HIST-LIT 90FZ: The South: Histories of a U.S. Region

Course goals:

• To develop and employ interdisciplinary frameworks for understanding the South as a dynamic and multilayered cultural, geographic, and historical – yet also culturally and politically constructed – region of the United States.
• To critically consider the idea of “southern” or “southern-ness” as cultural signifiers related to race, class, and political position.
• To explore the role of memory within the American South and the histories that circulate around the region.
• To examine the relationship and challenge perceived distinctions between “the South” and “the nation.”
• To question various ways the South has been imagined through popular culture.

Course format:

This course is a small seminar that requires active participation. Some weeks may involve short lectures to provide historical context, but the majority of class time will be dedicated to discussion. 

Typical enrollees:

This course is open to all years and concentrations, though is specifically designed for students interested in interdisciplinary humanities. There is no prerequisit. 

Assignments and grading:

The assignments consist of participation, a number of short essays, and a larger project that involves the student examining a "South" not covered on the syllabus. Additional information forthcoming. If you have questions about the types of assignments, please contact me - I'd be happy to speak with you about what I am planning.

Enrollment cap, selection process, notification:

This course caps at 15 students. Interested students should petition to enroll on my.harvard. In your petition, say a few words about your interest in the course (including concentrations you are considering if you are undeclared), any requirement the course may satisfy, and whether you have taken any other History & Literature seminars. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Sample weeks:

Week #: The Northern South

• Alexandra A. Chan, Slavery in the Age of Reason: Archaeology at a New England Farm (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2007).
  • “Introduction,” 1-18
  • “‘Fit for Town or Country’: African Americans in New England Culture, Society, and Economy,” 65-95
  • *subject to change, based on recommendation from museum
• Belinda Sutton, petition, 1788
• Rita Dove, “Belinda’s Petition,” poem from The Yellow House on the Corner, Carnegie-Mellon University Press, Pittsburgh, PA, 1980.

Week #: The Haunted South

• William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily,” The Forum, April 30, 1930.
• Tiya Miles, “Ghosts of the Past: Theories on Why History is Haunting,” and “Chloe and Cleo: Louisiana Plantation Phantoms” from Tales from the Haunted South: Dark Tourism and Memories of Slavery from the Civil War Era (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015), 12-18, 80-114.
• Kevin McGill, “Whitney Plantation in Louisiana casts cold look at slave trade through chilling exhibits,” The Associated Press, July 28, 2017.

Week #: The Freedom South

• Tera W. Hunter, “Reconstruction and the Meanings of Freedom,” in To ‘Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors after the Civil War (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998) 21-43.
• Excerpts from: Edward King, The Great South: A Record of Journeys in Louisiana, Texas, The Indian Territory. Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland, illustrated from original sketches by J Wells Champney, (Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, 1875)
  • Preface and dedication (no page numbers)
  • Atlanta—Georgia Politics—The Failure of Reconstruction (350-357)
• “I’s Still Traveling ‘Cause I got Faith in God,” Benjamin Johnson, interviewed by Geneva Tonsill, September 1939, Atlanta, Georgia in the Federal Writers’ Project papers #3709, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Week #: The Dirty South

• Outkast, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, 1994.
• Darren E. Grem, “‘The South Got Something to Say’: Atlanta’s Dirty South and the Southernization of Hip-Hop America,” Southern Cultures, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Music 2006), 55-73.