American Studies 430  
The South 
11:00-12:25, T-Th
SB108
Spring, 2001
Roger Williams University
Michael R. H. Swanson
Office:  CAS 111
Hours: 9:00-10:00 M, T, Th, F
or by appointment
Phone:  401 254 3230
For Tuesday, February 27                                            The Civil War and its Aftermath

READ: In The South, A History
Chapter 15: The Confederate Experience pp. 338-364
Chapter 16: After the War pp. 365-383

In Major Problems in the South, from Chapter 2
#1, Constitutional Amendments 13, 14, 15
#2 The Military Reconstruction Act
#3 J. R. Johnson Preaches on Marriage Covenants and Legal Rights
#4 Edward Coleman Seeks Child Custody pp. 29-34

ESSAY "The Marriage Covenant is at the Foundation..." 40-44

INTERNET ASSIGNMENT:
Race and Place: African Americans and the Freedmen's Bureau in Augusta County, Virginia is a wonderful site created by students at the University of Virginia. Visit it at http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow2/HIUS403/freedmen/bureau.html, and click on the picture by "Family Services". Download and read the "Family Services" section, which will give you a further insight into the essay on the marriage covenant, and also an alternate view of the Freedman's Bureau to compare with that in Birth of a Nation.

Among the services the Freedmen's Bureau attempted to provide was the reuniting of slave families separated by sale or by the chaos that follows war.  The illustration to the left, taken from a Northern source, shows a marriage being conducted by a northern missionary.  Click on the picture or on the link above to visit this site.  From there you can locate documentation of individual cases.  Find the time to follow one of them.  You'll find it fascinating and thought provoking.
TUESDAY NIGHT: OUR SECOND FILM
GONE WITH THE WIND...

7:00 South Hall 129, on the Penny Arcade Series

Essay on GWTW will be due on Tuesday, March 6.
Instructions:
Length: 1-2 pp. Typed.

Analyze the stereotypes in Gone With the Wind. Which of the male characters most represents the Southern Cavalier Ideal? In what ways? Does he have any "flaws" which deviate from that ideal? Which of the female characters most represents the Cavalier Ideal, does she have any flaws which deviate from that ideal? In what ways?
Read: in The South: A History
Chapter 16: After the War, pp. 383-400

In Major Problems in the South, from Chapter 2
#5. A Southern Newspaper Denounces Reconstruction 1869
#6. Congressional Testimony on the Ku Klux Klan, 1871
#7. Instructions to Red Shirts in South Carolina, 1876
#8, Thomas Nast Views Reconstruction, pp. 34-39

Essays,

"Carpetbaggers in Reality"
"Black Activism and the Ku Klux Klan pp. 40-56
INTERNET ASSIGNMENT:
Download and read "A Hundred Years of Terror" a brief history of the Ku Klux Klan found at http://www.unf.edu/dept/equalop/oeop11.htm   This day's readings focus at the southern reaction to the attempts by the North to "reconsctruct" southern culture in the Civil War's aftermath.  The readings should clarify a number of the observations made by D. W. Griffith's film.  Recognize, perhaps, that Griffith's observations have some historical accuracy to them.  His approval of them is what shocks us most today.
For Thursday, March 1                                                          Reactions and Responses: