African+American+History





Roxborough High School African American History Syllabus 2008-2009

Teacher: Mrs. S. Felder Room: 331 Periods: 2-3, 7-8, 12-13, 14-15 toc **

**Textbook** : //African American History; Pearson Prentice Hall//
//Hine, Hine, Harrold//


 * Abstract:** While African American Studies is not new to the School District of Philadelphia, the course African American History is a culmination and redefinition of many years of work on the part of many people within and outside of the school district. This course is designed to give participants a correct frame of the history of African peoples throughout time by examining the continent of Africa, its rich history, the enslavement of African people in the Americas and the vast contributions that African peoples have made to American society.

**First Six Weeks: Unit A**
Why Study Africa? - Geography - Origins of Humanity - Nile Valley Civilizations - Yoruba Civilizations - Urban Heritage - Timbuktu - Benin Empire

**Second Six Weeks :Unit 2**
Becoming African and American While Resisting Enslavement - The Passage - Being African - Black People in Colonial America - Rising Expectations: African Americans and the Struggle for Independence in the New Nation - Becoming African American

**Third Six Weeks: Unit 3**
Slavery, Abolition and the Quest for Freedom - Life in the Cotton Kingdom - Extension of African Culture o Haiti o Brazil o New Orleans o South Carolina - Free Black People in Antebellum America - Opposition to Slavery - Let Resistance Be Your Motto

**Fourth Six Unit 4**
Civil War, Black Reconstruction and Searching for Safe Spaces - The Undetermined Status of African Americans - Liberation - The Meaning of Freedom o Promise and Failure of Reconstruction - African Americans in the South and the Challenge to White Supremacy

**Fifth Six Weeks: Unit 5**
The Great Migration, the Great Depression and the World at War - The Scramble for Africa - Conciliation, Agitation, Migration - African Americans in the 1920’s - Black Protest, the Great Depression and the New Deal - Meanings of Freedom: Black Culture and Society in the 1930’s and 1940’s - The World Wars I and II - The Seeds of Revolution

**Sixth Six :Unit 6**
The Black Revolution and International Movements of Liberation - International Movements of Liberation (1900 –Present) - The Freedom Movement - Nationalism - African Americans and Conservatism - African Americans at the Dawn of the New Millennium - African Movement o Present Immigration to Philadelphia

**Grading**:
Throughout the year multiple formats of assessing your academic performance will be provided that include frequent quizzes, comprehensive chapter and unit tests, multiple choice and open ended practice and related social studies projects. Grades will be determined by the following guidelines: Assessments: 70% -Tests: 25% - Quizzes: 25% - Projects 20% Classwork: 15% Homework 15%

90-100 A Excellent 80-89 B Very Good 70-79 C Average 65-69 D Clearly Below Average 0-64 F Failing

If you miss a test or quiz it is your responsibility to make it up either before or after school. I am available Mondays thru Thursdays for make-ups. Do not wait to be asked, be mature and take care of it. Missed notes and class assignments are also your responsibility. Please get the phone number of a responsible classmate in order to get homework or assignments that you missed and/or make arrangements to meet with me to get the assignments.

**Classroom Regulations:**
I want to take this opportunity to remind you of my classroom rules b.k.a. Mrs. Felder’s Ten Commandments: 1. Thou shall not be late to class. 2. Thou shall not come unprepared to class. 3. Thou shall not use profanity in this room. 4. Thou shall not bully any other student! (This means name call, hit, harass, or any other offensive act that may humiliate or embarrass another student.) 5. Thou shall not yell out answers unless asked to do so. 6. Thou shall give each person the opportunity to learn: this means not disturbing another student in any way when they are engaged in learning. 7. Thou shall give respect to everyone in the room. (Basically treat people the way you want people to treat you not the way they treat you.) 8. Thou shall not eat or drink anything in this room. 9. Thou shall not wear any hats or coats in this room. 10 Thou shall not listen to, have or play any type of electronic device such as, walkmans, cell phones, pagers or games, in class. Anyone who chooses to disregard these “commandments” will be subject to the following penalties: First Time: Warning Second Time: Detention Third Time: Call Home Fourth Time: Suspension and Parent must come in for a conference with Mrs. Felder and possibly the dean or assistant principal. Some offences are subject to IMMEDIATE call home and/or suspension.

I look forward to a successful school year with you!☺

Useful LInks
[|African American Museum in Philadelphia] [|The Historical Society of Pennsylvania] [|The Library Company of Philadelphia] [|The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture] [|African Americans in Politics] [|The Abolition of the Slave Trade] [|The African American Migration Experience]