HIST 111: History of the African-Americans to 1876

Citrus College Course Outline of Record

Citrus College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Fall 2024
Credits: 3
Total Contact Hours: 54
Lecture Hours : 54
Lab Hours: 0
Hours Arranged: 0
Outside of Class Hours: 108
Total Student Learning Hours: 162
District General Education: D1. History and Political Science
Transferable to CSU: Yes
Transferable to UC: Yes - Approved
Grading Method: Standard Letter, Pass/No Pass

Catalog Course Description

An exploration of the cultural development and role of the African-American in the history of the United States from the African origins to the end of Reconstruction (1876). 54 lecture hours.

Course Objectives

  • assess the contributions of the African-Americans in the general culture and history of the United States through a greater understanding of the cultures of West Africa and their syncretism in early plantation communities.
  • identify and explain the misconceptions of the role and place of the African-American in the history of the United States through a greater understanding of diversity among African populations, nature of slave societies, and institutions that facilitated assimilation.
  • describe and explain the significance of the African origins of the African-American and the cultural and economic contributions of those origins to North America/the United States by a better understanding of the economic structures of West Africa and the introduction of skills, crops, and tools to the Americas.
  • use the technique of synthesis-analysis to weigh evidence and judge the nature of controversial problems and contradictions in 18th and 19th century American society
  • Demonstrate comprehension and analysis of the concepts and interactions of African history, the Atlantic World and early American History in shaping the experience of African-Americans
  • Demonstrate an ability to evaluate primary and secondary sources from Africa, Europe, and early America
  • Demonstrate quantitative knowledge of important historical patterns, processes, developments, figures and events

Major Course Content

  1. The African Past
    1. The West African Kingdoms of Gold and Salt: Mali, Ghana, and Songhay
    2. Trans-Saharan Trade and "old world" economies
    3. Political Fragmentation - decline of states
  2. Atlantic Slavery
    1. Emergence of the Atlantic slave trade
    2. Experiences of the trafficked
    3. Slavery in the Americas -- a varied system
  3. The English Colonies
    1. Development of the slave code
    2. The Chesapeake and plantation slavery
    3. Northern colonies and urban slavery
    4. Development of an African American culture
  4. An Ambivalent Revolution
    1. Ideologies of equality
    2. Dunmore's Proclamation and Black Loyalists
    3. Victory and evacuation
    4. The U.S. Constitution
  5. Slavery in the Republic
    1. Gradual emancipation in the North
    2. The colonization movement
    3. Citizenship and the status of free blacks
    4. King Cotton and the domestic slave trade
  6. A Tradition of Resistance
    1. Slave revolts
    2. Culture and communities of the enslaved
    3. Black churches and liberation theology
    4. Slave narratives
  7. The Sectional Crisis
    1. Immediate abolitionism
    2. The Underground Railroad
    3. Pro-slavery politics
    4. Dred Scott and the Fugitive Slave Act
  8. Winning Freedom
    1. War-time resistance
    2. Emancipation Proclamation
    3. Military service
    4. From "contraband" to free people
    5. The Reconstruction amendments
    6. Black political power and democratic reforms
    7. The end of Reconstruction

Suggested Reading Other Than Required Textbook

Students will read a primary textbook. They will also read secondary texts that explore the course material in greater depth. Finally students will be required to read primary sources.

Examples of Required Writing Assignments

Students will read primary sources relating to the course material. For example, when discussing the abolitionist movement, they will read excerpts from political speeches given for the 1860 election. They will write brief reviews to demonstrate their understanding of the primary source. They will then use those summaries to write a more developed essay that explores the complex context of the Abolitionist movement and political situation.

Examples of Outside Assignments

Students will be required to answer chapter questions drawing on information presented in readings and lecture. Students will select a secondary source from a list of books available at the library and read this to complete the writing assignments for the course. Students will write summaries of primary source reading, reviews of secondary literature, and short answers to questions on the course material.

Instruction Type(s)

Lecture, Online Education Lecture

IGETC Area 4: Social and Behavioral Sciences

4F. History