THE RISE AND FALL OF ATLANTIC SLAVERY
FWIS 167
Rice University
Ben Wright
bgw1@rice.edu
832-887-6419
Spring, 2013
Wednesdays 1pm – 4pm
Wiess College 146
Course Description
This writing-intensive course will use tools in the digital humanities to explore the rise and fall of Atlantic
slavery through a transnational study of the Atlantic World, beginning with the fifteenth-century European
incursions into Africa and culminating in the nineteenth-century abolition movements. Students will learn to
study the past in terms beyond the boundaries of nation-states. The practice of slavery transformed Africa,
Europe, and the Americas. We live with the aftershocks of this institution today, and students will be
encouraged to understand the global present as the legacy of a global past. Interspersed throughout the
semester, we will focus on five key writing skills, including mastery of grammar, concision, argument,
structure, and, most importantly, rewriting. Through a series of structured, progressive writing assignments,
the students will work with digital technologies to conduct research, improve their writing, and present their
work by constructing a collaborative website.
Throughout the semester, we will create a WordPress website. You may access our course site here at
http://riseandfallofslavery.wordpress.com/.
Grading
Assignments
Participation
Weekly blog
Blog comments
Timeline
Online Archive
Wikipedia Historiography
Modern Slavery Reflection
Final Paper
Peer edits
5%
10%
5%
15%
15%
10%
10%
25%
5%
Grading Scale
100-93
92- 90
89-88
87-83
82-80
79-78
77-73
72-70
69-60
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD
Readings
Most of our readings will be available online through the library website. You may use the hyperlinks
provided in this syllabus on any computer that is logged into Fondren. You will only need to purchase
three books. Please order them online as soon as possible.
David BrionDavis, Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2006).
Kevin Bales, Disposable Peoples: New Slavery in the Global Economy (Berkeley: University Press of
California, 2004).
Simon Schama, Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves, and the American Revolution (New York: Harper
Collins, 2006).
All other readings will be available online or in course readings binders. Two copies of the course readings
binders will be available, one in the History Department Office, on the third floor of the Humanities
Building and another at course reserves desk in Fondren Library.
Please bring the week’s readings to class, so we can refer to them together. Also feel free to bring
newspaper or magazine stories about slavery that inspire questions or comments that require cultural or
historical framing.
A Note on Disabilities
Any student with a disability requiring accommodations in this course is encouraged to contact me after
class or during office hours. Additionally, students also need to contact Disability Support Services in the
Allen Center Room 111.
Honor Code
Rice University’s Honor Code applies on all assignments. You are not forced, however, to work in isolation.
In fact, I encourage you to share ideas with one another, and critique drafts of classmates’ work. Your final
drafts, though, must be your own work, not the work of your classmates or copied from another source.
Learning Goals - students will
-
understand the role of writing and communication in the learning process and in academic life.
analyze, synthesize, organize, and respond to college level materials
communicate correctly and effectively in writing and in speech
understand writing as a process
learn to use the work of others and to offer proper citation
articulate oral arguments and respond to the arguments of others in discussions and presentations
Center for Written, Oral, and Visual Communication
Students are highly encouraged to make appointments with the consultants at the Center (Fondren
Library, second floor). These consultants provide feedback on organization, argument coherence, style,
and grammar. You can make an appointment at cwovc.rice.edu.
Description of Assignments
Participation
Students are expected to arrive to every class on time. Absences will not be tolerated unless a student has
made prior arrangements with the instructor. This is a discussion-based seminar and accordingly is
dependent upon all of us coming prepared to share our ideas and to respond constructively to one another.
Discussions
Rather than having the instructor dictate the topics of discussion, this course will focus on the issues that
are most important to you. In order to do so, each student will post a weekly blog entry, no later than
midnight before class. These 100-200 word posts should demonstrate that you have read and reflected on
the reading material. Each student will also be required to write at least one comment on at least two other
posts. Comments which do not show the respect expected in a learning community will be taken down
from the website and credit will not be given. We will begin each week with a discussion of your posts and
comments so come prepared to discuss your ideas. Other historians at Rice and elsewhere will also read
our website and contribute to our discussion.
Subtopics
Each student will select their own subtopic from the following list. Students cannot share a subtopic. The
remaining assignments will require students to focus on their subtopic.
Religion
Economics
Technology and Science
Women and Gender
Diplomacy and War
Children and Family
Slave Resistance
Environment and Medicine
Middle Passage
Slave Life
Slavery Debates
Native Americans
Law
Literature and Print Culture
Racial Ideology
Timeline
We will create a digital timeline on the rise and fall of Atlantic slavery using JS Timeline. Each student will
be responsible for creating 15 timeline entries related to their subtopic. Each entry will include a brief 1-3
sentence description of the event and its significance.
Archive
Using a Tumblr account, each student will create an archive of at least 6 primary sources related to their
subtopic. Each document will be accompanied by a brief, 100-150 word description.
Wikipedia Historiography
Using the “View History” function of Wikipedia, students will write a 500-700 word historiography of a
Wikipedia page relevant to their subtopic.
Modern Slavery
Students will write a 500-700 word paper connecting their subtopic to modern slavery.
Final Paper
Students will write a 2,500-3,000 word paper that answers a historical question related to their subtopic
by using the sources they identified in their archive.
Course Schedule
WEEK ONE
Wed 1/9:
INTRODUCTION
•
WEEK TWO
Wed 1/16:
Syllabus
TRADITIONS OF SLAVERY
•
•
Davis, Inhuman Bondage, pp. 27-47
Mungo Park, et al, “The Slave Trade Within Africa,” in David Northrup, ed. The
Atlantic Slave Trade, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. pp. 31-63.
Five timeline entries
Due 1/20 midnight
WEEK THREE
Wed 1/23:
RACE AND RACISM
•
•
Davis, Inhuman Bondage, pp. 48-76.
Smith, Mark. How Race is Made: Slavery, Segregation, and the Senses Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 2006. pp. 11-28.
Two archive items
Due 1/27 midnight
WEEK FOUR
Wed 1/30:
ORIGINS OF THE SLAVE TRADE
•
•
WEEK FIVE
WED 2/6:
Davis, Inhuman Bondage, 77-102.
Eric Williams, “Economics, Not Racism as the Root of Slavery,” in David Northrup, ed.
The Atlantic Slave Trade, Second Edition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002), pp. 2-7.
SLAVERY IN THE CARIBBEAN AND BRAZIL
Davis, Inhuman Bondage, pp. 103-123.
Christopher Schmidt-Nowara, “Slavery and Iberian Colonization,” in Slavery, Freedom,
and Abolition in Latin America and the Atlantic World (Albequerque: New Mexico
University Press, 2011), pp. 9-47.
• Thomas Gage’s Travels in the New World. Eric S. Thompson, ed. (Norman OK:
University of Oklahoma Press), pp. 215-219.
Wikipedia history
Due 2/10 midnight
WEEK SIX
•
•
SLAVERY IN COLONIAL NORTH AMERICA
Wed 2/13:
• Davis, Inhuman Bondage, pp. 124-140.
• Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano. (begin)
Five timeline entries
Due 2/17 midnight
WEEK SEVEN
SLAVERY AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Wed 2/20:
• Davis, Inhuman Bondage, pp. 141-156.
• Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano. (finish)
Two archive items
Due 2/24 midnight
* SPRING BREAK *
WEEK EIGHT
MODERN SLAVERY
Wed 3/6:
•
Bales, Kevin. Disposable Peoples: New Slavery in the Global Economy. Berkeley:
University Press of California, 2004. Excerpts.
Modern slavery presentation
in class
Modern slavery essay
Due 3/10 midnight
WEEK NINE
HAITIAN REVOLUTION
Wed 3/13:
• Davis, Inhuman Bondage, pp. 157-174.
Five timeline entries
WEEK TEN
BRITISH AND AMERICAN ANTISLAVERY
Wed 3/20:
• Davis, Inhuman Bondage, pp. 231-267.
Two archive items
WEEK ELEVEN
Wed 3/27:
Due 3/17 midnight
Due 3/24 midnight
SLAVE RESISTANCE IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTION
•
•
Davis, Inhuman Bondage, 193-230.
Reis, João José. Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993. pp. 40-69
Research question
Due 3/27 in class
WEEK TWELVE
Wed 4/3:
COLONIZATIONIST MOVEMENTS
•
Schama, Simon. Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves, and the American Revolution.
London: BBC Books, 2005. Part Two. pp. 255-383.
Final paper outline
Due 4/7 midnight
WEEK THIRTEEN
NINETEENTH CENTURY SLAVE LIFE
Wed 4/10:
• Davis, Inhuman Bondage, pp. 193-204.
• Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Chapters 1-10.
Final paper rough draft
Due 4/14 midnight
WEEK FOURTEEN
Wed 4/17:
EMANCIPATIONS
Davis, Inhuman Bondage, pp. 297-331.
Helg, Aline. “Abolition and Afro-Latin Americans.” in Thomas H. Holloway, ed. A
Companion to Latin American History. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2008, pp. 247-263
Final paper peer edit
Due 4/19 midnight
FINAL PAPER
•
•
Due 5/1 5pm
Links
Documenting the American South (UNC-Chapel Hill)
http://docsouth.unc.edu/
Voyages Transatlantic Slave Trade Database (Emory)
http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/resources/images.faces
Samuel May Collection (Cornell)
http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/mayantislavery/
Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/topics/
The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas (UVA)
http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/search.html
United States National Archives
http://docsteach.org/documents
Gilder Lehrman Institute
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/collections
Biblioteca Virtual Nacional of the National Library of Portugal
http://purl.pt/index/livro/PT/index.html
ARTstor (Harvard)
http://library.artstor.org/library/welcome.html
Slavery, Abolition, and Social Justice
http://www.slavery.amdigital.co.uk.ezproxy.rice.edu/Contents/Default.aspx