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Historic Preservation Home > Syllabi > 400 Level Courses > HISP 471 LL - Preserving and Interpreting African American Sites and Structures

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON
Department of Historic Preservation

HISP 471 LL: Preserving and Interpreting African American Sites and Structures
Fall 2006
Mr. Hudgins
Combs 25
11:00- 12:15 TR

In his second inaugural address President Abraham Lincoln suggested, when it was still uncertain that the nation could reunite itself, that “the mystic chords of memory,” the web of history that connects region to region and generation to generation, would play a role in healing the nation’s wounds.  Lincoln knew, as you do, that there were in American history some themes that could drew the nation closer together, that the nation would thrive if it focused on themes of unity and cohesion rather than themes of disharmony and dissention.  While memory of America’s shared history was, in the winter of 1864, possible political tonic for the nation, it was also among the sources of what has been called “our national amnesia” on some historical subjects.  The search for a shared past, for a unifying past, encouraged the nation to look past its shortcomings, its failures and its historical unpleasantries.  That search was successful and became, ironically, one of the sources of our general failure as a nation to include most Americans in our own history.  You already know from previous course work in historic preservation that, beginning in the 1960s, the so-called “New Social History” began to recover some of the nation’s “lost history.”  You know too that historic preservation has been active in gathering what some scholars and activists have called “recovered memory,” one of the unanticipated, but beneficial, consequences of the preservation movement’s effort to connect the nation’s future to its past by saving its historic places and buildings.   

This advanced course is, on one level, an introduction to the methods and processes the nation, working through both private and public organizations, has sought, through the preservation and interpretation of places and buildings related to the African-American past, sought to recover, and honor, the contributions African-American men and women, slave and free, made to founding and flowering of our nation.  But, because this process is still very young, this course, organized as a seminar, will provide an opportunity for us to contribute to what we know and how we should protect it for future generations.   The Department of Historic Preservation has secured a significant grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to investigate slave housing in Virginia. Accordingly, we will devote some of our time and energy to that research effort.

In short, we will be learning about the African American experience, reviewing how it has been interpreted, and contributing to its recovery, analysis, and interpretation.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

I. TEXTS:    The following books are required and are available in the College Bookstore:

Edward D.C. Campbell, Jr., ed., Before Freedom Came: African-American Life in the Antebellum South.

                  Jennifer L. Eichstedt and Stephen Small, Representations of Slavery: Race and Ideology in Southern Plantation Museums.

                 Paul Shackel, Memory in Black and White: Race, Commemoration, and the Post-Bellum Landscape.

Richard Westmacott, African-American Gardens and Yards in the Rural South.

And . . .

Brian D. Joyner, African Reflections on the American Landscape (On Reserve in Room 25).

II. CLASS PARTICIPATION:  The success of this class depends largely on lively discussion of the assigned readings and what we discover in the course of our research.  There will be ample opportunities for each class member to lead our discussions and for everyone to contribute frequently and intelligently. 

III. EXAMINATION.  There will be a final examination on Thursday, December 14, noon to 2:30 p.m. 

IV. WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:  (1) Critique and Commentary, not longer than two, double-spaced typed pages, on the presentation of the African-American experience in the city of Fredericksburg. Due on September 7th.

 (2) From a list provided in class, each student will prepare a complete Bibliography which is to be accompanied by a Critical Assessment of the historical literature for that period that is to be not longer than three pages in length. Due on September 14th.  (3) A brief, not longer than two-page reflection on Fredericksburg’s “Slave Block” due on September 26th.   (4) An Analytical Assessment of a web site, chosen from a list provided in class, will be due on October 10th and 12.th   (5) Each student will select, from a list provided in class, a topic for which they will prepare a Catalog of Historic Images.  (6) Museum Assessment Report, a critical evaluation the interpretative programs sponsored by an area museum, will be due on November 30th and December 5th.

V. CLASS ATTENDANCE:  I will be there; you should too.

VI. LATE ASSIGNMENTS:  Assignments are due at the beginning of the class meeting on which they are due.  Unexcused late work will be severely punished by the loss of ten points, a full letter grade, per day.

VII. GRADING SCALE:  We will follow the University of Mary Washington grading system:

A                “Unusual Excellence” (93 or higher=A; 90-92=A-)
B                “Work Distinctly Above Average” (87-89=B+; 83-86=B; 80-82=B-)
C                “Work of Average Quality” (77-79=C+; 73-76=C; 70-72=C-)
D                Work of Below Average Quality (67-69=D+; 60-66=D)
F                Failure, No Credit” (0-59=F)

VIII. FINAL GRADE: Your final grade will be a composite of the Critique and Commentary (10%); the Bibliography (20%); Reflection on Slave Block (10%); the Web Site Assessment (20%); the Museum Assessment Report (20%); and your contribution to Class Discussions (20%).

IX. HONOR CODE:  This is one of The University of Mary Washington's distinguishing hallmarks and will frame our conduct in this class.

X. OFFICE HOURS: I will maintain office hours from 9:00 until 11:00 on Wednesdays and Fridays and from 10:00 until 11:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am also available by appointment and can be reached at the Department of History and American Studies where my e-mail address, should you need to communicate with me electronically, is chudgins@umw.edu. My office phone number is 654-1471; at home, I can be reached by phone at 368-9741.

CLASS SCHEDULE

I reserve the right to alter the topic of any class meeting, but the days on which papers, readings, and tests are due will not be changed.

CLASS TOPIC READING
PART ONE INTRODUCTIONS  
August 29  Introduction to the Course; Getting Organized. 
The African-American Experience and Its Modern Interpreters		  
August 31 Perils and Problems of Difficult History Shackel, 1-20;
BFC, 1-20
September 5 Historical Egos and Ideologies E&S, 1-22
September 7 Local Stories  
 
HOMEWORK DUE: Critique of Fredericksburg Interpretation
  
PART TWO BEFORE FREEDOM CAME: CULTURE AND CONTEXT  
September 12 The World of Plantation Slaves BFC, 21- 100
September 14 Contexts Within Contexts BFC, 101- 154
 
HOMEWORK DUE: Bibliographies
  
September 19 Possession of Everyday Things BFC, 155-175
September 21 Local Icons: A Field Exercise Meet at intersection of
William and Charles
September 26 Discussion: What Should Be Done?  
  HOMEWORK DUE: Reflections on Fredericksburg Slave Block  
PART THREE MUSEUMS AND MEMORY  
September 28 Remembrances of the Plantation Past E&S, 25-102
October 3 Enslaving Memory E&S, 105-169
October 5 Approaching the Past E&S, 170-230
October 10 Webs of History: Can We Improve? E&S, 233-170
 
HOMEWORK DUE: WEB SITE REPORTS
  
October 12 Webs of History: The State of the Field Joyner, all
 
HOMEWORK DUE: WEB SITE REPORTS
  
October 17 FALL BREAK  
October 19 Looking for the Lost Colony  
PART FOUR RECORDING THE FACTS  
October 24 Group Research  
October  26 Group Research  
October 28 Field Work  
October 31 Group Research  
PART FIVE RACE, WAR AND MEMORY IN THE NATIONAL PARKS  
November 2 Memory and the Movement toward Freedom Shackel, 21-75
 
HOMEWORK DUE: Catalog of Images
  
November 7 Remembering Slaves and Slavery Shackel, 77- 112
November 9 Contested Ground Shackel, 113-172
PART SIX MODERN LANDSCAPES  
November 14 Landscapes: Houses and Gardens Westmacott
November 16 Landscapes: Gardens and Gardeners Westmacott
PART SEVEN REMEMBERING THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT  
November 21 Discussion: Conscious Choices on Controversial Subjects:
Museums and the African-American Experience		 Patricia West
(On Reserve) 
November 23 THANKSGIVING  
November 28 Commemorating the Recent Past Shackel, 173-192
PART EIGHT IMPROVING HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDING  
November 30 Finding and Interpreting the Past: Reports and Discussion  
 
HOMEWORK DUE: MUSEUM REPORTS
  

December 5

 Finding and Interpreting the Past: Reports and Discussion  
 
HOMEWORK DUE: MUSEUM RPORTS
  
December 7 Closing Comments Shackel, 193-209

Canvas one of the following collections for historic photographs of slave houses, or houses reputed to be slave houses (delineator may be “slave cabins,” or “negro cabins,” or another combination of these terms):

  1. Valentine Museum
  2. Virginia Historical Society
  3. HABS
  4. American Memory (Library of Congress)
  5. Smithsonian
  6. W.P.A. (National Archives)
  7. Francis Benjamin Johnston (Library of Congress)
  8. Thomas T. Waterman (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)
  9. Carter G. Woodson Institute

Compile a bibliography of one of the following topics

  1. Urban slave dwellings in Virginia
  2. Plantation slave dwellings
  3. Eighteenth-century traveler’s accounts
  4. Nineteenth-century traveler’s accounts
  5. Nineteenth-century maps of Virginia (illustrated and annotated)
  6. Antebellum Slavery (1800 to 1865)
  7. Colonial Slavery (1600-1800)
  8. Freedman’s Bureau records
  9. Slave Resistance
  10. Slave Rebellions