Required Readings
A History of the Slave South
Week One (January 20-January 26) Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano; Or, Gustavus Vassa (1789). (Read Only: Frontmatter, Chapters 1 and 2)
Week Two (January 27-February 02) State of Virginia, "Enactment of Hereditary Slavery" (1662) State of South Carolina, "An Act for the Better Ordering and Governing Negroes and Other Slaves in this Province" (1740).
Week Three (February 03-February 09) William Byrd II, "William Bryd II to Charles Boyle, Earl of Orrery" (1726). (Read Only: Pages 59-62). [Alternative link for students outside the U.S.]Earl of Dunmore, "Proclamation" (1775). Thomas Jefferson, "The Declaration of Independence" (1776).
Week Four (February 10-February 16) Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (1785). (Read Only: Queries XIV and XVIII)
Week Five (February 17-February 23) Committee and Council of the Cherokee Nation "Address of the Committee and Council of the Cherokee Nation Convened to the People of the United States" (1830).Charles Ball, Fifty Years in Chains; Or, The Life of an American Slave (1859). (Read Only: Chapters 2 and 5)
Week Six (February 24-March 02) James Henry Hammond, "Letter to an English Abolitionist" (1845).
Week Seven (March 03-March 09) Solomon Northrup, Twelve Years a Slave (1853). (Read Only: Chapter XII)Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861). (Read Only: Chapters V, VI, VII, X, and XIV)
Week Eight (March 10-March 16) State of Georgia, "Georgia Platform" (1850).James Henry Hammond, "Cotton is King Speech" (1858).State of Mississippi, "A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union" (1860).
Week Nine (March 17-March 23) The Confederate States of America, "The Confederate Constitution" (1861). Hover over the passages in red to see Professor McCurry's notes about the changes in relation to the U.S. Constitution.Alexander Stephens, "Corner Stone Speech" (1861).
Week Ten (March 24-March 30) Patrick Cleburne, "Patrick Cleburne's Proposal to Arm Slaves" (1864).