Courses Taught (Undergraduate)
AAST 201 - Intro to African American Studies: A basic outline of the diversity and complexity of the African-American experience in the United States: the early academic and social concerns of Black Studies advocates; the changes in the field's objectives that arise from its connections to contemporary social movements for Black Power, women's liberation and multiculturalism; and its major theoretical and critical debates.
BUI 301 - Slavery, Emancipation and the University of Alabama (Fall 2018 Syllabus)
This course introduces students to the major themes, issues, and questions related to slavery and emancipation at the University of Alabama and surrounding Tuscaloosa community. Students will explore this unique and often underappreciated topic of campus history, lives of the enslaved, and consequences for the postwar African American and University communities through readings, in-class discussions, field trips to university archives and museums, written assignments grounded in primary and secondary sources, and a group pop-museum exhibit centered on the postbellum lives of formerly enslaved African Americans and institutions established in the broader Tuscaloosa community.
AAST 319 - 19th Century Black History: This course will examine the role of black Americans in American life from the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century, with emphasis on the institutions and events of the 1800s.
AAST 303 - Southern Black Education History: A study of the "miseducation" of Africans in America. The course explores education for blacks from West Africa at the middle of the second millennium and early American society to the emergence of the separate school system of the 19th and 20th centuries. Over the semester, emphasis is placed on education for southern African Americans under slavery, emergence of the separate school system of the 19th and 20th centuries, and post-Brown vs. Board of Education decision.
AAST 395 - The Civil War Still Lives: Race, Memory and the Politics of Reunion (Special Topics): For over 150 years, the Civil War occupies a prominent place in our national memory and has served to both unite and divide Americans. This course will explore the various ways in which Americans have chosen to remember their civil war through reunions, monuments and memorials, histories, literature, film, museums as well as other forms of popular culture. We will examine how memory of the war changed over time as well as the political implications for Civil War memory, the nation, and identity in understanding both historical and contemporary debates. We will pay particular attention to the way in which the war has been remembered and commemorated here at the University of Alabama.
AAST 402: After Slavery - African American Experience During Reconstruction, 1865-1890 (Special Topics): This course introduces students to the major themes, issues, and questions related to emancipation and the African American experience at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa community, and state of Alabama. Students will explore the consequences of emancipation and the postwar rebuilding process for African American, University, and Tuscaloosa communities through readings, in-class discussions, field trips to university archives and museums, written assignments grounded in primary and secondary sources, and a final public history project centered on the postbellum lives of formerly enslaved African Americans and institutions established in the broader Tuscaloosa community.
AAST 401 - Black Intellectual Thought: An upper level seminar designed to provide students with an in-depth study of major intellectual debates and movements that have shaped the politics, history and identities of the people of African descent in the United States and the African diaspora. The course will combine methodologies and concepts from multiple disciplines including, history, political theory, literature, women's studies, sociology, psychology and philosophy.
AAST 495 - 19th Century Black Women's Activism (Special Topics): This upper level seminar is designed to provide students with an in-depth study of major intellectual debates and movements that have shaped black women’s activism over the nineteenth century. Core themes will be politics of exclusion; postbellum efforts in defining American citizenship, and clubwomen and progressive era activism and reform. Readings, discussions and assignments will examine and seek to develop an understanding of conventional and unconventional activists, major themes and questions, and contributions for understanding the African American experience as well as questions of identity and citizenship in the United States.
BUI 301 - Slavery, Emancipation and the University of Alabama (Fall 2018 Syllabus)
This course introduces students to the major themes, issues, and questions related to slavery and emancipation at the University of Alabama and surrounding Tuscaloosa community. Students will explore this unique and often underappreciated topic of campus history, lives of the enslaved, and consequences for the postwar African American and University communities through readings, in-class discussions, field trips to university archives and museums, written assignments grounded in primary and secondary sources, and a group pop-museum exhibit centered on the postbellum lives of formerly enslaved African Americans and institutions established in the broader Tuscaloosa community.
AAST 319 - 19th Century Black History: This course will examine the role of black Americans in American life from the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century, with emphasis on the institutions and events of the 1800s.
AAST 303 - Southern Black Education History: A study of the "miseducation" of Africans in America. The course explores education for blacks from West Africa at the middle of the second millennium and early American society to the emergence of the separate school system of the 19th and 20th centuries. Over the semester, emphasis is placed on education for southern African Americans under slavery, emergence of the separate school system of the 19th and 20th centuries, and post-Brown vs. Board of Education decision.
AAST 395 - The Civil War Still Lives: Race, Memory and the Politics of Reunion (Special Topics): For over 150 years, the Civil War occupies a prominent place in our national memory and has served to both unite and divide Americans. This course will explore the various ways in which Americans have chosen to remember their civil war through reunions, monuments and memorials, histories, literature, film, museums as well as other forms of popular culture. We will examine how memory of the war changed over time as well as the political implications for Civil War memory, the nation, and identity in understanding both historical and contemporary debates. We will pay particular attention to the way in which the war has been remembered and commemorated here at the University of Alabama.
AAST 402: After Slavery - African American Experience During Reconstruction, 1865-1890 (Special Topics): This course introduces students to the major themes, issues, and questions related to emancipation and the African American experience at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa community, and state of Alabama. Students will explore the consequences of emancipation and the postwar rebuilding process for African American, University, and Tuscaloosa communities through readings, in-class discussions, field trips to university archives and museums, written assignments grounded in primary and secondary sources, and a final public history project centered on the postbellum lives of formerly enslaved African Americans and institutions established in the broader Tuscaloosa community.
AAST 401 - Black Intellectual Thought: An upper level seminar designed to provide students with an in-depth study of major intellectual debates and movements that have shaped the politics, history and identities of the people of African descent in the United States and the African diaspora. The course will combine methodologies and concepts from multiple disciplines including, history, political theory, literature, women's studies, sociology, psychology and philosophy.
AAST 495 - 19th Century Black Women's Activism (Special Topics): This upper level seminar is designed to provide students with an in-depth study of major intellectual debates and movements that have shaped black women’s activism over the nineteenth century. Core themes will be politics of exclusion; postbellum efforts in defining American citizenship, and clubwomen and progressive era activism and reform. Readings, discussions and assignments will examine and seek to develop an understanding of conventional and unconventional activists, major themes and questions, and contributions for understanding the African American experience as well as questions of identity and citizenship in the United States.
Courses Taught (Graduate)
WST 510-001- Slavery and Emancipation in the United States and Atlantic World: This course introduces graduate students to the major themes, issues, and questions related to slavery and emancipation in the Atlantic World, including the United States through readings, discussion, and written assignments. Emphasis will be placed on gender, resistance, gender, politics, labor, and cultural expression.
WST538-001 - Studies in the African American Experience (Southern Black Education History): This course introduces graduate students to the major themes, issues, and questions related to southern black education history through readings, discussion, and written assignments. Emphasis will be placed on education for southern African Americans under slavery, emergence of the separate school system of the 19th and 20th centuries, and post-Brown vs. Board of Education decision.
WST 510-001 - Memory, Identity and Politics: Gender, Race, and Class (Civil War Memory): This interdisciplinary graduate seminar explores the ways in which memory and the past construct political identities and the interplay of race, class, gender, and ethnicity in its social construction through readings, discussion, and student research. Reading selections include core theoretical texts on memory studies and specific case studies of American Civil War memory. Issues and questions are: how memories are constructed, translated into identities and political action; bases of shared memories and contested memories; political memorialization and the effects of collective amnesia; and how “communities of memory” are developed, sustained, and dissolved.
WST 510-002 - 19th Century Black Women's Activism: Building on recent calls for a more systematic study of African American women as intellectuals and activists in the Toward An Intellectual History of Black Women anthology, this graduate seminar will highlight recent scholarship and classic works on black women’s activism over the nineteenth century. Core themes will be politics of exclusion; clubwomen and progressive era activism; and reform, criminal justice and black women.
WST538-001 - Studies in the African American Experience (Southern Black Education History): This course introduces graduate students to the major themes, issues, and questions related to southern black education history through readings, discussion, and written assignments. Emphasis will be placed on education for southern African Americans under slavery, emergence of the separate school system of the 19th and 20th centuries, and post-Brown vs. Board of Education decision.
WST 510-001 - Memory, Identity and Politics: Gender, Race, and Class (Civil War Memory): This interdisciplinary graduate seminar explores the ways in which memory and the past construct political identities and the interplay of race, class, gender, and ethnicity in its social construction through readings, discussion, and student research. Reading selections include core theoretical texts on memory studies and specific case studies of American Civil War memory. Issues and questions are: how memories are constructed, translated into identities and political action; bases of shared memories and contested memories; political memorialization and the effects of collective amnesia; and how “communities of memory” are developed, sustained, and dissolved.
WST 510-002 - 19th Century Black Women's Activism: Building on recent calls for a more systematic study of African American women as intellectuals and activists in the Toward An Intellectual History of Black Women anthology, this graduate seminar will highlight recent scholarship and classic works on black women’s activism over the nineteenth century. Core themes will be politics of exclusion; clubwomen and progressive era activism; and reform, criminal justice and black women.