Syllabus for Government 423

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THE FOUNDING AND THE FAILURE OF RECONSTRUCTION

January 25: Introduction and the Founding
No Required Reading.
Supplemental Reading:
The Declaration of Independence
The Articles of Confederation
The United States Constitution
John Hope Franklin, Racial Equality in America.

Focus: What is the South?  What does it mean to be southern?   Why study southern politics?  What were sectional conflicts at the time of the Founding? How were they resolved?  How did regional concerns shape the Constitution?

February 1: Reconstruction
Required Reading: John Hope Franklin, Reconstruction After the Civil War, Chapters 2-8 (pp. 15-151).
Web Assignment:
Email me at dlublin@american.edu.
Andrew Johnson's Impeachment.  Surf Harper's Weekly's wonderful site on the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.  Surf the site to learn the history of Johnson's impeachment.  How does the impeachment process work in practice?  Why did the House impeach President Johnson and why did the Senate nearly convict him?  Do you think he should have been impeached and then convicted by the Senate?
You can also check out an internet Timeline of Reconstruction if you want to read a blow-by-blow account of events.
Supplemental Reading: W.E.B. Du Bois, Black Reconstruction in America.

Focus: What was the difference between presidential and congressional reconstruction?  What were the success and failures of the Reconstruction state governments and first elected black officials?  Who ran them?

February 8: Disfranchisement
Required Readings:
John Hope Franklin, Reconstruction After the Civil War, Chapters 9, 11-12 (pp. 152-73, 194-227).
J. Morgan Kousser, The Shaping of Southern Politics, Chapter 1 (pp. 1-44).
David Lublin, The Paradox of Representation, portion of Chapter 2 (pp. 18-21).
Web Assignment: Hate in America Today
Supplemental Readings;
Lou Falkner Williams, The Great South Carolina Ku Klux Klan Trials.
Richard M. Valelly, "National Parties and Racial Disfranchisement" in Paul E. Peterson, ed., Classifying by Race, Chapter 8 (pp. 188-216).

Focus: What measures did post-Reconstruction governments take to limit the franchise?  What were the goals of disfranchisement?  Why was the purpose of Nineteenth Century racial gerrymanders?  Why did the federal government’s attempts to combat violence against blacks fail?  Why did the Republicans cease to fight black disfranchisement?

February 15: Politics in the States: South Carolina and Louisiana
Required Reading: V.O. Key, Southern Politics, Chapter 7-8, 14 (pp. 130-82, 298-311). Students will also read one of the chapters on the other nine southern states.
Web Assignment: State Politics
Film: Paul Stekler, Louisiana Boys: Raised on Politics.

Focus: How did the South’s continuing obsession with race warp its politics?  What factors shape elections in one-party political systems?   Compare Louisiana and South Carolina politics.

February 22: Exam #1

 

THE RISE OF THE NEW SOUTH

March 1: The Slow Decline of the Old Order

Required Reading: Earl Black and Merle Black, Politics and Society in the South, Chapters 1-3 (pp. 3-72)

Focus: Discussion of the post-bellum political system.  How was the South’s economy transformed during the twentieth century?  What was the impact of these changes on politics?

March 8: The Civil Rights Movement
Required Readings:
Doug McAdam, Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, Chapter 3 (pp. 36-59).
Earl Black and Merle Black, Politics and Society in the South, Chapter 4 and the first part of Chapter 5 (pp. 75-112).
State Paper Assignment Part I Due.
Supplemental Readings:
Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters.
William H. Chafe, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
David J. Garrow, Bearing the Cross.
Henry Hampton and Steve Fayer, Voices of Freedom: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement.
Martin Luther King, Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writing and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Doug McAdam, Freedom Summer.
Kay Mills, This Little Lights of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer.
Howell Raines, My Soul is Rested.
Cecil Williams, Freedom and Justice.
Juan Williams, Eyes on the Prize.
Film: Eyes on the Prize

Focus: Examine the civil rights movement.  What is a social movement?  Why did the civil rights movement occur when it did?  Why did the movement find success in Birmingham, Alabama but fail in Albany, Georgia?  Examine the judicial strategy of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall.

March 15: No Class — Spring Break

March 22: The Rise of the Republicans
Required Readings:
Earl Black and Merle Black, Politics and Society in the South, Chapter 11 (pp. 232-56).
Earl Black and Merle Black, The Vital South, Chapter 6 (pp. 141-75).

Focus: Examine the decline of southern "Democracy." What role did the Thurmond, Goldwater, and Wallace campaigns play in detaching southern whites from the Democrats?

March 29: Presidential Politics
Required Readings:
Earl Black and Merle Black, The Vital South, Chapter 9-11 (pp. 241-326).
Earl Black and Merle Black, Politics and Society in the South, Chapter 12 (pp. 259-75).

Focus: Discuss the presidential primaries in both major parties. How do southern primaries tend to influence the ideology of each party’s nominee? Did Super Tuesday work as expected? Why do Republicans have such an advantage in presidential elections in the South? How does this help the Republicans win presidential elections?

 

RACE AND RELIGION IN THE NEW SOUTH

April 5: The Voting Rights Act
Required Readings:
Earl Black and Merle Black, Politics and Society in the South, second part of Chapter 5 (pp. 112-25).
Frank Parker, Black Votes Count, Chapters 1-4 (pp. 15-129).
David Lublin, The Paradox of Representation, portion of Chapter 1 (pp. 4-5).
Film: Paul Stekler, Hands That Picked the Cotton (first part).

Focus: What are the major provisions of the Voting Rights Act? What was its impact on black voting and registration? How did southern states attempt to minimize the influence of black voters after the passage of the Act? What was the judicial response to this massive resistance strategy?

April 12: Exam #2

April 19: Racial Redistricting
Required Readings: David Lublin, The Paradox of Representation, most of Chapters 1-6 (pp. 5-13, 21-48, 57-9, 66-78, 86-114, 117-33).
Web Assignment: Racial Redistricting
Supplemental Readings:
Chandler Davidson and Bernard Grofman, eds., Quiet Revolution in the South.
Keith Reeves, Voting Hopes and Fears?
Jim Sleeper, Liberal Racism.
Carol M. Swain, Black Faces, Black Interests.
Abigail M. Thernstrom, Whose Votes Count?
Film: Paul Stekler, Hands That Picked the Cotton (second part).

Focus: What are descriptive and substantive representation? Does racial redistricting remain necessary to the election of African Americans? Are representatives elected from majority black districts more responsive to black interests? Why does racial redistricting tend to conflict with advancing black policy goals? What is the "paradox" mentioned in the book’s title?

April 26: Urban Politics
Required Readings:
Clarence Stone, "Race and Regime in Atlanta" in Browning, Marshall, and Tabb, eds., Racial Politics in American Cities, first edition, Chapter 7 (pp. 125-39).
David Metz and Katherine Tate, "The Color of Urban Campaigns" in Paul E. Peterson, ed., Classifying by Race, Chapter 11 (pp. 262-77).
Huey L. Perry, "The Evolution and Impact of Biracial Coalitions and Black Mayors in Birmingham and New Orleans" in Browning, Marshall, and Tabb, eds., Racial Politics in American Cities, second edition, Chapter 8 (pp. 179-200).
State Paper Assignment Part II Due.
Supplemental Readings:
James W. Button, Blacks and Social Change: Impact of the Civil Rights Movement in Southern Communities.
Clarence Stone, Regime Politics: Governing Atlanta 1946-1988.
Clarence Stone and Carol Pierannunzi, "Atlanta and the Limited Reach of Electoral Control" in Browning, Marshall, and Tabb, eds., Racial Politics in American Cities, second edition, Chapter 9 (pp. 161-78).
Film: Paul Stekler, Among Brothers.

Focus: What is a "political regime?" How does the nature of the regime and white economic power condition black political power in black majority cities? What is a deracialized v. a racialized political campaign? Examine different campaign strategies adopted by black candidates in the context of New Orleans politics.

May 3: Religion
Required Readings:
Clyde Wilcox, Onward Christian Soldiers, most of Chapters 1-4 (pp. 1-21, 35-111).  Students are strongly encouraged to read the remaining portions of this text.
Frederick C. Harris, "Religious Institutions and African American Political Mobilization" in Paul E. Peterson, ed., Classifying by Race, Chapter 12 (pp. 278-310).
Web Assignment: Religion and Politics
Supplemental Reading: Mark J. Rozell and Clyde Wilcox, God at the Grassroots (1994 and 1996 editions).

Focus: What is the Christian Right? What are its strengths and weaknesses as a political movement? Why do some black churches promote political activity while others discourage it? Why have black churches long served as a center for black politics? What resources do black churches provide candidates and congregants?

 

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The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.  The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the American University.  If you have any questions about this page, please email David Lublin at dlublin@american.edu.  This page was last updated on January 9, 1999.