Requirements

Required Texts: All of the following are available at the University bookstore and Mary Jane Books - be sure to purchase the edition indicated below:

Charles B. Dew, Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2001)

W.E.B. DuBois, Souls of Black Folk, ed. David W. Blight (New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1997)

Jeanette Keith, The South: A Concise History Volume II (New York: Prentice Hall, 2002)

Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (New York: Dell, 1976)

There are additional required readings (articles, excerpts from books) that you may access in one of two ways: 1) in a coursepack available for purchase at Shipmates in Stuyvesant Plaza, 2) through Electronic Reserve (http://eres.ulib.albany.edu -- go to the His 390/390Z site and enter "thesouth" for the password).

Assignments:
1 paper (5-7 pages) plus an optional second paper
1 midterm exam
1 final exam
Pop quizzes on the readings
Participation in class discussion of assigned readings (we will spend roughly 1/3 to 1/2 of each class discussing the readings)

Grade Distribution:
15% Discussion Participation & Attendance (see below)
20% Paper(s)
20% Midterm Exam
30% Final Exam
15% Quizzes (the lowest quiz grade will be dropped before computing this average)

Extra Credit: Students may opt to improve their Discussion and Attendance grade by 10 percent by doing an extra-credit oral presentation. These presentations will be 10-15 minutes in length and will provide the class with supplementary material on a person or cultural trend in the history of the U.S. South. For more information, download the extra credit assignment sheet.

Lateness Policy: The grade for any assignment turned in late will be dropped by one-half for each day it is late (i.e. an essay that would have received a B+ if it was turned in on time would be dropped to a B if one day late). Any student facing an emergency that prevents turning in a paper on time should contact Dr. Taylor as soon as possible.

Make-up quizzes or exams will only be given to students with a note from the Dean's office. Otherwise, a grade of "0" will be given for those assignments if a student is absent on the day the tests are given.

Attendance Policy:
Attendance will be taken with a sign-in sheet distributed during each class. Each student will be allowed one unexcused absence; any other absences must be excused with a note from the Dean's office. Students with more than one unexcused absence throughout the course will have their Discussion and Attendance grade dropped by twenty percent for each class missed.

ADVICE: Do not take this course if you expect to be absent more than one or two times. Because this is a quarter course, we are working on a greatly condensed schedule and you will miss too much material with any additional absences. Your grade will also suffer to a significant degree.

Lateness to class and early departures will not be tolerated. If you are more than 5 minutes late to class, or if you leave class early, this will be noted and you will be counted as "absent" that day-regardless of whether or not you signed the attendance sheet that day.

Classroom Courtesy:
Students who engage in the following activities will be asked to leave the room and will be counted as "absent" for the day:
*Repeated talking while Dr. Taylor or other students are talking
*Reading a newspaper or other similar material
*Loud eating or drinking
*Ringing cell phones or pagers

Academic Integrity:
History Department policy on plagiarism: "Plagiarism is taking (which includes purchasing) the words and ideas of another and passing them off as one's own work. If in a formal paper a student quotes someone, that student must use quotation marks and give a citation. Paraphrased or borrowed ideas are to be identified by proper citations. Plagiarism will result, at the minimum, in a failing grade for the assignment."