HIST 6894: INDEPENDENT STUDY ON THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE DEEP SOUTH
SPRING 2019
Instructor: Dr. Karen L. Cox
Email: kcox@uncc.edu (email is the best way to set up a meeting given our class time)
Office Hours: Before or after class and by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course offers an exploration of the history and culture of Mississippi and Louisiana, with an emphasis on Natchez, Mississippi, a town perched on the bluffs of the Mississippi River. Natchez was the home of Hiram Revels, the first black U.S. Senator in American history, and the birthplace of Richard Wright, author of Black Boy and Native Son. Natchez has also been the site of several movie productions. The course will examine the history of Deep South through this small town, which loomed large in the world of plantation agriculture, the domestic slave trade, the Civil War, and civil rights. Like short-term “study abroad” classes, students will visit Natchez and Deep South locales over spring break to see that history firsthand. The trip, which is a required part of the course, will incur travel costs ($900) to defray the expense of transportation, lodging, and admission to museums and other sites, in addition to tuition. (*Please note that the cost of travel to and from Natchez is not included.) Students will also have an opportunity to work with primary source material from the Historic Natchez Foundation for their papers. Day trips are planned to a working cotton plantation, historic houses, National Park Service sites (including Vicksburg Military Park), and among other sites.
GRADING POLICY
Grading for this course is based on a 10-point scale, such that (A=90-100; B=80-89; C=70-79, and so on). However, individual papers will be graded on a +/- scale and provided with a numerical grade, based on the following (A+=98-100; A=94-97; A-=90-93; B+=88-89; B=84-87, and so on). Thus, your course average could be a 90, but would appear on your transcript as simply an “A.”
BOOKS
Walter Johnson, River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom
Neil R. McMillen, Dark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow
Karen L. Cox, Goat Castle: A True Story of Murder, Race, and the Gothic South
Jack E. Davis, Race Against Time: Culture and Separation in Natchez Since 1930
Additional readings sent as zip file
ASSIGNMENTS
Class Discussion 15%
Book Reviews (4 @ 15%) 60%
Final Paper 25%
SCHEDULE
January 15: FIRST DAY OF CLASS–Introduction, expectations, discussion of the Spring Break trip. Why Natchez, Mississippi?
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE
January 22: Undergraduates
Reading Assignment: Narrative of Henry Watson, 5-17 (https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/watson/watson.html)
“Forks of the Road,” http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/47/the-forks-of-the-road-slave-market-at-natchez
Article: Baptist, “Cuffy, Fancy Maids, and One-Eyed Men”
DUE: Journal assignment (see instructions)
January 29: Graduates
Main reading Assignment: River of Dark Dreams, Book Review Due
Additional reading: Undergraduate reading assignments plus “The Troubled Legacy of Isaac Franklin” and Rothman, “Cotton Capitalism”
JIM CROW & CIVIL RIGHTS
February 5: Undergraduates–Lecture notes on Jim Crow
Reading Assignment: Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi
DUE: Journal assignment on the book
February 12: Graduates
Reading Assignment: Dark Journey, Book Review Due
Additional Reading: “Resistance Begins at Home”
February 19: No Class–ALL STUDENTS REQUIRED to attend Dr. Cox’s Personally Speaking talk on Goat Castle. Register here.
Graduates: Email copy of your review of the book prior to attending the talk
Undergraduates: Email your journal assignment on the book prior to the talk
February 26: Brief meeting of class prior to trip; Graduate Students will stay to discuss Race Against Time and “Making Place, Making Race” and “Revisiting the Natchez Pilgrimage”
Remembering Natchez and the Old South
SPRING BREAK TRAVEL
March 2-9: Trip to Natchez, MS
HOME STRETCH
March 12: No Class; Graduate student meeting at a place TBD
March 19: Midterm for Undergraduates
March 26: Graduate student meetings with Dr. Cox to discuss final papers (submit proposal in advance)
April 2: No Class
April 9: Undergraduates meetings with Dr. Cox to discuss final paper topic (submit proposal in advance)
April 16: Rough drafts of graduate papers due
April 23: Undergraduates should send rough drafts. Dr. Cox available to students to discuss final papers and provide feedback.
April 30: LAST DAY OF CLASS: Undergraduate final papers due.
May 9: FINAL EXAM for Undergraduates