Modesto Junior College
HISTORY 154 - AFRICAN AMERICA Before 1900 - Sections 9964 and 9965
Professor Al Smith – office hours: M-6:30 ZOOM and F-12:30 ZOOM
Syllabus / Schedule –Fall 2020
THIS SEMESTER’S THEME: Identity and Dignity in the Context of Struggle (Amilcar Cabral, 1921-1973). Africans in America have built the American economy, developed the American sense of political justice, and have infused the American cultural character with vibrant life. Yet Blacks in the Americas continue to be denied the benefits of so many contributions. We will investigate why – the triumphs and tragedies of being Black in America, and what to do about it.
TEXTS:
“Blacks in the Americas by Al Smith ($20.00)
SEMESTER WORKLOAD - A SNAPSHOT:
For the fifteen-week (15) semester – there are five (5) graded areas / assignments. While the classroom is very interactive, the readings are the core and background of class discussions. You will feel lost if you don’t read!
(MATERIALS – computer access, a thumb drive, printer access, manila folder)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
#1 – Weekly Questions (DUE Weekly the first class day of the week)
#2 – Reading Responses (DUE Weekly)
#3 – Group Midterm Essay (DUE Week #3)
#4 – Course Learning Objectives Group Project (DUE Week #15)
#5 Professional Presentation / Career Applications: Individual, Group or Video (DUE by Week #12)
EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES MAY INCLUDE: Student Choice Essay, Videography or Museum Project, Community Service & Food Day (DUE by Week #14 – NONE accepted after that week)
LINK TO ALL PORTFOLIO INSTRUCTIONS
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History 154 Course Learning Objectives (CLOs)
- Students will be able to demonstrate factual knowledge of key political, economic, social and cultural events and issues in early African American history.
- Students will be able to apply critical thinking (including causal analysis and skeptical inquiry) to historical concepts and developments in early African American history.
- Students will be able to evaluate, analyze and interpret primary and secondary historical sources and make historical arguments based on these sources about early African American history.
A NOTE ON READING: Your performance relating to weekly reading is directly linked to your success with course assignments. If you do not read the course material you will not succeed on the writing, testing, or discussion/participation levels.
Remember: you also have access to many Student Success Support Services, such as the Tutorial Center. The Library & Learning Center has resources that can make or break an assignment. The Writing Center is open, as is the Office Administration Center -- all of these counts towards helping with your success. ONLY YOU can access them!
There is homework due weekly so familiarize yourself with the format
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You need to know what you can count on! - Here's how I'll contact you
Like you, I'm juggling many responsibilities every day, so I have limited availability during traditional business/college hours, but I want to help you succeed in this course. Here is my plan for maintaining Regular Effective Contact with you throughout the term:
- I will usually post at least one announcement per week with reminders and other notifications about what is happening in the course and/or on campus.
- I will provide you with feedback on your assignments. My goal is to do this within one week, but sometimes it takes a little longer. Check Grades for my feedback. (Links to an external site.)
- I may occasionally participate in discussion board assignments with you.
- I may message you if I see that you are falling behind. Please try to let me know if you run into difficulties that prevent you from submitting in a timely fashion.
- I may reach out to you in other ways as well, including phone messages and email.
- I will host Live ConferZoom online office hours will be Mondays at 6:30 pm and Fridays at 12:30. Zoom invites will be below in your Canvas!
- Professor Al Smith, Griot (which means Historian)
- [email protected] (I try for a 24 hour turn around on email, except weekends and holidays)
- My campus phone number is 209-575-6153
- Our office hours are in ConferZoom. There will be a link in your Canvas
OTHER STUDENT RESOURCES:
LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS<CLICK>
ACADEMIC CALENDAR
ONLINE HELPDESK http://www.mjc.edu/current/studentservices/waystolearn/online/index.html
TIMEMAPS - Interactive World Maps
WORLD INTERACTIVE MAPS
BIG HISTORY
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READING SCHEDULE History 154
Week #1 – Beginning Monday, 8/24/2020
Discussion - UMOJA CLASS
WHO - WHAT - WHEN - WHERE - WHY
Lecture Notes
Read / view: History & Historians and The Introduction to the Smith book: Blacks in the Americas
Humankind – first humans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMOtzeJzPf4
Black Pharaohs
Kush & Nubia
Video or article: A War For Your Soul: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gwAO-AnVgQ
No Mirrors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD57KULeIgg
Modern Matriarchy and healing - the importance of ritual
UMOJA COMMUNITY - ORIENTATION
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Reading Response due the second day of class LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
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Week #2 – Beginning Monday, 8/31/2020
READ: Chapter #1 in the Smith book.
VIDEO or ARTICLES:
7 Great African Empires
NOK Culture - Sub-Saharan Africa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVT--v-fAKw
UMOJA COMMUNITY
Umoja MJC
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Reading Response due the second day of class LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
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Week #3 – Beginning Monday, 9/7/2020
GENERAL NOTES
READ: Chapter 1 in Smith.
VIDEO or ARTICLES: AFRICA KINGDOMS
MAP
Igbo Ashanti Akan Wolof
The Middle Passage
UMOJA COMMUNITY
Umoja MJC
Professor's Choice Essay Question: See Canvas
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Reading Response due the second day of class LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
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Week #4 – Beginning Monday, 9/14/2020
GENERAL NOTES
READ: Chapter 2 in Smith.
VIDEO or ARTICLES:
10 Ethnic Groups of the Enslaved
Brazilian Enslavement
Documentary – Africans in the Americas
Black Trivia
Student Success - 18 Umoja Practices
African Proverbs, Ancestors and Commitment
Umoja MJC
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Reading Response due the second day of class LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
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Week #5 – Beginning Monday, 9/21/2020
READ: Chapter 2 in Smith.
VIDEO or ARTICLES:
Africans in the Americas (if the link is down, you can follow the rest of the series on youtube in parts)
1619 New York Times
Umoja MJC
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Reading Response due the second day of class LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
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Week #6 – Beginning Monday, 9/28/2020 (?)
GENERAL NOTES
READ: Chapter 3 in Smith.
VIDEO or ARTICLES:
Bacon's Rebellion (a multiracial class revolt)
Enslaved New York
SANKOFA
SANKOFA Notes
INTERNAL DIALOG: Mindfulness
Umoja MJC
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Reading Response due the second day of class LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
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Week #7 – Beginning Monday, 10/5/2020
READ: Chapter 3 in Smith.
VIDEO or ARTICLES:
Great Awakening & Fundamentalism, 1730's Evangelism
Enlightenment and the History of "White" People
1739 STONO Rebellion in South Carolina
Negro Act of 1740
Nike Self-Talk - Mastering your inner voice
Umoja MJC
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Reading Response due the second day of class LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
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Week #8 – Beginning Monday, 10/12/2020
READ: Chapter 4 in Smith.
VIDEO or ARTICLES: Peter Salem & Salem Poor
The U.S. Secret Service - Cato the Spy
Crash Course, The American Revolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EiSymRrKI4
- Lord Dunmore
Crash Course: Constitution - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO7FQsCcbD8
Teaching Exercise: The U.S. Constitution – The Institutionalization of Enslavement
Umoja MJC
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Reading Response due the second day of class LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
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Week #9 – Beginning Monday, 10/19/2020
READ: Chapter 4 in Smith.
VIDEO or ARTICLES: Richard Allen & Absalom Jones
Jefferson's Blood
& Sally Hemmings (professional video) and Sally Hemmings (a student video)
1804 – 6 Lewis & Clark & Sacajawea & York (dance??)
Paul Cuffee
COURSE LEARNING OBJECTVES (CLOs) classroom activity begins.
(USE YOUR TEXT/NOTES)
- Students will be able to demonstrate factual knowledge of key political, economic, social and cultural events and issues in Early African American History.
- Students will be able to apply critical thinking (including causal analysis and skeptical inquiry) to historical concepts and developments in Early African American History.
- Students will be able to evaluate, analyze and interpret primary and secondary historical sources and make historical arguments based on these sources about Early African American History.
COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES INSTRUCTIONS / EXAMPLE
AND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SOUL FOOD DAY!!!
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Group Midterm Essay due the second day of class (which is SOUL FOOD DAY) LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
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Week #10 – Beginning Monday, 10/26/2020
READ: Chapter 5 in Smith.
VIDEO or ARTICLES:
HAITI – Toussaint L'Ouverture begins a revolution against France
- HAITI
GENERAL NOTES
UMOJA COMMUNITY
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Reading Response due the second day of class LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
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Week #11 – Beginning Monday, 11/2/2020
READ: Chapter 5 in Smith.
VIDEO or ARTICLES:
Black Nationalism and National Expansion - the White Supremacy and Andrew Jackson
A Birth of a Nation
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Reading Response due the second day of class LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
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Week #12 – Beginning Monday, 11/9/2020
READ: Chapter 6 in Smith.
VIDEO or ARTICLES:
Underground Railroad
In Search of the Underground Railroad
Slave Revolts (lots on this page) & Amistad!
12 Years a Slave
Videography assignment
UMOJA COMMUNITY
REMINDER: Professional Presentation / Career Applications: Individual, Group or Video (DUE by Week #16)
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Course Learning Objectives Group Project (DUE Week #12)due the second day of class LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
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Week #13 – Beginning Monday, 11/16/2020
READ: Chapter 7 in Smith.
VIDEO or ARTICLES:
Frederick Douglass vs Thomas Jefferson - Epic Rap Battle
See the movie: “GLORY” (it used to be on Youtube)
Do a VIDEOGRAPHY
How does history in film compare with reality?
UMOJA COMMUNITY
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Reading Response due the second day of class LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
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Week #14 – Beginning Monday, 11/23/2020
READ: chapter12 in Zinn (http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html).
READ: Chapter 8 in Smith.
VIDEO or ARTICLES:
“RECONSTRUCTION” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/
Reconstruction: the Second Civil War http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KNhf3ZkSuU
“Buffalo Soldiers” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbcxZM32ZrQ
"POSSE"
Film Series – TBA
UMOJA COMMUNITY
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Reading Response due the second day of class LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
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Week #15 – Beginning Monday, 11/30/2020
READ: FINAL DISCUSSION INSTRUCTIONS
READ: Chapter 9 in Smith.
VIDEO or ARTICLES:
“Without Sanctuary: Black rights in Jim Crow America”
http://www.withoutsanctuary.org/movie1.html
The Night Tulsa Burned
Ida B., Booker T., and W.E.B. - A Torch is Passed
NO LATE WORK ACCEPTED
HOMEWORK: Discussion Question brought typed to class on the first day of the week’s instruction - AND- Reading Response due the second day of class LINK TO ALL ASSESSMENT / ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
(if needed).
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Week #16 – Finals – Beginning Monday, 12/7/2020
FINAL SCHEDULE (Finals are held on different days than regular classes!)
FINAL DISCUSSION:
Professional Presentation / Career Applications: Individual, Group or Video (DUE by Week #16)
Slavery By Any Other Name
“Reparations?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5XAvfgpesU
A Global View on Reparations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMlkKX0cyeY
TOPICAL DISCUSSION: In the 21st Century Black Americans are one of the most politically successful ethnic groups in American history. Yet the problems associated with poverty continue to plague most African Americans. The question arises of reparations. Far from a “pity-party,” Black Americans have striven thus far without receiving any legitimate redress for the wrongs of enslavement while other groups who suffered at the hands of our government have received ample reparations (ie.: Veterans, Native Americans, Japanese Americans, etc.). So the questions emerging for discussion are: #1 Should African Americans receive reparations (why or why not), and if so #2, what form(s) should the reparations take?
UMOJA COMMUNITY
Federal Spending Priorities since 1981 AND Your Tax Dollars at Work!
COST OF WAR COUNTER