After Slavery: Race and Labour in the Post-Emancipation US South

Overview

The abolition of slavery in the southern United States raised hopes that a new, more equitable social order might be built on the ruins of the Confederacy—one that would deliver freedom and new prosperity to former slaves and a broad section of the white population excluded from power under the South’s antebellum regime. Instead, within twelve years of the Confederate surrender white supremacists had raised themselves to power, and the hopes for substantive change were all but extinguished. By the mid-1890s, many African-Americans were barred from the voting booth, ‘separation of the races’ was the law of the land, fierce racial violence engulfed much of the region, and many blacks and whites found themselves trapped in a ‘new slavery’. The effects of that reversal lingered long after the end of slavery, and arguably continue to be felt throughout American society. Making use of the best available new classroom technologies, this module will explore in depth, and as a historical problem, the persistence of racial inequality in the United States after slave emancipation.

Learning Objectives

Students should acquire: a) A familiarity with the basic themes and chronology of Southern history between 1877 and 1915; b) A familiarity with the conflicting interpretations of the New South and an ability to bring this historiography to bear in constructing an original argument about an aspect of New South history; c) An ability to critically assess a range of primary materials and to make use of these materials in constructing an argument about the past.

Skills

Students should devleop the following skills: a) An ability to make use of online resources in historical research and writing; b) An ability to read and absorb a considerable volume of historical literature over a two-semester module; c) A proficiency in the basic essay-writing skills required in history; d) An ability to express themselves clearly in seminar discussions.

Assessment