LBST 511 - Freedom, Movement, Borders: Slavery and American Political Space

This course studies the relationship between American slavery and the American state in the nineteenth century. We will focus on how slaveholders relied on national and state governments to control both enslaved and free Black people, particularly by regulating their movement within the territory of the United States. The course will also examine how enslaved people resisted bondage through flight, creating legal challenges to slaveholder power. Likewise, the defense of Black citizenship and rights by a diverse antislavery coalition attempted to dislodge slaveholder control over American political space, eventually leading to the overthrow of slavery itself. Readings will include works in legal and political history, literary studies, and primary sources from Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs.

Unit(s): 0.5
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Notes: Graduate course. Offered spring 2024.