Dr. Ted DeLaney

The Atlantic Slave Trade Thomas Clarkson, a British abolitionist produced and displayed the image to the right with his 1786 Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of Human Species. The same image has appeared in numerous abolitionist pamphlets and modern history textbooks. For additional reading on the slave trade see: -The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equino written by himself. -Curtin, Philip D. Economic Change in Pre-Colonial Africa: Senegambia in the Era of the Slave Trade. -Curtin, Philip D. The Rise and Fall of the Plantation Complex. -Thomas, Hugh. The Slave Trade.  The link below provides interesting data on the slave trade. Click on image at right  to make it larger.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• To engage in a comparative study of slavery in the New World in order to learn about African slavery in Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English America, through intensive reading, class discussions, and the development of research papers.
• To enrich this process through the use of computer technology in order to study the geographical spread of African slavery in the western hemisphere, and to use the computer as a means of sharing research, ideas, and the development of papers with one another.
• To use the computer as a possible means of engaging authors of assigned readings in our discussion about slavery.
• To use computer technology as a means of evaluating this course and the professor.

Required components:
1. Research proposal (5% of your course grade)
2. Bibliographic Essay (5%)
3. Abstract (5%)
4. Draft (5%)
5. Oral report (5%)
6. Final draft (25%)

Developing research papers requires careful, persistent, work that spans most of the semester. Students must submit specific components of this work according to the outline and schedule below:

I.  Research proposal, due 18 January 2001

By this date, you will have selected a specific topic for your seminar paper. On two or three typewritten pages, describe your plans in a research proposal. In this document you should provide detailed descriptions of at least three items relevant to your research.

a)  your specific topic and the tentative argument that you hope to make in the paper

b)  justification for both your paper and its argument; try to place your project within the context of work other historians have done

c)  information about the types of sources you have found to date, particularly primary sources

II. Bibliographic Essay, due  1 February 2001

This will not be the complete bibliography for your paper, but a preliminary one with comments. There should be two components to this assignment:

a)  a brief essay (one or two pages in length) which discusses your search for both primary and secondary sources. Account for your progress thus far. You could, for instance, give the number of primary sources found to date, leads on additional primary materials, and plans for obtaining them. Explain research done both in the archival sources at Washington & Lee and other places

b) list all of the sources that you have actually examined, and identify the ones you will use when writing the paper. I fully expect a substantial list divided into the following categories: 1. primary sources; 2. monographs; 3. journal articles and other secondary materials. After each item provide a brief annotation (two to four complete sentences) which assesses the content and usefulness of the source.

III. Abstract, due 27 February 2001

For this assignment, prepare a short précis or digest of the actual content of your paper. Since you have now completed all of your research and analysis and are in the process of formulating the first draft, the abstract should be simple enough to complete. It provides an encapsulated version of your paper. Though written in essay form with sentences and paragraphs, it is somewhat like an outline. Limit yourself to two pages; describe the content of your introduction; the body of the paper, and the conclusion. Make sure the abstract focuses on the central argument of your paper. This assignment also requires you to use the title of your paper.

IV. Drafts, due 8 March 2001

Strive to make this as close to a final draft as possible. Before submitting the draft clean up your prose, and attempt to tighten your argument. Also be careful to format your endnotes or footnotes, and bibliography according to Kate L. Turabian. Paper grades will reflect both prose and format as well as content.

V. Oral reports, due 27 March to 3 April as individually scheduled

Plan to make a 10 to 15 minute presentation of your research and conclusions to the other members of the seminar. Provide relevant background for your topic and an overview of your focus. Your argument and the evidence which supports it should be the central part of the presentation. Avoid side tangents or lengthy discussion of the details. Record questions and comments after your discussion and resolve to clarify them in the final paper.

VI. Final papers, due 5 April 2001.

This should be the best paper you have ever written and indicative of the work of someone who is a junior or senior in a highly competitive university. By now you should have perfected your argument and your prose. The bibliography and the endnotes or footnotes should be flawless. Make sure the length of the paper falls within the minimum 12 to 15 page requirement. You may use 20 pages if necessary.

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Required reading:

Allison, Robert J., editor. The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano written by Himself.
Blackburn, Robin, The Making of New World Slavery.
Curtin, Philip D. The Rise and Fall of the Plantation Complex.
Dunn, Richard S. Sugar and Slaves.
Genovese, Eugene D. Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made.
James, C. L. R. The Black Jacobins
Mattoso, Katia de Queiros. To Be a Slave in Brazil.
Panzer, Joel. The Popes and Slavery.