About

Time and Place: TTh 1–2:15 p.m., Humanities 327
Office: Humanities Building 330 Phone: 713–348–2556
Email: caleb.mcdaniel@rice.edu

Each semester, students in HIST 423 read scholarship about a particular group of American radicals and then conduct independent research on a historical question related to course themes. In the Spring 2012 semester, we will be focusing on American abolitionism in the antebellum period.

In the four decades before the Civil War, a small but vocal group of radical abolitionists challenged Americans to destroy both slavery and racial inequality. Always a minority even in the free states, abolitionists also disagreed amongst themselves about the methods of agitation they should use, the relationship between slavery and other social evils, and much else.

In this course, we will seek to understand these radicals by reading the latest historical scholarship about them and by conducting independent research projects on some aspect of American abolitionism. In the process we will also consider general scholarly debates about American reform and radicalism and explore the methods that historians use to explain past movements, understand their aims, and gauge their effects on society at large. Among the questions we will consider are these: How is historical knowledge made? If the past is past, why are historical interpretations still so contested? What makes one historical interpretation better than another? How are interpretations of radicalism in the past shaped by the times in which historians themselves write?

Required Books

The following books are available at the bookstore on campus, with the exception of the first title, which must be purchased online from the bookseller of your choice. All required books will also be placed on reserve at Fondren Library.

  • Gale Kenny, Contentious Liberties: American Abolitionists in Post-Emancipation Jamaica, 1834–1866 (University of Georgia, 2010). Paperback edition released on December 1. ISBN: 978–0–8203–4045–6
  • Stanley Harrold, Subversives: Antislavery Community in Washington, D.C., 1828–1865 (Louisiana State University Press, 2003), ISBN: 978–0807128381. Paper.
  • Sean Wilentz, ed. David Walker’s Appeal (Hill and Wang, 1995). ISBN: 978–0809015818. Paper.
  • John Stauffer, The Black Hearts of Men: Radical Abolitionists and the Transformation of Race (Harvard University Press, 2004). ISBN: 978–0674013674. Paper.
  • Kathryn Kish Sklar, ed., Women’s Rights Emerges within the Antislavery Movement, 1830–1870 (Bedford/St. Martin’s). ISBN: 978–0312101442. Paper.
  • James Oakes, The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics (W. W. Norton & Company). ISBN: 978–0393330656. Paper.

General Policies

Attendance: Since discussion is a crucial part of this course, attendance is mandatory. Please be aware that more than three unexcused absences will result in a full letter grade deduction from your grade for “contributions to the seminar” for each additional absence since without your presence in the seminar, I cannot assess your performance on this assignment. If you miss more than once because of a chronic medical problem that arises during the course of the semester, you should contact me confidentially right away. All absences in case of medical or personal emergency must be documented to my satisfaction.

Classroom Civility: I expect everyone to treat other members of this course with respect, just as you have the right to expect the same from me. As part of that respect, please refrain from distracting activities during class, which include interrupting your classmates during discussion, or using cell phones or laptop computers to “text” or conduct personal business.

Honor Code: The Honor Code covers all work performed in this class, and all suspected cases of plagiarism and intellectual dishonesty will be reported to the Honor Council. If you are unclear at any time about what constitutes an Honor Code violation in this course, it is your responsibility to clarify the issue with me before any ambiguous case arises. Please take the time to read the Honor Council’s explanation of what constitutes plagiarism and intellectual dishonesty; don’t assume you know the definitions of those terms until you read the Honor System Handbook carefully.