Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "HS-RS 320"
COURSE NAME: "The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Fall 2022

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Gene Ogle
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: TTH 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisites: One previous history course. Co-requisites: EN 110; Recommended: Junior Standing
OFFICE HOURS: TTh 10-11 a.m. or by appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
History Research Seminar: 300-level history courses designated by the prefix HS-RS indicate courses being offered as Research Seminars. These courses are writing-intensive and help to train students to carry out original research by guiding them through the preparation of a significant research paper. History majors are encouraged to take these before their senior year, and especially before the semester in which they prepare their thesis.
This intellectual history course examines one of the most profound paradoxes in the history of Western culture, i.e., the fact that the development of freedom as one of its most celebrated ideals has been intimately tied to the practice of slavery. Aristotle and Cicero owned slaves, as did Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. The eighteenth-century Atlantic World saw not only the Enlightenment, the American Revolution and the French Revolution, but also the high point of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In exploring the longer term history of this paradox, students will also investigate the place of slavery as an institution and an idea in the development of Western cultural, religious, intellectual, and political traditions.

Satisfies "Ancient History", "Early Modern History" or "Modern History" core course requirement for History majors.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

Few would argue with the assertion that “freedom” is one of the most celebrated values in Western cultures. Greek and Roman writers claimed that their freedom made them different from their neighbors and defined their social, cultural, and political lives. The most important Western religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—promised (and promise) liberation or true freedom. The philosophes of the Enlightenment celebrated the virtues of liberty as did the leaders of the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions. In the modern West, we claim that freedom is a fundamental right to which everyone is entitled simply as a result of being human. This concern with freedom is also central to Western educational traditions--the liberal arts, or liberal studies, are by definition those arts or studies which make one free, or, alternatively, those arts or studies appropriate to free women and free men. In sum, we can be tempted to believe that the West and freedom are coterminous.

However, taking a closer look highlights a profound paradox at the heart of Western celebrations of liberty--through most of the history of the West, freedom existed side-by-side with slavery. Even more disconcerting, the emergence of liberty as a core value was more often than not accompanied by the expansion and defense of slavery as an institution. Aristotle and Cicero owned slaves, as did Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. The eighteenth-century Atlantic World was the setting for not only the liberatory philosophies of the Enlightenment, but also the slave trade at its peak.

In this course we will explore this paradox. In doing so, we will investigate the place and development of slavery as both an idea and an institution in the development of Western cultural, religious, intellectual, and political traditions. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, by facing the problem of slavery, we will seek out a fuller and more complex understanding of the evolution of the idea of freedom in the West.

Class Sessions

This course will primarily be run as a seminar in which we discuss the assigned readings. As such, your active participation is absolutely necessary to making the course work well. The high percentage of your grade based on your participation reflects this fact.

A Note on How to Approach this Semester (and How I Am Doing So)

This semester will likely (or at least hopefully) be the first ‘normal’ one since the pandemic began. The University plans to maintain in-person classes throughout the semester and we will begin this course with the assumption that we will be able to do so.

Whatever may come, I am convinced that we will have a meaningful semester in which we all learn a lot, but doing so requires flexibility, consideration for one another, and self-discipline on all of our parts. We all may face learning curves as we go forward and we may make judgments that afterwards we would not make again (I hesitate to call such judgments mistakes as that suggests that we know that in advance, as opposed to being things we try and then learn from).

For these reasons, please know that the ways in which I am proposing structuring classroom sessions in this syllabus remain experimental and may change. Please share your thoughts on them and feel free to suggest approaches, ways of organizing discussions (in-person or on-line), or other activities that you believe may help you and your classmates to better engage with the course material. I cannot neglect my responsibility to set the rules for the game that is our course in ways that I believe best assure both academic rigor and fairness across the class, but you can be assured that I will value and carefully consider any suggestions you may make.

More generally, I am committed to the principle that my aims as an undergraduate history instructor should be to push (and to help) you to develop the skills, capacities, and modes of interpretation and understanding that will allow you to engage critically with the human past, the traces it has left, the ever-renewing knowledge we have of it, and its meanings for our present. My role is that of a ‘coach,’ not a performer playing a show or a talking head telling you what’s what (although sometimes I will suggest my understandings of that too). With this approach, you will without doubt learn more and develop abilities that are useful in other settings more fully than if I simply lectured and asked you to repeat that material on exams, and you will likely find what we do more interesting too. However, for this approach to work, you need to commit yourselves to the following:

1. Do the course reading on a timely basis. You absolutely must complete it before the class in which we are discussing it (if you can finish it even earlier and thus have a bit more time to think about it, that’s even better). At times this course will involve a significant amount of out-of-class reading. I know that this may be a challenge for some of you, but we collectively need an ample amount of solid material to work with to make our discussions meaningful. Also, do know that with practice you will develop your abilities to deal with larger amounts of reading in limited time frames. If you wish, we can talk more about how to do the reading and the kinds of things you should be looking for in doing it in class.

2. Maintain a respectful, professional tone in your interventions in our discussions, but don’t be afraid to experiment with ideas and interpretations out of fear that they may be controversial (just work on clearly expressing your reasoning). On this note, I think our discussions will function best if we all work on the assumption that each of us is openly and forthrightly attempting to grapple with the complexities and ambiguities of our shared human past and its relationship to our present (and as such that the things we say and write are never intended to harm or to insult). Engaging with that past often forces us to look at the many horrid and ugly things that humans have done to and thought about (and continue to do to and think about) one another, which can be a difficult and painful experience. Frank and open discussion is the best way both to seek to understand that past and to forge civil and tolerant ways of interacting and living with it and one another in the present.

3. Give credit where credit is due and be sure that all work you hand in is your own. I do not believe that point needs extensive discussion. Not only does plagiarism or any other form of cheating defeat the whole purpose of going to university to learn and to improve one’s abilities, it undermines the basic trust any community needs to learn and work together.

4. Try not to be too nervous about grades. We learn by practice, we all fall short of our aims sometimes, and we sometimes learn more from falling short than anything else. I purposefully keep many assignments fairly open in terms of the types of topics and arguments you may develop to give you the freedom to present your ideas and sharpen your abilities, and such freedom always entails risks. Know that I put mechanisms in place to weigh the improvement that you make over the course into the calculation of your final course grade.

5. Keep lines of communication open. If you have questions or concerns regarding any matters relating to the course, please do feel free to share them with me.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

In successfully completing this course, you should work on developing (and improving) the following competencies and skills:

An understanding of the of the complex relationship between slavery and freedom in Western cultures and traditions;
An awareness of the continuities in Western thought and cultural practice regarding the issues of liberty and bondage;
An understanding of some of the major modes of analysis historians and other scholars have used to interpret these topics;
Critical analysis of primary sources, including literary and intellectual texts;
Critical analysis of historians' and other scholarly arguments;
Researching historical subjects (i.e., finding and evaluating primary and secondary sources);
Developing well-reasoned, well-supported historical arguments;
Effectively communicating information, arguments and ideas orally and in writing in accurate, polished, and persuasive English.

TEXTBOOK:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Library Call Number	Comments	Format	Local Bookstore	Online Purchase
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (Critical Edition)	Frederick Douglass	Yale University Press	9780300204711		Available at the Almost Corner Bookshop.		Almost Corner Bookshop
Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World	David Brion Davis	Oxford University Press	9780195339444		Available at the Almost Corner Bookshop.		Almost Corner Bookshop

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
Participation	Your regular participation in our class discussions will be key to making this course work, and by actively participating not only will you learn more, you’ll develop useful communicative skills and likely find course material to be more interesting. Participation also counts for a significant portion of your final course grade, and it is the only component of that final course grade in which simple effort and regular activity translate directly into a high grade. What do you need to do for this? Simply do the discussion readings on time, be ready to talk about them, and engage regularly and actively in our in-class discussions.	20%
Reaction Papers (6-7) (1 1/2 to 2 double-spaced pages/350-500 words each)	In each of the reaction papers (approximately two double-spaced pages in length, and see the course schedule for due dates), you will develop a brief but coherent and well-supported argument regarding the readings for the day on which the paper is due. In these papers, you should not summarize the reading, but rather develop a main thought of your own building on those readings. Ways of developing such arguments include, but are not limited to: critiquing some part of the argument of a secondary source, testing some part of the argument of a secondary source through the analysis of a primary source, comparing and contrasting different readings, or developing a point made by one of the authors more fully and in doing so explaining more of what it may tell us about the subject under discussion. Your grade for these reaction papers will be determined by the strength and focus of your analysis, the persuasiveness of your argument (including quality of writing), and the originality of your thought.	40%
Research Paper (including draft, revision, and presentation, c. 12 pages or c. 3000 words)	For the research paper (c. 12 pages or c. 3000 words), you will explore a topic appropriate for the course chosen in consultation with me. Your paper should build on both primary and secondary sources, and in preparing it, I will guide you through the processes of preparing a first draft and revising that draft to produce a stronger final paper. You also will present this paper to the rest of the class for discussion. For these discussions, each of you will also review at least one of your colleagues’ papers, providing both a written review (for the author and for me) and an oral commentary during the discussion of her/his paper in class. The grade on this assignment will be determined by the strength of your analysis and research, the persuasiveness of your argument (including quality of writing), and the originality of your thought.	40%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
A Work of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant, thorough, and insightful engagement with the course reading and other materials.
B This is a highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised. There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluate theory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture and reference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of significant engagement with the course reading and other materials.
C This is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
D This level of performance demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material. Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included. In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
F This work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:

See above on participation. To participate regularly, you have to be present regularly and that means being in class in person. Should you have to miss a class or classes, keep up with the reading schedule posted on Moodle and get the notes from one of your fellow students. Finally, feel free to stop by my office hours.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

PLEASE NOTE THAT READINGS, ASSIGNMENTS, AND SPECIFIC TOPICS DISCUSSED MAY CHANGE. FOR THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION REGARDING THE COURSE, SEE THE COURSE MOODLE PAGE.

Course Readings

The books should be available at the Almost Corner Bookshop (Via del Moro, 45) or directly from the publishers' websites in eBook form. You also may be able to find copies of them through the STAND Book Fundraiser sale at the beginning of the semester. All course readings provide the basis for our classroom discussions. You must read and think about those assigned for a particular class period prior to that class meeting. Otherwise, you will be unable to participate adequately and your participation grade will suffer. You should also bring this material to class on the days that we are discussing it.

Important Course Policies

All assignments should be handed in through the Moodle portal for the assignment--I encourage you to double-check on the Moodle to be sure that work has been submitted after you believe you have done so. If for some reason it is not working, send them to me as e-mail attachments.

All late work will suffer a grade penalty. No late work will be accepted following the final examination.

Any documented case of academic dishonesty on any assignment will result in a failing grade for the assignment in question and may also result in a failing grade for the course as a whole, regardless of the assignment's weight in terms of the final course grade. 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 and take-home exams are to be submitted to turnitin.com to check their content for plagiarism. I am setting up the turintin submission options so that you can see the similarity reports the service generates and resubmit your papers up until the due date.

Office Hours, Scheduling Appointments, E-mail Guidance, and So Forth

My office hours are posted on the course Moodle page. Depending on your preference we can meet either in person (my office in on the Tiber Roof) or via Teams using the link that is posted on the course Moodle page. If you need to schedule an appointment to speak with me, simply send me an e-mail identifying a range of times and days during the upcoming week when you are available.

Please know that I do not normally respond to e-mails during the weekend or after 6:30 p.m. (but do feel free to write me whenever you wish--I'll respond as soon as I can the next week or the next day). It is important for all of us to set aside time to work on other things, disconnect, recharge, and 'stay human.' I encourage you to do the same in ways that work with your schedule, and try to do what I can to provide as much flexibility as possible for you in structuring out-of-class activities.

Course Schedule (Please note that the following is subject to change--any updates will be made directly to the course Moodle page.)--last updated 9/3

9/6 Introductions: Freedom, Slavery, and the “West”

9/8 The Problem and Some of Its Dimensions
Davis, 1-26 (Prologue, Chapter 1)

9/13 What is Slavery? (And a First Look at Ancient Foundations)
Davis, 27-47 (Chapter 2)
Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social Death, “Introduction,” 1-14

Joseph C. Miller, "Marginality as a Historical Problem" from The Problem of Slavery as History: A Global Approach, 29-33

Recommended: Miller, The Problem of Slavery as History, Ch. 1, 1-35

During this week, we will schedule individual meetings to start developing research topics.

9/15 “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)
Recommended: Deuteronomy, (Ch. 15), 2 Kings (4:1-7)

9/16 OFFICIAL FRIDAY MAKE-UP DAY FOR 11/24

Greek Liberties and Natural Slaves: Slavery and the Birth of Philosophy, Pt I
Dubois, "Slavery in Greece," 78-84; Hesiod, Works and Days (excerpts); Strabo, Geographia (excerpts); Antiphon, On the Choreutes (excerpts); Demosthenes, Against Timocrates (excerpts); Plato, Laws (excerpts); Plato, Republic (excerpts)
Recommended: Lassopoulos, "Greek Slavery: From Domination to Property and Back Again," 115-130 (Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41722136)

9/20 Greek Liberties and Natural Slaves: Slavery and the Birth of Philosophy, Pt II
Aristotle, Politics (excerpts)
Reaction Paper 1 Due

9/22 “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) in Wiedemann, Greek and Roman Slavery (Read Chapter 12, Sections 235-240 and 243, i.e., pp. 215-234, 236-241.)
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2

9/27 Defining Bondage: Roman Slavery and Roman Law
Twelve Tables of Law; Justinian, Digest (excerpts)

9/29 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"
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2

10/4 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

Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2

Paragraph Outlining Research Problem and Preliminary Bibliography Due

10/6 Spiritual Freedom, Bodily Constraint: Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (excerpts)
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2

10/11 The Roots of Racial Slavery in the Americas
Davis, 48-102 (Chapters 3-4)

10/13 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;” Machiavelli, “The Ancients and Liberty”
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Preliminary Bibliography and Paragraph Outlining Research Topic Due

10/18 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
Sepúlveda, Democrates Secundus (excerpts); Las Casas, In Defense of the Indians (excerpts); Las Casas, A Short Account of the History of the Indies (excerpts)

Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2

10/20 Slavery in the Colonial Americas
Davis, 103-140 (Chapters 5-6)

10/21 OFFICIAL FRIDAY MAKE-UP DAY FOR 11/1

“A State of Perfect Freedom?”: John Locke, Political Liberty and Colonial Slavery
Locke, Two Treatises of Government (excerpts)
The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina

Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2

10/25 The Sin of Bondage: Religious Radicalism and Antislavery Thought, I
Davis, "Religious Sources of Antislavery Thought: Quakers and the Sectarian Tradition," 291-332
John Woolman, “Journal,” Excerpts
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2

10/27 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)
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2

11/3 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”

Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2

11/8 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;” National Convention, "The Abolition of Slavery;" Jefferson, "Letters on the Haitian Revolution;" Douglass, "Lecture on Haiti (1893)"
Last Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2

11/10 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)

Research Paper Drafts Due

11/15 Slave Revolts and Antislavery
Davis, 205-230 (Chapter 11)
Gray, The Confessions of Nat Turner (excerpts); "Reactions to Nat Turner's Revolt"

Research Presentations

11/17 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"

Research Presentations

11/22 The Problem from a Slave’s Point of View, I
Douglass, 3-73
Recommended: Douglass, vii-xl
Research Presentations

11/29 The Problem from a Slave’s Point of View, II
Douglass, 74-117
Recommended: Douglass, 119-137
Reaction Paper 3 Due

12/1 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)
Research Presentations

12/2 (OFFICIAL FRIDAY MAKE-UP FOR 12/8) and 12/6 Screening of Film (TBA)
Final Draft of Research Paper Due—12/7

Final Exam TBA