HIST 4100 Voices of Slavery

A study of chattel slavery in the United States through the words and remembrances of enslaved people from 1600-1877. The course will focus on slave narratives from the Colonial and Antebellum eras. Topics include African slavery, the slave trade, slave culture, family life, motherhood, methods of resistance, religion, self-emancipation and the Reconstruction period. This course also introduces students to basic theoretical approaches to understanding the past through the historiography of slavery. Special emphasis is placed on research methods, resources and the composition of a research essay. This course is designed for majors and students interested in the theories and techniques used by historians to investigate the past through the study of chattel slavery.