Important Course Policies
All assignments must be handed in the form of both hard and electronic copies (e-mail them to me).
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. 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 (or come talk to me during my office hours). There are copies of both in the reference section of the library. Please note that also 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
1. Go to the internal web site (MY JCU).
2. After you have logged in, click on the course post-it for Fall 2015, HS 320. Then click on shared files.
3. You should then be able to access any course handouts not accessible by clicking the links on this syllabus.
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, etc.).
Accessing 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 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.)
Sept. 1 Introductions: Freedom, Slavery, and the “West”
Sept. 3 The Problem and Some of Its Dimensions
Davis, 1-26 (Prologue, Chapter 1)
Sept. 8 What is Slavery? (And a First Look at Ancient Foundations)
Davis, 27-47 (Chapter 2)
Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social Death, 1-14 (On Reserve)
Recommended: Patterson, Slavery and Social Death, 17-34
Sept. 10 “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. 15 Greek Liberties and Natural Slaves: Slavery and the Birth of Philosophy, Pt I
Dubois, "Slavery in Greece," 78-84 (Handout)
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 Propoerty and Back Again," 115-130
Sept. 17 Greek Liberties and Natural Slaves: Slavery and the Birth of Philosophy, Pt II
Aristotle, Politics (excerpts)
Selections Available From MyJCU Course Post-It
Reaction Paper 1 Due
Sept. 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)
(All in Wiedemann, Greek and Roman Slavery, 215-234, 236-241 (Electronic Resource in Library))
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 Post-It
Group Discussion of Research Projects: Topics and Planned Approach
Sept 25 OFFICIAL MAKE-UP FOR NOV. 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 Post-It
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Sept. 29 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 Post-It
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Oct. 1 Spiritual Freedom, Bodily Constraint: Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (excerpts)
All of the Above Selections Are Available From MyJCU Course Post-It
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Oct. 6 The Roots of Racial Slavery in the Americas
Davis, 48-102 (Chapters 3-4)
Oct. 8 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.web.johncabot.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=34555294&site=ehost-live
Vergerius, “The New Education”
Machiavelli, “The Ancients and Liberty”
Selections Available From MyJCU Course Post-It
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Oct. 13 Natural Slaves or Natural Christians: Slavery and the Renaissance, Pt. 2
Davis, "The Legitimacy of Enslavement and the Ideal of the Christian Sevant: Moral Doubts and Rationalizations," 165-196 (On Reserve)
Sepúlveda, Democrates Secundus (excerpts)
Las Casas, In Defense of the Indians (excerpts)
Las Casas, A Short Account of the History of the Indies (excerpts)
Selections Available From MyJCU Course Post-It
Preliminary Bibliography Due
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Oct. 15 Slavery in the Colonial Americas
Davis, 103-140 (Chapters 5-6)
Oct. 20 “A State of Perfect Freedom?”: John Locke, Political Liberty and Colonial Slavery
Locke, Two Treatises of Government
The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina
Selections Available From Intranet Course Shared Files
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Oct. 22 The Sin of Bondage: Religious Radicalism and Antislavery Thought, I
Davis, "Religious Sources of Antislavery Thought: Quakers and the Sectarian Tradition," 291-332 (On Reserve)
John Woolman, “Journal,” Excerpts
Primary Source Selections Available From Intranet Course Shared Files
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Oct. 27 Persistent Shadows: The Enlightenment and Slavery
Steele, The Spectator No. 11 “Inkle and Yarico”
Condorcet, “Dedicatory Epistle to the Negro Slaves”
Encyclopédie, “Negroes (Trade)” and “Negroes”
Raynal, Philosophical and Political History (Excerpts)
Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Excerpts)
Selections Available From Intranet Course Shared Files
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Oct. 29 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”
Selections Available From Intranet Course Shared Files
Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Nov. 3 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”
“Toussaint Louverture's Constitution of 1801”
Toussaint Louverture's “Dictatorial Proclamation” (1801)
“Haitian Declaration of Independence”
Selections Available From Intranet Course Shared Files
Documents on the Haitian Revolution and French and American Responses (Handout)
Last Possible Due Date for Reaction Paper 2
Nov. 5 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)
Selections Available From MyJCU Course Post-It
Draft of Final Paper Due
Nov. 10 Slave Revolts and Antislavery
Davis, 205-230 (Chapter 11)
Gray, The Confessions of Nat Turner (excerpts)
"Reactions to Nat Turner's Revolt"
Selections Available From MyJCU Course Post-It
Nov. 12 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"
Selections Available From MyJCU Course Post-It
Nov. 17 The Problem from a Slave’s Point of View, I
Douglass, ix-42
Nov. 19 The Problem from a Slave’s Point of View, II
Douglass, 42-86, 123-137
Reaction Paper 3 Due
Nov. 24 The U.S. Civil War and Emancipation: The End of the Problem?
Davis, 268-331 (Chapters 14-15, Epilogue)
Lincoln, "House Divided Speech"
"The Emancipation Proclamation"
U.S. Constitution, 13th-15th Amendments
Selections Available From MyJCU Course Post-It
Dec. 1 and Dec. 3 Screening of Lars von Trier’s Manderlay (To Be Scheduled)
Final Draft of Paper Due--December 3