Sociology 307
African American Social Thought
Fall 2002
Dr. Scott SchafferFirst Paper Assignment: Slavery to Reconstruction
Due Date: Friday October 4/2002 at the start of class. No late papers will be accepted without advance warning, a gravely serious excuse, and copious documentation.
Rules of the Game: This paper is to be a minimum of five (5) full and complete pages in length; there is no maximum length for the paper, so you should write until your paper is fully developed. Your paper must be typewritten, double-spaced, on 8 1/2" by 11" paper. Your paper must have a cover page, on which a creative title ("First Paper Assignment" is simply not creative enough), your name, the number of the topic to which you're responding, and any other pertinent information should appear; your name should not appear anywhere else in the paper.
Your paper must be spell- and grammar-checked; papers that have copious errors will automatically lose two full letter grades and may be returned for editing; if returned, you will have three calendar days to resubmit the paper or you will receive a zero on the assignment. This will also ensure that any other papers submitted in a shoddy fashion will receive a zero (0). You should follow all guidelines in the "How to Write a Schaffer Paper" handout; these guidelines will serve as the basis for my evaluation of your work. And finally, no direct quotations are permitted in this paper; any materials you use to support your argument must be paraphrased in your own words and cited following the guidelines in the paper-writing handout.
The Topics: You are to choose one of the following topics and develop an argument-based response to the boldfaced question in the topic of your choice. You must utilize at least five (5) articles from the Civil Rights Since 1787 book, and at least two (2) of the three slave narratives we've read so far this semester. A works cited page listing the resources you've used, following the bibliographic format listed in the "How to Write a Schaffer Paper" handout, is required. Failure to include all seven required sources or the bibliography will result in deductions as listed in the course syllabus. No outside sources are permitted for this paper.
Please note that each of the paper topics contains an outline within it. You should not think of each of the subtopics as requiring one-sentence responses; instead, be sure to fully and completely explain how it is you came to make the claims you do, and show how you're using the sources from the course to support those claims. Also, be sure to detail the criteria by which you're evaluating the changes discussed in each topic as "positive" or "beneficial."
1. One of the more contentious elements during the transition from the era of slavery into Reconstruction was the concept of who counted as a member of "humanity." Outline the structural norms of humanity during these two eras, showing how each conception of humanity operated on each of the three levels of analysis. Then, compare dominant and subaltern conceptions of humanity in each era and how they were similar or different. Finally, respond to this question: To what extent do you think that the transition from slavery to Reconstruction represented a positive or beneficial change in the conception of and practice of humanity, and why?
2. As we have seen so far, economic rationales played an important part in the maintenance of slavery and in the social policies developed during Reconstruction. Outline the main economic ideas regarding people as homo oeconomicus (economic beings) during each era, showing how these ideas operated at each of the three levels of analysis. Then, compare the dominant and subaltern conceptions of people as economic beings and how they were similar or different. Finally, respond to this question: To what extent do you think that the transition from slavery to Reconstruction represented a positive or beneficial change in the way people were conceived of in the economy, and why?