HIST 253
Discuss the African American History since Reconstruction
Midterm
In 1933, Dr. Carter G. Woodson published The Mis-Education of the Negro (Lauryn Hill fans may recognize the title), a magisterial work that argued African American students were being denied access to African American history.
Not only was African American history ignored, Woodson argued, but students were actually being indoctrinated into believing the superiority of European/Euro-American history in relation to black history, which was dismissed, distorted, and interpreted as lesser. Woodson wrote: “When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder.
He will find his ‘proper place’ and will stay in it.” It was this belief in the value of teaching African American history that led Woodson to help found the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, an organization which called for the creation of “Negro History Week” in February (the week marked the respective birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass).
It is 1939 and you are a teacher who has heard Woodson’s call and are determined to teach African American history as he desired during “Negro History Week.” One school week…that would be five (5) one-hour lectures to teach all of African American history from Reconstruction until the 1930s.
Explain your five lecture topics, how you would organize the course, and justify your selections with evidence from the course texts and readings. Please cite your references, noting both the source and page numbers (when appropriate).
You will not be able to include everything; you are going to have to make choices. I will not accept lectures that could not be realistically conveyed in one hour (also please note that I am not asking you write out your lecture, but rather describe, explain, and justify your lecture topics in an essay).
You are presenting an argument in this exam (and you are not beholden in any manner to how I have structured the course) and, as such, you are presenting an interpretation of what is most significant for African American history during the time period (1877 until the Great Depression). Remember, this is not about an opinion; opinions are easy. This is about an argument and the evidence you marshal to prove that your approach is best. A Douglas Adams quote about interpretation is very useful here:
Well, in history, even though the understanding of events, of cause and effect, is a matter of interpretation, and even though interpretation is in many ways a matter of opinion, nevertheless those opinions and interpretations are honed to within an inch of their lives in the withering crossfire of argument and counterargument, and those that are still standing are then subjected to a whole new round of challenges of fact and logic from the next generation of historians—and so on. All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated, and well-supported in logic and argument than others.
