL EXAM 10:30am-12:30 pm