Class Time: TTH 2.00 to 3.20
Classroom: AB4 302  
Credit Hours: 3 hours
CID Number: 20694
Section Number: HIS 4333W.01
Semester: Spring 2012

Dr. Jeffrey L. Littlejohn
Office: AB4–455
Office Hours: TTH 12.30–2:00 & by appt.
Telephone: 936.294.4438
Email: littlejohn@shsu.edu
Web: http://www.studythepast.com

During the fourteen years between 1954 and 1968, a mass civil rights movement arose in the South, bringing “city governments, bus companies and chambers of commerce to their knees. The movement created disorder so severe as to force a reluctant federal government to intervene on the side of black southerners, which was more surprising then it seems in hindsight today. The civil rights movement -- aided by Democratic-Republican competition for the votes of recent black migrants to the North and by U.S.-Soviet competition for allies among newly independent African and Asian nations --destroyed Jim Crow, the vast system of legal segregation and disfranchisement named after a nineteenth-century minstrel character. In addition to provoking Congress to turn against its powerful southern bloc in sweeping Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965, the movement forced a change in the Constitution. The Twenty-fourth Amendment and new interpretations of the Fifteenth guaranteed black Americans the vote. The movement shut down a political culture of racist demagoguery and one-party rule in the southern states, a culture long underwritten by the threat of mob violence."

“The movement did all this with remarkably few causalities. Ugly as white southern resistance was, Maya Lin’s memorial to martyrs of the civil rights movement has only 40 names engraved on it. The apartheid regime in South Africa beat that figure in a single day, at Sharpeville in 1960, when it killed 67 people and wounded 200 more. In a freedom struggle closer to our own time, Chinese authorities killed some 2,600 in the immediate aftermath of Tiananmen Square. American’s own war to destroy slavery, with 600,000 deaths, makes the destruction of segregation a century later appear astonishingly nonviolent. Its destruction appears a feat of moral and political alchemy.” (David Chappell, A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow, UNC Press, 2004).

How did this happen? What were the roots of the civil rights movement? How did everyday Americans contribute to the cause? Who were the movement’s most vocal and successful leaders? And, how did the movement evolve and mutate over time? This class seeks to answer these questions by examining primary and secondary sources that deal with the subject.

1) Students will gain factual knowledge and a more in-depth understanding of the Black Civil Rights Movement.

2) Students will learn the fundamental principles and theories of historical scholarship as they encounter various interpretations of the American past.

3) Students will learn to analyze and critically evaluate ideas, arguments, and points of view.

Adam Fairclough, from Better Day Coming: Blacks and Equality, 1890-2000 (Viking Penguin Books, 2001).

Optional: Raymond D'Angelo, ed., The American Civil Rights Movement: Readings and Interpretations. MCGraw Hill, 2001.

In addition to the book listed above, you will be assigned a variety of primary documents and scholarly articles over the course of the semester. These readings should be completed by the date they appear on the schedule.

Reading Quizzes
Twelve reading quizzes will be given throughout the semester. You may drop your lowest two scores. No make-up quizzes will be given. If you are absent when a quiz is given, then you may drop that quiz. There will be no exceptions to these rules.

Examinations
Each exam in this course will cover the material in the unit immediately preceding it. Exams will be based on class lectures as well as assigned readings. Exams will include short answer and essay questions. Review sheets will be posted before each exam. Please note that a make-up mid-term exam will only be given for an excused university absence and will be administered on Tuesday, May 1, 2012.  

Case Report
Each student will work with a classmate to report on a court case that played a significant part in the black struggle for equality. Together, each team of two students will submit a single written case report for the class to discuss. The case report should be two single-spaced pages with endnotes. It must be posted to the SHSUonline discussion board as a Microsoft Word attachment by noon three days prior to the group's scheduled in-class presentation. Each team will then make a formal in-class report with a professional powerpoint presentation or prezi. (Students who fail to post their report or appear in class on their presentation day will receive a zero for this assignment).

Research Paper
Each student will write a 12 to 15 page research paper as part of this course.

By February 7 | Each student must have his or her research topic approved by me. This is a large class, so do not wait until the last minute to email me your paper topic expecting that to suffice. Paper topic approval is only done in a personal meeting with me. When you come to my office to discuss your topic, bring two copies of a typed, single-page document including your name, date, and a paragraph about the topic. Once your topic is approved, it may not be changed without formal consultation with me.

By February 9 | Each student must submit a formal topic paragraph, paper outline, and working bibliography. These three items should be included in a single Microsoft Word file and turned in via the dropbox in SHSUonline. Your topic paragraph must include a working thesis, and your bibliography must contain at least 5 primary and 5 secondary sources. Be sure the bibliography is formatted in accordance with the Chicago Manual of Style. No online sources -- other than primary documents -- may be included in the bibliography. (Please note that professional journal articles accessed through the library's online databases are not considered online sources).

By March 6 | Each student must submit a first draft to me after it has been reviewed by the campus Writing Center. This first draft must consist of a minimum of 6 pages of double-spaced text in 12 point font -– bibliography and endnotes do not count. You should make an appointment with the Writing Center far in advance of the March 6 deadline, since that office requires a minimum of 48 hours to check your work. Plan ahead and remember that your work will not be graded by the Writing Center; the staff there will only be assisting you. Please note that I will only accept papers that have been reviewed by the Writing Center and bear the stamp of that office. (Late submissions will be penalized one letter grade per day).

By April 3 | Each student must submit a second draft to me after it has been reviewed by the campus Writing Center. This second draft must consist of a minimum of 10 pages of double-spaced text in 12 point font -– bibliography and endnotes do not count. You should make an appointment with the Writing Center far in advance of the April 3 deadline, since that office requires a minimum of 48 hours to check your work. Plan ahead and remember that your work will not be graded by the Writing Center; the staff there will only be assisting you. Please note that I will only accept papers that have been reviewed by the Writing Center and bear the stamp of that office. (Late submissions will be penalized one letter grade per day).

By May 3 | The final draft of the research paper is due. In class, you will submit both previous drafts of your paper as well as your final copy with endnotes and bibliography. You will also submit an electronic copy of the paper to the dropbox in SHSUonline. (Late submissions will NOT be accepted under any circumstances).

Regular attendance and punctuality are indicative of serious scholarship. You should be in class, awake and aware, and prepared for discussion. Students missing more than six classes may receive a failing grade at the end of the term. Students who are regularly tardy will be denied entrance to class.

Section 51.911(b) of the Texas Education Code requires that an institution of higher education excuse a student from attending classes or other required activities, including examinations, for the observance of a religious holy day, including travel for that purpose. A student whose absence is excused under this subsection may not be penalized for that absence and shall be allowed to take an examination or complete an assignment from which the student is excused within a reasonable time after the absence.

SHSU policy 861001 provides the procedure to be followed by the student and instructor.  A student desiring to absent himself/herself from a scheduled class in order to observe (a) religious holy day(s) shall present to the instructor involved a written statement concerning the religious holy day(s). This request must be made in the first fifteen days of the semester in which the absence(s) will occur. The instructor will complete a form notifying the student of a reasonable timeframe in which the missed assignments and/or examinations are to be completed.

HIST 4333 is a discussion course. Students are encouraged to ask questions and initiate discussion. To facilitate an open classroom dialogue, students must adhere to the SHSU Code of Student Conduct, which can be found online at http://www.shsu.edu/students/guide/StudentGuidelines2010-2012.pdf#page=29.

Within this classroom, students must also demonstrate civility at all times. In other words, please do not come in late, leave early, text message, sleep, read the paper, or engage in any other activities that disrupt the class. Civility must also be maintained in all communications with me and with other classmates whether online or in person. Keep in mind that this class is a community, and the community cannot function if we don’t all show basic courtesy and respect and devote our full attention to each other during the time we’re together. Students who demonstrate incivility may be required to leave the classroom or drop the course.

Telephones and similar devices have become increasingly a part of everyday life. In the academic classroom, however, these devices can be a serious distraction, and during tests they can be a problem.

The use by students of a telephone, text messager, or laptop computer during class-time is prohibited. Failure to comply with the instructor’s policy may result in expulsion from the classroom or with multiple offenses failure of the course.

Any use of a telephone or text messager or any device that performs these functions during a test period is also prohibited. These devices should not be present during a test or should be stored securely in such a way that they cannot be seen or used by the student.  Even the visible presence of such a device during the test period will result in a zero for that test. Use of these devices during a test is considered de facto evidence of cheating and could result in a charge of academic dishonesty (see student code of conduct http://www.shsu.edu/students/guide/StudentGuidelines2010-2012.pdf#page=29). 

The University expects all students to engage in all academic pursuits in a manner that is above reproach. Students are expected to maintain complete honesty and integrity in the academic experiences both in and out of the classroom.  Any student found guilty of dishonesty in any phase of academic work will be subject to disciplinary action.

5.31 The University and its official representatives, acting in accordance with Subsection 5.32, may initiate disciplinary proceedings against a student accused of any form of academic dishonesty including, but not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, collusion, and the abuse of resource materials.
"Cheating" includes the following and similar actions:
(1) Copying from another student's test paper, laboratory report, other report, or computer files, data listings, and/or programs.
(2) Using, during a test, materials not authorized by the person giving the test.
(3) Collaborating, without authorization, with another student during an examination or in preparing academic work.
(4) Knowingly, and without authorization, using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting, soliciting, copying, or possessing, in whole or in part, the contents of an unadministered test.
(5) Substituting for another student, permitting any other person, or otherwise assisting any other person to substitute for oneself or for another student in the taking of an examination or test or the preparation of academic work to be submitted for academic credit.
(6) Bribing another person to obtain a test or information about an unadministered test.
(7) Purchasing, or otherwise acquiring and submitting as one's own work any research paper or other writing assignment prepared by an individual or firm. This section does not apply to the typing of the rough and/or final versions of an assignment by a professional typist.

5.32 "Plagiarism" means the appropriation and the unacknowledged incorporation of another's work or idea into one's own work offered for credit.
5.33 "Collusion" means unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing work for credit.
5.34 "Abuse of resource materials" means the mutilation, destruction, concealment, theft or alteration of materials provided to assist students in the mastery of course materials.
5.35 “Academic work” means the preparation of an essay, dissertation, thesis, report, problem, assignment, or other project that the student submits as a course requirement or for a grade.

2.00 PROCEDURES IN CASES OF ALLEGED ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

2.01 Procedures for discipline due to academic dishonesty shall be the same as in disciplinary actions specified in The Texas State University System Rules and Regulations and Sam Houston State University Student Guidelines except that all academic dishonesty actions shall be first considered and reviewed by the faculty member teaching the class. The faculty member may impose failure or reduction of a grade in a test or the course, and/or performing additional academic work not required of other students in the course. If the faculty member believes that additional disciplinary action is necessary, as in the case of flagrant or repeated violations, the case may be referred to the Dean of Student Life or a designated appointee for further action. If the student involved does not accept the decision of the faculty member, the student may appeal to the chair of the appropriate academic department/school, seeking reversal of the faculty member's decision.

2.02 If the student does not accept the decision of the chair of the academic department/school, he/she may appeal to the appropriate academic dean. The chair of the academic department/school may also refer the case directly to the academic dean if the case so warrants.