HISTORY 394: African American History Before 1877

Course Description

This course examines the broad range of experiences of African Americans from the 16th century to the end of Reconstruction. The course will devote particular attention to the origins and development of the Atlantic slave trade and slavery in America, the abolition of slavery in the North in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the development of free Black communities, the development of the plantation system, insurrections by enslaved peoples, abolitionists, and other forms of protest ranging from armed rebellion to the creation of Black institutions throughout the first half of the 19th century. The course will also explore the extension of slavery and its connection to national political issues that culminate in the Civil War as well as African American participation in the Civil War and Reconstruction.