Educational offer - University of Padova

Syllabus

Prerequisites:	None. Exams in Modern History and Contemporary History are advised but not compulsory.
Target skills and knowledge:	By the end of the course, the student will be able to master the main features of African Americans’ historical experience from the 1619 introduction of the first slaves to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection to the White House, with special reference to the timing and dynamics of blacks’ accommodation within U.S. politics, as well as to discuss the leading scholarly interpretations of these. events.
Examination methods:	Oral exam on the issues addressed during classes and/or in the "textbooks" section of the syllabus.
Assessment criteria:	Ability to discuss the issues addressed during classes and/or in the “textbooks” section of the syllabus; clarity in expressing one’s ideas and arguments.
Course unit contents:	BLACK AMERICA Fifty years after Martin Luther King Jr. made his historical appeal for racial integration and equality on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, notwithstanding the achievement of a second term at the White House on the part of the first African-American president in U.S. history, almost all the socio-economic indexes and parameters about the quality of life point to the persistence of a remarkable gap between blacks and whites. Moreover, the recent ruling about the case of Trayvon Martin raises doubts about African Americans’ real chance of enjoying the benefits of racial justice half a century after securing full civil and political rights by means of the enforcement of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. In order to make a contribution to an understanding of the reasons for the enduring disparity between blacks and whites in present-day U.S. society, the course intends to outline the main eras in the African-American experience from the introduction of slavery in early seventeenth-century British colonial America to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection as president. Classes will focus especially on the inconsistency between, on the one hand, a centuries-old notion of the United States as the land of opportunities and equality and, on the other, the plight of African Americans. Actually, in blatant contrast with the claim for the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness underlying the legitimacy of the establishment of the United States as a sovereign nation, most blacks spent their lives in chains until the abolition of slavery in 1865 and, even thereafter, were subjected to forms of racial discrimination that took the legal shape of formal segregation in the South for roughly a century following the emancipation. In particular, although the fifteenth amendment enfranchised black males in 1870, the latter were usually barred from the polls by intimidation, violence, and surreptitious measures dodging the Constitutional requirement in the former slave states until 1965. Against this backdrop, the course will pay attention to African Americans' slow and troubled accommodation within U.S. politics, with specific reference to the arduous conquest of the right to vote and access to elective offices. The timing and dynamics of this process offer relevant criteria to evaluate the degree of democracy and inclusiveness of minorities by U.S. society, especially within the context of the regulatory framework that shaped the room for African Americans' political participation, both in the sphere of legislation and in the field of jurisprudence. Moreover, classes will address the main and multifaceted historiographic interpretations of these events, within a perspective that will take it into account the growing scholarly interest in the movements from the bottom up to which the black community gave birth over time in order to secure racial equality.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods:	Frontal teaching with discussions during classes.
Additional notes about suggested reading:	ATTENTION!!! The syllabus refers to an exam for NINE CFU. Students with SIX CFU in their learning agreements are invited to contact the instructor for a readjustment of the exam program. The reading of the texts listed in the syllabus can be confined to the pages specified.
Textbooks (and optional supplementary readings)	Cartosio, Bruno, L’esperienza afro-americana e la storiografia: pregiudizi, cancellazioni, confini. "Acoma": vol. I, n. 1, primavera, 1994. pp. 31-39, scaricabile gratuitamente all’indirizzo Internet http://www.acoma.it/pdfvolumi/volume01/1cartosio.pdf. Dal Lago, Enrico e Rick Halpern, La schiavitù nella storiografia americana: trent’anni di dibattiti. “Acoma”: vol. VII, n. 18, inverno, 2000. pp. 86-95, scaricabile gratuitamente all’indirizzo Internet http://www.acoma.it/pdfvolumi/volume18/18dallagohalpern.pdf. Ginzburg Migliorino, Ellen, La marcia immobile. Storia dei neri americani dal 1770 al 1970. Milano: Selene, 1994. pp. 19-72, 83-103. Francis G. Couvares, Martha Saxton, Gerald N. Grob e George Athan Billias (a cura di), Interpretations of American History. Patterns and Perspectives, vol. I, Through Reconstruction. Boston-New York: St. Martin's Press, 2009. pp. 96-108, 274-89. Joseph, Peniel E., The Black Power Movement: A State of the Field. “Journal of American History”: vol. XCVI, n. 3, dicembre, 2008. pp. 751-76, scaricabile gratuitamente all’indirizzo Internet http://www.penielejoseph.com/StateoftheField.pdf. Luconi, Stefano, Gli afro-americani dalla guerra civile alla presidenza di Obama. Padova: Cleup, 2011. Luconi, Stefano, Dalle piantagioni allo studio ovale. L’inserimento degli afro-americani nella politica statunitense. Padova: Cleup, 2013. Venturini, Nadia, Il movimento afro-americano per i diritti civili. “Passato e Presente”: vol. XXVI, n. 74, maggio-agosto, 2008. pp. 133-48. [articolo su rivista posseduta dal sistema bibliotecario di Ateneo].