WMST320/AAS 320 Eileen Boris Spring 1999 221 Minor Hall Tues., Thurs. 2-3:15 982-2926 332 Cabell Hall ecb4d@virginia.edu Office Hours: T: 3:30-5; Th: 10-12 And by appointment History of African-American Women, 1600 to the Present Course Description This course surveys the experiences of women of African descent in the United States, looking backward from the end of the twentieth century. Through the voices of African- American women, we will trace the struggle to define their own lives and improve the social, economic, political and cultural position of black communities. Uncovering this history requires both looking at the past from the standpoint of different groups of black women, but also contrasting self-perception with material and ideological circumstances not always of their own choosing. We will discuss West African gender systems; women's enslavement; the gendered meaning of the Civil War, emancipation and segregation; forms of resistance and protest; women as community builders and institution creators; and black feminist thought. Throughout we will investigate women's work at home and in the labor market; kinship and family relations, sexuality, violence and beauty culture; the female life cycle; the impact of social policy on black women; and women's relationships to each other, their children, their men, and white society. Course Requirements Lecture and discussion. Class participation is a requirement for learning in this course. For this reason, it is absolutely essential that you complete all of the readings in time for discussion, as listed in the agenda below. I have tried to keep the reading within manageable limits; the reading varies by difficulty and denseness. In addition, we will experiment with a class discussion e-mail list. This list will provide a forum to continue conversations and share additional information and perspectives. Grades will be based on an in-class mid-term (20%), a take-home final (25%), two written assignments (one, 15%; the other, 25%), and class participation (15%), which includes at least two contributions to the class e-mail discussion list. In-Class Midterm: Essay question (based on study questions) and short answers. Written Assignment. You are to complete two assignments, one due March 11and the second due May 4. One is to be three to five pages (15%) and the other seven to ten pages (25%). You may create a slide show or presentation in another media as a substitute for the shorter paper. You have three options, of which you are to do two. You need to talk with me about your assignment focuses in advance. To aid you, I have placed on reserve Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, ed. Darlene Clark Hine, Elsa Barkley Brown, and Rosalyn Terborg-Penn and The Black Women's Oral History Project, ed. Ruth E. Hill. Oral History Interview an African-American woman about her life experiences to evaluate historical generalizations about specific topics, whether work, family, hair and beauty culture, church and religion, civil rights and black nationalism, urban migration, rural life, Great Depression or WWII, segregation, or other appropriate topics. You may wish to compare the experiences of two women from different generations or social situations or contrast men's and women's experiences to explore gendered race. You could interview a man about his wife, mother, sister, or women friend as part of this project. Instead of conducting your own oral interview, you may analyze a series of oral interviews from The Black Women's Oral History Project. Voices and Visions Analyze expressive or intellectual work by an African-American woman: a novel, political or philosophical writings, memoir or autobiography, book of poetry, play, film, or a group of paintings, sculpture, music, quilts, or other artistic media. Discuss self-presentation and representations; constructions of gender, race, class; or portrayals of social, political, or other appropriate themes. Re-centering Politics and Policy Reconsider an institution, law, regulation, social policy, or political debate from the perspective of African-American women. You might consider bans on inter-racial sex, campaigns for integrated schooling, punishments of the enslaved, conditions of manumission, segregated public accommodations, health care systems, welfare or charity, Garveyism and other forms of Black Nationalism, incorporation of African Americans into the military, anti-discrimination law, trade unionism, domestic violence, abortion rights, or any appropriate topic or issue. Take-Home Final Exam: Given out the last week of class, due by Tuesday, May 11. Books for Purchase There is a packet of readings to purchase at the Copy Shop, 5-B Elliewood Ave. I will place on reserve at Clemons Library a copy of the packet and all books. The following are available for purchase in the University of Virginia Bookstore: Guy-Shetfall, Beverly, Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought (New Press, 1995) WF in agenda Hunter, Tera W., To 'Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors After the Civil War (Harvard Univ. Press, 1998) Lemke-Santangelo, Gretchen, Abiding Courage: African American Migrant Women and the East Bay Community (Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1996) Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn, African American Women in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850-1920 (Indiana Univ. Press, 1998) Yellin, Jean Fagan, ed., Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Harvard Univ. Press, 1987) Agenda (Packet readings *) January 21 Introductions: Looking Back from 1999 26 In the Academy WF, "Introduction;" chp. 6 Righteous Discontent Film: "A Place of Rage" WF: 503-24 February 2-4 From Africa to the Americas Robertson, "Africa into the Americas?"* Klein, "African Women in the Atlantic Slave Trade"* Reddock, "Women and Slavery in the Caribbean"* Bush, "Hard labor"* 9-11 To Be A Woman Enslaved Film: "And still I rise" Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Lyerly, "Religion, Gender, and Identity"* WF, 361-78 16 Free Women of Color Gould, "Urban Slavery-Urban Freedom"* Hansen, "'No Kisses Is Like Yours'"* 18-23 Fighting for Emancipation and Reconstructing the Family WF, 23-68; Terborg-Penn, 13-53; Hunter, to 43 Reconstructing Labor Hunter, 44-129 March 2 In-Class Mid-term Exam Black Women in Defense of Themselves: Clubwomen, Churchwomen, and Suffragists Film: "Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice" WF, 69-76; Terborg-Penn, 1-12, 54-166 23 Gender as a Terrain of Struggle Film: "Within Our Gates" First Paper Due 25 Public Welfare; Private Welfare Hunter, 130-44, 187-238 30-April 1 The New Negro and the New Woman Film: "Wild Women Don't Have the Blues" Hunter, 145-86; WF, chp. 2, 379-87, 413-28 6-13 Reconstituting Community through Migrations, Depression, and War Film: "Freedom Bags" Lemke-Santangelo, complete Rights and/or Liberation; Nationalism and/or Feminism Film: "Fundi" WF, chps. 3, 4, 487-501, 525-51 29 The Politics of the Body Revisited WF: 389-411, 429-49 May 4 Looking Forward from 1999 Second Paper Due Table of Contents WMST 320/AAS 320 History of African American Women Spring 1999 Eileen Boris Claire Robertson, "Africa into the Americas? Slavery and Women, the Family, and the Gender Division of Labor," in More Than Chattel: Black Women and Slavery in the Americas, ed. Gaspar and Hine (Indiana Univ. Press, 1996), 3-40 Herbert Klein, "African Women in the Atlantic Slave Trade," in "We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible": A Reader in Black Women's History, ed. Hine et al, (Carlson, 1995), 67-75 Rhoda E. Reddock, "Women and Slavery in the Caribbean: A Feminist Perspective," in "We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible": A Reader in Black Women's History, ed. Hine et al, (Carlson, 1995), 127-41 Barbara Bush, "Hard labor: Women, Childbirth, and Resistance in British Caribbean Slave Societies," in More Than Chattel, 194-217 L. Virginia Gould, "Urban Slavery-Urban Freedom: The Manumission of Jacqueline Lemelle," in More Than Chattel, 298-314 Karen V. Hansen, "'No Kisses Is Like Yours': An Erotic Friendship Between Two African-American Women during the Mid-Nineteenth Century," Gender and History, 7 (August 1995), 153-81 Cynthia Lynn Lyerly, "Religion, Gender, and Identity: Black Methodist Women in a Slave Society, 1770-1810," in Discovering the Women in Slavery, ed. Patricia Morton (Georgia, 1996), 202-26 ****