Important Course Policies
All assignments must be submitted in the form of both hard and electronic copies (e-mail them to me as .pdf, .doc, or .docx files).
All late work will be penalized by at least one letter grade. No late work will be accepted following the final examination.
Any documented case of academic dishonesty on any assignment will result not only in a failing grade for the assignment in question but also in a failing grade for the course as a whole. Please remember that, as the University's policy states, "Plagiarism can be deliberate or negligent; students are responsible for ensuring that any work submitted with their name on it is properly referenced." If you have questions about how to cite material properly, refer to the appropriate sections of the MLA Style Manual or Chicago Manual of Style--if you have questions as to whether particular pieces of material should be cited, ask me. Note that submitting work that you have previously submitted (or plan to submit) for credit in another course is also a form of academic dishonesty, unless you obtain explicit approval from both instructors to do so. For this course, no such double submission is allowed. Please note that your papers may be submitted to turnitin.com to check their content for plagiarism.
Accessing Shared Documents on MyJCU and Other Course Readings
1. Go to the internal web site (MY JCU).
2. After you have logged in, click on the course post-it for Fall 2019, HS RS 320. Then click on shared files.
3. Please note that handouts in the form of pdf documents may not open with some internet browsers (in particular there seem to be incompatibilities with Chrome). If a source doesn't open, try another browser; if the problem persists please e-mail me.
4. Be sure to check the handouts page frequently for changes and updates. Similarly, I will post messages on the MyJCU board should I need to contact you in between class meetings (e.g., in the case of an unexpected class cancellation).
5. All other course readings are either in the form of the books listed above or available on-line through the links on this syllabus.
6. J-Stor Readings--While on campus, you should be able to access these readings simply by clicking on the links on the syllabus. On the page that appears, you can find links to download the full article as a PDF file or to print it out. Off-campus you may need to go to the website for the Frohring Library, click on the link for "Databases" and "J-Stor" and then if need be search for the article manually.
Course Schedule (Please note that the following is subject to change--any updates will be made to the on-line syllabus, available on the University's webpage: http://www.johncabot.edu/academics/courses/course-schedules-syllabi.aspx.) LAST UPDATE October 26
Sept. 3 Introductions: Freedom, Slavery, and the “West”
Sept. 5 The Problem and Some of Its Dimensions
Davis, 1-26 (Prologue, Chapter 1)
Sept. 10 What is Slavery? (And a First Look at Ancient Foundations)
Davis, 27-47 (Chapter 2)
Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social Death, 1-14 (Shared Files, MyJCU)
Recommended: Patterson, Slavery and Social Death, 17-34
Sept. 12 “Out of the House of Slavery”: The Ancient Near East and the Birth of Judaism
“The Code of Hammurabi”
Leviticus (25: 35-55)
Genesis (9:18-27; 17: 1-42)
Exodus, (Chs. 1-21)
Nehemiah, (Ch. 5)
Job, (Ch. 31)
Jeremiah, (Ch. 34)
Sirach (Ch. 33)
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Recommended: Deuteronomy, (Ch. 15), 2 Kings (4:1-7)
Sept. 17 Greek Liberties and Natural Slaves: Slavery and the Birth of Philosophy, Pt I
Dubois, "Slavery in Greece," 78-84 (Shared Files, MyJCU)
Hesiod, Works and Days (excerpts)
Strabo, Geographia (excerpts)
Antiphon, On the Choreutes (excerpts)
Demosthenes, Against Timocrates (excerpts)
Plato, Laws (excerpts)
Plato, Republic (excerpts)
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Recommended: Lassopoulos, "Greek Slavery: From Domination to Property and Back Again," 115-130 (Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41722136)
Sept. 19 Greek Liberties and Natural Slaves: Slavery and the Birth of Philosophy, Pt II
Aristotle, Politics (excerpts) (Shared Files, MyJCU)
Reaction Paper 1 Due
Sept. 20 OFFICIAL JCU FRIDAY MAKE-UP--“Our Fellow Slaves”: Sophists, Cynics, Stoics and Slavery
Dio Chrysostom, Slavery and Freedom
Horace, Satires (excerpts)
Seneca, The Tranquility of the Mind (excerpts)
Seneca, Letters (excerpts)
Seneca, On Benefits (excerpts)
Aulus Geliius, Attic Nights (excerpts)
Macrobius, Saturnalia (excerpts)
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Sept. 24 Defining Bondage: Roman Slavery and Roman Law
Twelve Tables of Law
Justinian, Digest (excerpts)
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Sept. 26 Contesting Liberty: Cicero vs. Spartacus
Cicero, The Second Philippic (excerpts)
Sources for the Three Slave Revolts
Recommended: Tacitus, “The Murder of Pedanius Secundus”
Recommended: Pliny the Younger, “Letter XXXIII"
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Oct. 1 The Bondage of Sin: Early Christianity and Slavery
Matthew, Chs. 24-25
John, Ch. 8
Romans, 6:15-23 and Ch. 8
1 Corinthians, Ch. 7
Galatians, Chs. 3-5
Colossians, 3:22-4:1
Titus, 2: 9-13
1 Timothy, 6: 1-2
Philippians, 2: 5-12
1 Peter, 2: 18-21
Philemon
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Oct. 3 Spiritual Freedom, Bodily Constraint: Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (excerpts) (Shared Files, MyJCU)
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Oct. 8 The Roots of Racial Slavery in the Americas
Davis, 48-102 (Chapters 3-4)
Oct. 10 Domestici Hostes and Dying Slaves: Slavery and the Renaissance Pt. 1
McKee, "Domestic Slavery in Renaissance Italy," 305-326 (Academic Search Premier)
http://search.ebscohost.com.jcu.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=34555294&site=ehost-liv
Vergerius, “The New Education” (Shared Files, MyJCU)
Machiavelli, “The Ancients and Liberty” (Shared Files, MyJCU)
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Preliminary Bibliography and Paragraph Outlining Research Topic Due
Oct. 15 Natural Slaves or Natural Christians: Slavery and the Renaissance, Pt. 2
Davis, "The Legitimacy of Enslavement and the Ideal of the Christian Servant: Moral Doubts and Rationalizations," 165-196 (Shared Files, MyJCU)
Sepúlveda, Democrates Secundus (excerpts)
Las Casas, In Defense of the Indians (excerpts)
Las Casas, A Short Account of the History of the Indies (excerpts)
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Oct. 17 Slavery in the Colonial Americas
Davis, 103-140 (Chapters 5-6)
Oct. 22 “A State of Perfect Freedom?”: John Locke, Political Liberty and Colonial Slavery
Locke, Two Treatises of Government (excerpts)
The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Oct. 24 The Sin of Bondage: Religious Radicalism and Antislavery Thought, I
Davis, "Religious Sources of Antislavery Thought: Quakers and the Sectarian Tradition," 291-332 (Shared Files, MyJCU)
John Woolman, “Journal,” Excerpts (Shared Files, MyJCU)
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Oct. 29 Persistent Shadows: The Enlightenment and Slavery
Condorcet, Reflections on Negro Slavery (Excerpts)
Encyclopédie, “Slave Trade” and “Slavery”
Raynal, Philosophical and Political History (Excerpts)
Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Excerpts)
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Oct. 31 The Ambivalence of Freedom, I: The American Revolution and Slavery
Davis, 141-156 (Chapter 7)
Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia
“The Hyper-text Declaration of Independence”
U.S. Constitution, Article I, Sections 2 and 9
“‘Natural and Inalienable Right to Freedom’: Slaves’ Petition for Freedom to the Massachusetts Legislature, 1777”
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Nov. 5 The Ambivalence of Freedom, II: The French and Haitian Revolutions and Slavery
Davis, 157-174 (Chapter 8)
“Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen”
Sonthonax "Decree of General Liberty and Insurgent Responses to Emancipation"
“Toussaint Louverture's Constitution of 1801”
Toussaint Louverture's “Dictatorial Proclamation” (1801)
“Haitian Declaration of Independence”
Brown, "St. Domingo"
Recommended: Jean-François and Biassou, "Letters to the Commissioners, 1791)
Recommended: National Convention, "The Abolition of Slavery"
Recommended: Jefferson, "Letters on the Haitian Revolution"
Recommended: Douglass, "Lecture on Haiti (1893)"
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Research Presentations
Last Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Nov. 7 Slavery as a Problem in the Antebellum U.S.
Davis, 176-204 (Chapters 9-10)
Calhoun, "Slavery as a Positive Good"
Fitzhugh, Cannibals All (excerpts)
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Research Presentations
Nov. 12 Slave Revolts and Antislavery
Davis, 205-230 (Chapter 11)
Gray, The Confessions of Nat Turner (excerpts)
"Reactions to Nat Turner's Revolt"
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Research Presentations
Nov. 14 Comparing British and U.S. Abolitionism--Same Problem, Different Solutions?
Davis, 231-267 (Chapters 12-13)
Heyrick, Immediate not Gradual Abolition (excerpts)
Garrison, "No Compromise with the Evil of Slavery"
Sojourner Truth, "Speech at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio"
Hathaway, "Preface from Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave"
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Research Presentations
Nov. 19 The Problem from a Slave’s Point of View, I
Douglass, 3-73
Recommended: Douglass, vii-xl
Research Presentations
Nov. 21 The Problem from a Slave’s Point of View, II
Douglass, 74-117
Recommended: Douglass, 119-137
Reaction Paper 3 Due
Research Presentations
Nov. 26 The U.S. Civil War and Emancipation: The End of the Problem?
Davis, 268-331 (Chapters 14-15, Epilogue) (Recommended for today's discussion, required by the end of the semester)
Lincoln, "House Divided Speech" (Required)
"The Emancipation Proclamation" (Required)
U.S. Constitution, 13th-15th Amendments (Required)
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Shared Files
Research Presentations
Dec. 3 and Dec. 5 Screening of Lars von Trier’s Manderlay (To Be Scheduled)
Final Draft of Paper Due--December 5
Final Exam--TBA (Final Exam Period December 9-13)