AFRC3174 - Free State Slavery and Bound Labor Research Seminar

Status
A
Activity
SEM
Section number integer
401
Title (text only)
Free State Slavery and Bound Labor Research Seminar
Term
2023A
Syllabus URL
Subject area
AFRC
Section number only
401
Section ID
AFRC3174401
Course number integer
3174
Meeting times
R 10:15 AM-1:14 PM
Meeting location
VANP 627
Level
undergraduate
Instructors
Kathleen M Brown
Sarah B Gordon
Description
This seminar invites students to do original research into the stories of Black refugees – including escaped, kidnapped, sojourning, and other temporary or permanent residents of Pennsylvania. Their stories unfolded through contentious freedom suits, daring escapes on the Underground Railroad, newspaper wars, gun fights and thuggery, treason cases, and more. We have assembled an archive of statutes, legal cases, testimony, judicial and administrative decisions, newspaper stories, images, memoirs, maps, and more to help students get started with their research. In addition, students will have opportunities to pursue additional research at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, a co-sponsor of this course. Many of these materials have never been the subject of sustained study or placed in their historical context. Students will choose their topics in consultation with the professors and will produce research reports in written or digital or cinematic formats.
Students are expected to contribute to the course website, a platform that will be available to the public as well as to the Penn community, and we aim to provide new information and venues for research. The course therefore will involve considerations of how best to convey what we learn, as well as explorations of historical methods and collaborating archives.
Course number only
3174
Cross listings
HIST3174401
Use local description
No