Syllabus and Outline for History 316:
Southern Culture

Instructor: Van Plexico

Contact info: (770) 806-1555

email:  vplexico@bellsouth.net

Text: Cooper, William J., and Thomas E. Terrill. The American South: A History. Second Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.

Course Description: This course is designed to involve students in an examination of the meaning of "Southern" through the history and culture of the southern United States. We will discuss key events, individuals, groups, and trends in Southern history and seek to understand their impact on the region, its people and institutions, and the nation as a whole.

Paper Assignment: Research paper of no fewer than four pages (in addition to a "Sources Consulted" page), focusing on any major event, person, period, or idea in Southern history or culture. Topic must be approved by instructor no later than the third class meeting. Papers are due at the fifth class meeting.

At least six sources must be used in the paper, and at least four of them must be primary sources. Some amount of description of the topic itself is allowed, but the majority of the paper must focus on analysis. The following questions should be addressed in the analysis: How do the secondary sources agree or disagree on the subject, and what do you find in your primary sources that supports or opposes any or all of these views? Finally, why is this topic important-why should someone who is studying Southern history and culture need to know about this?

Illustrations and other supporting materials are encouraged and welcomed, but do not count toward the page requirements. Papers must be turned in on time and are not accepted after the final class meeting.

Paper Presentation: During our fifth and final class meeting, students will give brief presentations of their research. This should not be a direct reading of your paper aloud-practice and prepare sufficiently beforehand to present your findings without reading directly from your paper.

Grading: Students will take a midterm and a final exam, participate in study group discussions and class discussions, and prepare a literature review, which will be presented orally. For study group preparation, read the pages indicated and answer the questions in brief outline form, in preparation for class discussion. Include page numbers in the text where the information you want to include can be found.

Component             Points                  Total Points               Grade

Midterm Exam          200                        630-700                        A

Final Exam                200                       560-629                         B

Paper Assignment     200                       490-559                         C

Class Discussion       100                      420-489                          D

                                                           below 420                         F

Attendance: According to the school's official policy, a maximum of two absences are allowed from this class. If you must miss a class, please contact me in advance, if possible. I do not generally accept late assignments or allow make-up exams unless arrangements have been made in advance.

Cheating: This includes both copying from someone else's exam and plagiarism on the literature reviews. Each source used in your papers should be documented using the style shown in your manual. Penalty for violation is a "0" on the exam or paper.

Course Outline

Class 1

· Introduction

· Discussion:

Chapter 1-pp. 7-12, 22-23, 26-30

1. What different groups of people inhabited, colonized, or visited the South during the Colonial era (before 1776) and what became of each of them?

2. For what reasons was the colony of Georgia established? How successful was the colony?

Chapter 2

3. What economic and/or social classes existed in the Colonial South, and what distinguished them from one another?

4. How did slavery come to Georgia?

Chapter 5-pp.97-98

5. How did Southerners begin to see themselves as distinct, during the 1770s-1780s?

Chapter 8-pp. 185-191

6. In general, how would you describe the Southern economy in the years between 1812 and 1861? In what condition was the economy just prior to the start of the Civil War, in 1861, and why?

Chapter 9

7. In what ways did the institution of slavery differ in the 1840s and 1850s from previous years?

8. How was slavery managed on the farm or plantation level? What roles/jobs existed, and who filled those roles?

Chapter 10

9. What major events impacted the institution of slavery in the late 18th and early 19th centuries? In what ways did they affect it?

10. Briefly describe the diet, dress, housing, and religion of slaves. How similar or different were these from white Southern diet, dress, housing, and religion?

11. In what ways did slave rebellion manifest itself in the South? Was it effective or not, and why might this have been so?

Class 2

· Discussion:

Ch. 12
1. The textbook states that in the South, "Before 1860, class conflict did not threaten
social order." What are the main reasons why this might be true?

2. How did the place of women in society in the South compare with that in the North? How might it have been changing in the years prior to the Civil War?

Ch. 14-pp. 315-328
3. How would you describe the Southern reaction to the presidential campaign and election of 1860? What were the major issues that caused them to feel this way?

4. Who were the fire-eaters, and what was their goal? What role did they play in the secession of the Southern states?

Ch. 15-pp. 357-364
5. How was Southern society impacted during the Civil War? How did it affect the wealthy, slaves, and women?

6. Did the North win the war, or did the South lose it? What are some reasons why both of these statements might be true?

Ch. 16-pp. 365-378, 383-390
7. How did Port Royal, SC, demonstrate the odd circumstances surrounding the freeing of former slaves? How did the former slaves respond to this new opportunity, and what challenges did they meet?

8. How did Carl Schurz describe white Southern attitudes after the war?

9. What evidence does the textbook offer to support or oppose the idea of Radical Reconstruction as a "Tragic Era" for the South?

10. Who were carpetbaggers and scalawags?

Ch. 17-pp. 401-420
11. Cotton played what role in the Southern economy after the Civil War? Why was this so?

Video: The Civil War (Ken Burns)

Class 3

· Midterm Exam

· Discussion:

Ch. 18-pp. 445-446

1. 1. What does the term "Solid South" mean? What has "one-party politics" meant for the South?

Ch. 21-pp. 521-534

2. What was the "Atlanta Compromise?" Did it represent progress for African-Americans, or the opposite?

3. What was "Jim Crow," what did it seek to accomplish, and how was it kept in place and in force? What were some reasons why it existed at all?

Ch. 23-pp. 600-602

4. Why did the Ku Klux Klan re-emerge in America in the 1920s? How successful was it during this decade?

Ch. 24

5. How did the Scopes Trial affect the South's image in the eyes of the rest of the country?

6. How did the South's religious nature diverge from that of the rest of the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?

7. What was significant and/or important about the novels of William Faulkner?

Ch. 25

8. How did the Great Depression change (or not change) politics in the South, and the South's role in national politics?

9. Why did Southern Democrats break with FDR's New Deal and the national Democratic Party, beginning around 1936?

10. In general, what were some ways in which World War II brought the beginnings of change to the South?

Class 4

· Videos:

"Setting the Woods on Fire, pt. 2" from The American Experience

Martin Luther King, Jr. Biography from A&E Biography

School Prayer in Mississippi (video from PBS)

· Discussion:

Ch. 26

1. What did Rosa Parks contribute to the Civil Rights Movement?

2. What was Brown vs. Board? What was the reaction of whites to this decision?

3. How much did the Kennedy Administration achieve in civil rights?

4. How did the Voting Rights Act come to be?

Ch. 27

5. How did Jimmy Carter differ from other Southern governors of his time? How did this affect his run for the US Presidency? Did he win the traditional Southern Democrat vote?

6. What geographical arrangement of the South was suggested in the text, based on economic prosperity levels?

Ch. 28

7. How did the South become more "metropolitan" after the 1940s?

8. Which Southern individuals, attitudes, and movements, from pages 749-759, would you rate as most important to the South and the nation?

Class 5

· Final Exam

· Presentations

· Paper Due