Local, National, Global:  Writing the History of Civil Rights

Professor Lisa Pollard                                       Spring 2009

Office:  228 Morton                                          Section 001: M 10-11:15; W 10-12:15

Phone:  910 962-3309                         Office hours:  Tuesdays 2-4 and by appointment

Email:  pollardl@uncw.edu

            This class has two goals.  The first is to introduce you to a body of historical literature about civil rights movements, in America and elsewhere. 

            The second is to teach you the craft of historians, whose job it is to interpret the past.  Here, the course aims to provide you with the skills necessary to producing high-quality research papers for your upper-level courses. We will cover concepts like historiography and methodology. We will practice question framing, conducting primary- and secondary-source research, documenting sources, writing effective prose, revising, and presenting research.

            This course is a demanding one.  To succeed in it, you must be active.  You must find and define a topic for yourself quickly, and then stick with it. (You might find that the focus of your project changes.  You should, however, avoid switching topics mid-semester at all costs).  You must keep up with your reading and research and participate in discussions.  You must do your research according to a schedule that you set up for yourself.

Required readings:

Homer A. Jack, ed., The Gandhi Reader.

Steven F. Lawson and Charles Payne, Debating the American Civil Rights Movement

Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers (7^th edition).

James M. Washington, ed., A Testament of Hope

Colin Wells, A Brief History of History

Please note that there are also several readings on electronic reserve for this class.

Projects:

Two three-page response papers to the readings (2.5% each, for 5% of the final grade).

Annotated source list (10%).

Proposal with revised annotated source list (10%).

Working outline (10%).

First draft (20%)

Oral presentation (5%)

Final draft (25%)

Discussion/participation (15%)

Grading scale: 

A=100-96; A-=95-90; B+=89-86; B=85-82; B-=80-81; C+=79-76; C=72-75; C-=70-71; D+=69-66; D=65-63; D-=62-60; F= 59 and below.  If your grade falls between two groups (i.e. 95.5), please be advised that I round “up.”

Please note:  I do not accept work electronically.  It is due at the beginning of the class period in which it is requested.  You must be in class—on time—to turn in your materials.  Your work will be marked down two (2) points for each day that it is late.

Each student is allowed one excused absence, no questions asked.  After that, I will deduct two (2) points from your final grade for each day that you are absent.  If you have an emergency, call me or email me before class.  In other words, if you miss and I have not heard from you, the absence is considered unexcused.

Week One:

Wednesday, January 7:  Introduction to the course.

Reading (for Monday, January 12): 

Lawson and Payne, “The View from the Nation,” 3-48.

Week Two:

Monday, January 12:  Discuss Lawson and Payne, 3-48.  Discuss the conventions of academic writing.

Reading (for Wednesday, January 14): Lawson and Payne, “The View from the Trenches,” 115-155.  Turabian, 3-23.

Wednesday, January 14:  Discuss Lawson and Payne, 115-155.  Discuss choosing and development of paper topics.

Reading (for Wednesday, January 21):  Bhikhu Parekh, “Critical Appreciation, 111-134 and Lloyd Rudolph, “Ghandi in the Mind of America, 93-139 (Both are on electronic reserve); Turabian, 24-47.

Week Three:

Wednesday, January 21:  Discuss Parekh and Rudolph.  Discuss methodology and historiography.

Reading (for Monday, January 26):  Collin Wells, prologue, chapters one and three.

Week Four

Monday, January 26: Meet in Randall Library for a session with Sue Cody on conducting on-line research.

Your first two-page response paper due at the beginning of class.  Discuss one of the authors you’ve read thus far.  What is his argument?  On what kinds of sources does he depend?  What is his methodology?

Reading (for Wednesday, January 28): Wells, chapters six and nine; Turabian, 48-70.

Wednesday, January 28: Discuss Wells, chapters one, three, six and nine. Turabian. 

Reading (for Monday, February 2):  Wells, chapters 11 and 12.

Week Five:

Monday, February 2:  Discuss Wells.

Reading (for Wednesday, February 4):  Wells, chapters 14, 16, 17 and epilogue.

Wednesday, February 4:  Discuss Wells. Discuss primary and secondary sources.

Reading (for Monday, February 9):  Selections from the MLK reader: editor’s intro; 18-23; 28-37; 59-66; 136-144; 241-253; 281-287; 308-316; 349-350; 446-474; Turabian, 71-97.

Week Six:

Monday, February 9: Discuss the selections from the MLK reader, and Turabian. Your second two-page response paper is due at the beginning of class.  Discuss one of the chapters you read in Wells, and one of the historians about whom he wrote.  Perform the same kind of critique you used in your first paper.

Wednesday, February 11:  No class.  Research/reading day.  Professor Pollard will be available in her office during regular class time.

Reading (for Monday, February 16): Primary source selections from Lawson and Payne, 88-90-101; 159-162; 166-169.

Week Seven:

Monday, February 16:  Discuss primary-source selections from Lawson and Payne. Your annotated source list is due in class.

Reading: (for Wednesday, February 18); Selections from the Gandhi reader:  editor’s intro; 21-2; 29-37; 59-66; 136-144; 241-253; 281-287; 308-316; 349-350; 467-473.

Wednesday, February 18: Discuss the selections from the Gandhi reader.  Discuss writing a proposal.

For Monday, February 23:  Bring copies of two primary sources and two secondary sources to class for workshop on citation and annotation; bring Turabian.

Week Eight:

Monday, February 23:  Source workshop.  Bring sources.

Wednesday: February 25:  Proposal workshop:  bring a working copy of a proposal.

Week Nine:

Monday, March 2:  To the archives.  Meet in the special collections room of Randall Library.

Wednesday, March 4:  To the archives, again.  Meet in the special collections room of Randall Library.  Bring three copies of your proposal for workshop.

Week Ten:  Spring Break

Week Eleven:

Monday, March 16: Discuss argument and organization. Your proposal and revised annotated bibliographies will be due at the beginning of class.

Wednesday, March 18: No class.  Research.  Dr. Pollard will be available in her office during this time.

Reading (for Monday, March 23):  Turabian, 98-121.

Week Twelve:

Monday, March 23:  Working outline/revised bibliography due. Discuss footnoting.

Wednesday, March 25: No Meetings:  Research. 

Reading (for Monday, March 30):  Turabian, 122-130.

Week Thirteen:

Monday, March 30: Methods of effective drafting; Turabian, 122-30.

Wednesday, April 1: Workshop: bring 3 copies of draft

Week Fourteen:

Monday, April 6: First drafts due.

Wednesday, April 8:  Discuss revision and conference presentations.

Week Fifteen:

Monday, April 13: Drafts returned in class.  Workshop on revision and editing.

Wednesday, April 15: No class.  Revise and prepare conference presentations.  Meet with Dr. Pollard in her office, as necessary, with questions about revisions.  She will schedule appointments with those who will need them.

Week Sixteen:

 Monday, April 20:  Presentations

Wednesday, April 22:  Presentations

Week Seventeen:

Monday:  April 27:  Presentations

Your final paper draft will be due to my office by 1 p.m. on Monday, May 4.

HST 290:  Annotated Source List Assignment

This exercise is intended to help you get started on surveying the scholarship (secondary-source material) on your topic.  For this assignment, you must provide citations and annotations on three monographs and six scholarly articles directly related to your topic.

At the top of the page, state your topic in 3-4 sentences.

Each annotation must include the author’s thesis statement in your own words, a description of the sources used, and a statement about the contribution this work makes to a scholarly dialogue on the topic. For example:

Pollard, Lisa.  Nurturing the Nation:  The Family Politics of Modernizing, Colonizing and Liberating Egypt, 1805-1923.  Berkeley:  The University of California Press, 2005).

Pollard uses archival sources, the press, political cartoons, children’s textbooks and travel literature to chronicle the linking of politics and family practices over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  She concludes that in several periods (early state building, colonialism, and nationalist revolt) the family served as a stand-in for political commentary and critique.   She asserts that, just as the British used images of the “backwards” Egyptian family to justify colonial rule, Egyptian nationalists used images of the reform of their families to illustrate to the British that it was time for the colonial experience to end.

This assignment is due in class on Monday February 16.

Criteria for grading:  statement of research topic, quality of annotations; sources; grammar, mechanics, punctuation.

HST 290:  Proposal Assignment (10 points)

Description:

This paper proposal is an opportunity for you to begin thinking critically about your topic. For this assignment you will produce a proposal with a revised annotated bibliography.  The proposal must address these questions:

-         What is your topic?  Describe it briefly.

-         What is your hypothesis?  Tell which questions are driving your research.

-         What will your leaders learn from this project?  Will you be bringing new information to light?  Or will you be interpreting commonplace knowledge in a new way?

-         Why is your project significant?

-         What are your primary sources?

Requirements:

The proposal must be five pages in length (excluding the bibliography).  It must be typed in 12-point font, using one-inch margins. It must include a revised annotated bibliography divided into primary and secondary sources.

Annotations of primary sources must include a description of the source.

A three-page draft of this proposal is due for a workshop in class on March 4^th.

The assignment is due in class on March 16

HST 290 Working Outline with Revised Annotated Bibliography (10 points)

The Assignment:  Produce a working outline for your research paper.  Include a classified (primary and secondary sources), annotated bibliography with at least five monographs and nine articles from scholarly journals.  Numbers of primary sources must meet acceptable parameters for your main research question.

A working outline:

-maps out the organization of the paper in detail.

-gives an overview of the argument

--arranges evidence in appropriate places in the argument.

--includes a clear thesis statement and a title.

The outline must be

--typed, double spaced, using 12-point font and 1-inch margins

--use Chicago Style as described in Turabian

--be three to four pages in length, exclusive of bibliography.

--include citations and annotations for all sources.

Criteria for grading:  working thesis statement, organization, sources/use of evidence, annotations.

This assignment is due on March 23.

HST 290 First Draft Assignment.

The assignment:  produce a draft of your final research paper.

This paper must:

-Be original research based on the interpretation of primary sources in numbers that constitute acceptable parameters for the designed method.

-Contribute meaningfully to a scholarly dialogue on US or global history.

-Utilize scholarly secondary sources (at least 12 journal articles and five monographs related to your subject).

-Be 12-15 pages in length (exclusive of annotated bibliography, title page, graphics, etc).

-Be typed and printed in 12-point font using one-inch margins.

-Use Chicago Style as described in Turabian.

Criteria for grading:  introduction; thesis statement; evidence of argument; sources; annotations; grammar and mechanics.

This assignment is due on April 6.

HST 290 Final Paper Assignment

The assignment:  produce a publishable-quality historical research paper on a topic relating to the history of the Civil Rights movement in Wilmington, the United States or India.

This paper must:

--Be original research based on the interpretation of primary sources in numbers that constitute acceptable parameters for your designed method.

--Contribute meaningfully to a scholarly dialogue on local, US or Global history.

--Utilize scholarly secondary sources (at least 12 journal articles and five monographs directly related to your subject).

--Be 15-20 pages in length (exclusive of annotated bibliography, title page, graphics, etc).

--Be typed and printed using 12-point font and one-inch margins.

--Use Chicago Style as described in Turabian.

Criteria for grading:  same as the first draft.