HIS 438 / WMS 388:

African American Women’s History and Culture

Course Description: This course surveys the history of African-American women from the colonial period through the twentieth century. We will look at the relationship between major political, social, and cultural developments and the lives of women, and we will trace the changing definition of gender in history. We also will examine the varieties of female experience, focusing on such aspects as class, religion, and age. Topics for lecture and discussion include: women’s work in and outside of the home, women in the family, women in social reform movements, and suffrage/feminist politics. Our approach will be both chronological and thematic. This course satisfies Afro-American Studies history option.

Course Requirements: Attendance at lectures and films and informed participation in class discussions are mandatory (10% of your final grade). Students take two essay exams (40%) and submit three papers (50%).
One paper will be based on the Valley of the Shadow website OR the From Slavery to Freedom website OR womhist.binghamton.edu/wctu2/doclist.htm

Required Reading:
Paula Giddings’s When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America
Susie King Taylor’s A Black Woman’s Civil War Memoirs
Maxine Leeds Craig’s Ain’t I a Beauty Queen?
Articles can be found on Reserve in the library

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