This course will introduce students to the history of the American South from its colonial beginnings to the conclusion of the American Civil War.
The region’s history was characterized by the persistence of the institution of slavery and systemic forms of racial subordination, wide social stratification, and defeat in the Civil War. It informs the more general history of America in that it counters the national myths of innocence, invincibility, and affluence.
Thus the class will examine the South’s people, black, white, and Native American, its social and cultural institutions, prevailing political ideology, and ultimately, its meaning in the early American continuum.
