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The African Diaspora: Blacks
in the Atlantic World
Prof. Nemata Blyden
University of Texas at Dallas, Spring 2003
Course Outline and format
This course will explore themes linking peoples of Africa and African heritage
in Africa, the United States, the West Indies and Latin America. Topics
to be explored include the transatlantic slave trade; comparative slavery;
African cultures and African survivals in the New World; West Indian and
African-American emigration to Africa; African immigration to the New World
and the Pan-African Movement. Emphasis will be placed on links between
blacks in Africa, the West Indies and the United States, the cultural and
political influences they had, and continue to have on each other and the
legacy that has remained in these areas today.
Course Requirements
Each student will be required to do all the readings for the course and will
be expected to participate in class discussions. The course grade will
consist of a mid-term paper (30%), a final paper (30%), 3 quizzes (20%)
and class participation and attendance (20%).
Texts
The following are the required texts for the course. Other supplementary
readings of both primary and secondary readings will be assigned as necessary.
All texts are on reserve at the McDermott Library.
Conniff & Davis, Michael & Thomas Davis, Africans in the Americas
Jalloh, Alusine & Stephen Maizlish, The African Diaspora
Phillips, Caryl, Crossing the River
Oladuah Equiano, The interesting life of Olaudah Equiano
COURSE SYLLABUS
June 8: Introductions and introduction to course
June 10: The African Diaspora-Approaches to study
Joseph Harris, The Dynamics of the Global African Diaspora in Jalloh and Maizlish, The African Diaspora
Film: Africa, Part 1: "Separate but equal"
June 15:The African & European background
Michael Conniff & Thomas Davis, Africans in the Americas , Part 1 (pp. 1-5), Ch. 1 & 2
Colin Palmer, Defining and Studying the Modern African Diaspora in Perspectives, Vol. 36, # 6 (September 1998) (handout)
Film: Africa, Part 3: "Caravans of Gold"
June 17: Slavery in Africa
Joseph Inikori, Slavery in Africa and the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Jalloh and Maizlish, The African Diaspora
Oladuah Equiano, The interesting life of Olaudah Equiano, Note, Preface & Ch. 1 & 2
Film: "Slavery from the African Perspective"
June 22:The slave trade QUIZ 1
Conniff & Davis, Part 2 (p 65-69)
Equiano, Ch. 3 - 7
Film: "Ship of Slaves"
June 24: Slave Trade
Equiano, Ch. 8 - 12
Film: "Son of Africa "
June 29: Slavery in the New World
Conniff & Davis, Ch. 3,4, & 7
July 1: Slavery MID-TERM PAPER DUE
Colin Palmer, "Rethinking American Slavery" in Jalloh and Maizlish, The African Diaspora
Film: "Sankofa"
July 6: Cultural links and survivals QUIZ 2
Douglas Chambers, He is an African But Speaks Plain, in Jalloh and Maizlish, The African Diaspora
Conniff & Davis, pp. 58-62
Film: "Yonder come day"
July 8: Blacks in Europe, Caribbean and South America
Conniff & Davis, Ch 5 & 6
Film: "Sugar Cane Alley"
July 13: The Latin American connection
Conniff & Davis, Ch. 11
Dale Garden, "This city has too many slaves joined together" in Jalloh and Maizlish, The African Diaspora
Film: "Black Orpheus"
July 15: Resistance, Antislavery and Emancipation
Conniff & Davis, pp. 62-64, 97-98, 133-137
Conniff & Davis, Part 3, Ch. 8,9 & 10
Film: "Burn"
July 20: Back to Africa & Trans-Atlantic connections QUIZ 3
Caryl Phillips, Crossing the River
Film: "Family Across the Sea"
July 22: Pan-Africanism
Conniff & Davis, Ch. 15 & Afterword
Film: Story of English, Program 5 "Black on White"
July 26: FINAL PAPER DUE
© 2004 by The President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Created April 2004.