Emily Landau TLF 2126
eelandau@verizon.net
Course description: this is a course about America’s most interesting city. We will go back to the earliest days of settlement (by the French) and study the ways in which the city developed as an exotic enclave in the Deep South. New Orleans exists simultaneously as a mythic city—the city that care forgot, as the saying goes—and a very real place, as much, perhaps more, burdened by cares as any other. Without attempting to separate the “myth” of New Orleans from the “reality”—itself a fruitless endeavor—we will explore the ways in which the image of New Orleans and what it has stood for in American culture has interacted with and influenced the people, the politics, the perceptions, and even the physical reality of New Orleans. The course will touch on the dominant tropes in New Orleans history: race, sex, carnival, jazz, prostitution, slavery, the free people of color, the Mississippi River, and the environment. There are surely other things about New Orleans that we will discuss along the way.
Rules: no lap-tops, no cell phones, and no pdas in class. Take notes on paper with a pen or pencil. Attendance is mandatory, including the three films we will view (one in the evening, two during class). Readings are mandatory. Assignments (see below) must be handed in on time to avoid grade penalties. They must be properly proof-read (not simply spell-checked) and grammar counts. I will not continue to read a paper that I feel has not been edited for spelling, grammar, and overall sense. Such a paper will receive a failing grade. I will not tolerate plagiarism. Problems adhering to the rules must be addressed by the student in person in my office. (That is, if you have an unresolvable conflict or can’t manage to get the paper in, come see me. Don’t rely on email.)
Codes: your presence in this class implies your adherence to the honor and conduct codes of the University of Maryland.
Requirements: there will be one three page paper and one five page paper, both on topics assigned by me:
Three page paper assignment, due in class Thursday, February 26, 2009: What were the conditions governing interracial sex and métissage in early Louisiana?
Five page paper assignment, due in class Thursday, April 16: What do Bell and Logsdon mean by the Americanization of Black New Orleans? Use readings and lectures (in addition to Bell and Logsdon) to describe and explain this process and what it means in terms of American race relations.
Readings:
The following books are available at the University Book Center and on reserve at McKeldin Library:
Hirsch, Arnold and Joseph Logsdon, Creole New Orleans.
Armstrong, Louis. Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans
DaCapo Press, 1986 ISBN: 0306802767
Rogers, Kim Lacy. Righteous Lives: Narratives of the Civil Rights Movement
NYU, 1994 ISBN: 0814774563
Long, Alecia. The Great Southern Babylon
LSU 2005 ISBN: 0807131121
Mitchell, Reid. All on a Mardi Gras Day.
HUP 1999 ISBN: 0674016238
Johnson, Walter. Soul by Soul
HUP 2001 ISBN 0674005392
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire
New Directions, 2004 ISBN: 0811216020
Kelman, Ari. A River and its City
UC Press, 2006 ISBN: 0520234332
Hair, William Ivy. Carnival of Fury
LSU 1986 ISBN: 978-0807-133347
These readings are available on-line through ELMS and in the books/journals where they are chapters/articles:
Virginia Meachem Gould, "A Chaos of Iniquity and Discord": Slave and Free Women of Color in the Spanish Ports of New Orleans, Mobile, and Pensacola," in Catherine Clinton and Michelle Gillespie, eds., The Devil's Lane: Sex and Race in the Early South (OUP 1997). Pages: 232-246
Judith Kelleher Schafer, "Open and Notorious Concubinage": The Emancipation of Slave Mistresses by Will, in Slavery, The Civil Law, and the Supreme Court of Louisiana (LSU 1994). Pages: 180-200
Jennifer Spear, "They Need Wives": Metissage and the Regulation of Sexuality in French Louisiana, 1699-1730, in Martha Hodes, ed., Sex, Love, Race: Crossing Boundaries in North American History (NYU, 1999). Pages: 35-59
Henry M. Mckiven, Jr. The Political Construction of a Natural Disaster: The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1853, in Journal of American History 94, 3 (December 2007), 734-742
Week One
January 27 and January 29
New Orleans: Fact and Fantasy
Read: Preface to Creole New Orleans
Tuesday, January 27: Introduction: Reading the syllabus; how do we understand New Orleans? Images from Katrina.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zob9vzN_P8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fWg_3mFAyM&NR=1;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBvl7zEXf_o;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvoEiBnpCc8
Thursday, January 29: Image of New Orleans in popular accounts from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: how is the city a figment of our collective imagination?
Week Two:
February 3 and February 5
Colonial New Orleans
Read: Part I of Creole New Orleans: The French and African Founders: Introduction, Jerah Johnson,”Colonial New Orleans,” and Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, “The Formation of Afro-Creole Culture.”
Tuesday February 3: Settlement, environment, frontier
Thursday February 5: French Rule to Spanish Rule: geopolitical considerations; slavery and slave codes
Armstrong, Louis. Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans
DaCapo Press, 1986 ISBN: 0306802767
Rogers, Kim Lacy. Righteous Lives: Narratives of the Civil Rights Movement
NYU, 1994 ISBN: 0814774563
Long, Alecia. The Great Southern Babylon
LSU 2005 ISBN: 0807131121
Mitchell, Reid. All on a Mardi Gras Day.
HUP 1999 ISBN: 0674016238
Johnson, Walter. Soul by Soul
HUP 2001 ISBN 0674005392
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire
New Directions, 2004 ISBN: 0811216020
Kelman, Ari. A River and its City
UC Press, 2006 ISBN: 0520234332
Hair, William Ivy. Carnival of Fury
LSU 1986 ISBN: 978-0807-133347
These readings are available on-line through ELMS and in the books/journals where they are chapters/articles:
Virginia Meachem Gould, "A Chaos of Iniquity and Discord": Slave and Free Women of Color in the Spanish Ports of New Orleans, Mobile, and Pensacola," in Catherine Clinton and Michelle Gillespie, eds., The Devil's Lane: Sex and Race in the Early South (OUP 1997). Pages: 232-246
Judith Kelleher Schafer, "Open and Notorious Concubinage": The Emancipation of Slave Mistresses by Will, in Slavery, The Civil Law, and the Supreme Court of Louisiana (LSU 1994). Pages: 180-200
Jennifer Spear, "They Need Wives": Metissage and the Regulation of Sexuality in French Louisiana, 1699-1730, in Martha Hodes, ed., Sex, Love, Race: Crossing Boundaries in North American History (NYU, 1999). Pages: 35-59
Henry M. Mckiven, Jr. The Political Construction of a Natural Disaster: The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1853, in Journal of American History 94, 3 (December 2007), 734-742
Week One
January 27 and January 29
New Orleans: Fact and Fantasy
Read: Preface to Creole New Orleans
Tuesday, January 27: Introduction: Reading the syllabus; how do we understand New Orleans? Images from Katrina.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zob9vzN_P8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fWg_3mFAyM&NR=1;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBvl7zEXf_o;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvoEiBnpCc8
Thursday, January 29: Image of New Orleans in popular accounts from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: how is the city a figment of our collective imagination?
Week Two:
February 3 and February 5
Colonial New Orleans
Read: Part I of Creole New Orleans: The French and African Founders: Introduction, Jerah Johnson,”Colonial New Orleans,” and Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, “The Formation of Afro-Creole Culture.”
Tuesday February 3: Settlement, environment, frontier
Thursday February 5: French Rule to Spanish Rule: geopolitical considerations; slavery and slave codes
Week Three:
February 10 and February 12
Sex and Race in Early New Orleans
Read: Jennifer Spear, “They Need Wives,”** Virginia Meachem Gould, “A Chaos of Iniquity and Discord,”** and Judith Kelleher Schafer, “Open and Notorious Concubinage”**
(All the readings for this week are on line through ELMS)
Tuesday February 10: Send Me Wives!
The French and indigenous peoples
Thursday February 12: “Open and Notorious Concubinage”
Interracial sex and repression
Week Four:
February 17 and February 19
American Rule
Read: Reid Mitchell, All on a Mardi Gras Day Introduction and chapters one and two.
Creole New Orleans, Part Two, Intro and Chapter Three (LaChance)
Tuesday February 17: Thomas Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase, and the beginning of “Americanization”—whatever that means for a very young country.
Thursday February 19: The Free People of Color, the Haitian Revolution, and Cuba: mass immigration, the changing demographics of the city, the threat of rebellion
Click for "The Cuban Danzon," an article about Cuban influence on New Orleans music
Tuesday March 24: Reconstruction: violence, corruption, and progress
Thursday March 26: Plessy vs. Ferguson
Free men of color and their long fight for “public rights”;
Free women of color and their long fight for honor and property
Week Ten:
March 31 and April 2
The Twentieth Century and the Color Line:
Read: Mitchell, All on a Mardi Gras Day, chapters six, seven, and eight; William Ivy Hair, Carnival of Fury, chapters “preface” through four (to page 56).
Tuesday March 31: Segregation by race and segregation of vice: Storyville
Thursday April 2: Zulu parades, Mardi Gras Indians, and the world turned upside down
February 10 and February 12
Sex and Race in Early New Orleans
Read: Jennifer Spear, “They Need Wives,”** Virginia Meachem Gould, “A Chaos of Iniquity and Discord,”** and Judith Kelleher Schafer, “Open and Notorious Concubinage”**
(All the readings for this week are on line through ELMS)
Tuesday February 10: Send Me Wives!
The French and indigenous peoples
Thursday February 12: “Open and Notorious Concubinage”
Interracial sex and repression
Westward Movement and the Frontier. Click for Turner Thesis
Week Four:
February 17 and February 19
American Rule
Read: Reid Mitchell, All on a Mardi Gras Day Introduction and chapters one and two.
Creole New Orleans, Part Two, Intro and Chapter Three (LaChance)
Tuesday February 17: Thomas Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase, and the beginning of “Americanization”—whatever that means for a very young country.
Thursday February 19: The Free People of Color, the Haitian Revolution, and Cuba: mass immigration, the changing demographics of the city, the threat of rebellion
Revolution! Click for The Declaration of Independence
Revolution! Click for The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
Click for "The Cuban Danzon," an article about Cuban influence on New Orleans music
Week Five:
February 24 and February 26
Three Page Papers due in class on Thursday, February 26
Antebellum New Orleans
Read: Reid Mitchell, All on a Mardi Gras Day, chapter three.
Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul, Introduction and chapters one and two (to page 77)
Tuesday February 26: MARDI GRAS!!! Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Thursday: Slavery and Slave Markets
Week Six:
March 3 and March 5
Slavery in the City: artisans and auctions
Read: Johnson, Soul by Soul, chapters three through five (to page 161) and
Henry M. McKiven, Jr., “The Political Construction of a Natural Disaster: The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1853,” Journal of American History 94, no. 3 (December 2007): 734-742** (This article is available on line through ELMS or through JSTOR)
Tuesday March 3: Artisans and the meaning of slavery in the urban environment
Thursday March 5: Auctions and the performance of mastery
Week Seven:
March 10 and March 12
Civil War and Reconstruction and Midterm
Read: Johnson, Soul by Soul, chapters six through epilogue (finish the book); Reid Mitchell, All on a Mardi Gras Day, chapters four and five (Rex and Comus)
Tuesday March 10: Civil War and its immediate aftermath: hope amid violence
Thursday March 12: Midterm
Week Eight:
March 17 and March 19
Spring Break! (By all means get started on the reading….)
Week Nine:
March 24 and March 26
Postbellum New Orleans: Reconstruction and the Long Road to Plessy
Read: Alecia P. Long, Great Southern Babylon Introduction and Chapters One through four; Creole New Orleans, Part 3, Intro and Chapter 5
February 24 and February 26
Three Page Papers due in class on Thursday, February 26
Antebellum New Orleans
Read: Reid Mitchell, All on a Mardi Gras Day, chapter three.
Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul, Introduction and chapters one and two (to page 77)
Tuesday February 26: MARDI GRAS!!! Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Thursday: Slavery and Slave Markets
Week Six:
March 3 and March 5
Slavery in the City: artisans and auctions
Read: Johnson, Soul by Soul, chapters three through five (to page 161) and
Henry M. McKiven, Jr., “The Political Construction of a Natural Disaster: The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1853,” Journal of American History 94, no. 3 (December 2007): 734-742** (This article is available on line through ELMS or through JSTOR)
Tuesday March 3: Artisans and the meaning of slavery in the urban environment
Thursday March 5: Auctions and the performance of mastery
Week Seven:
March 10 and March 12
Civil War and Reconstruction and Midterm
Read: Johnson, Soul by Soul, chapters six through epilogue (finish the book); Reid Mitchell, All on a Mardi Gras Day, chapters four and five (Rex and Comus)
Tuesday March 10: Civil War and its immediate aftermath: hope amid violence
Thursday March 12: Midterm
Week Eight:
March 17 and March 19
Spring Break! (By all means get started on the reading….)
Week Nine:
March 24 and March 26
Postbellum New Orleans: Reconstruction and the Long Road to Plessy
Read: Alecia P. Long, Great Southern Babylon Introduction and Chapters One through four; Creole New Orleans, Part 3, Intro and Chapter 5
Click here for a map of New Orleans (1798)
Click here for a map of New Orleans (1860)
Click here for a map of New Orleans (1869)
Click here for a map of New Orleans (1873)
Tuesday March 24: Reconstruction: violence, corruption, and progress
Click here for an article about the Colfax Massacre, which led directly to the case US v. Cruikshank
Thursday March 26: Plessy vs. Ferguson
Free men of color and their long fight for “public rights”;
Free women of color and their long fight for honor and property
Week Ten:
March 31 and April 2
The Twentieth Century and the Color Line:
Read: Mitchell, All on a Mardi Gras Day, chapters six, seven, and eight; William Ivy Hair, Carnival of Fury, chapters “preface” through four (to page 56).
Tuesday March 31: Segregation by race and segregation of vice: Storyville
Thursday April 2: Zulu parades, Mardi Gras Indians, and the world turned upside down
Week Eleven: April 7 and April 9
Sex! Race! Violence!
Read: William Ivy Hair, Carnival of Fury to end; and Mitchell, All on a Mardi Gras Day, 9, 10, 11, 12.
Tuesday April 7: The Storyville neighborhood and the “ethnic” geography of New Orleans
Thursday April 9: Policing respectability; riot
Sex! Race! Violence!
Read: William Ivy Hair, Carnival of Fury to end; and Mitchell, All on a Mardi Gras Day, 9, 10, 11, 12.
Tuesday April 7: The Storyville neighborhood and the “ethnic” geography of New Orleans
Thursday April 9: Policing respectability; riot
Click here for a link to the New Orleans Public Library exhibition, Hidden From History: Unknown New Orleanians.
Week Twelve: April 14 and April 16
Five page papers due in class April 16.
The Birth of Jazz
Read: Louis Armstrong, Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans;
Tuesday April 14: Jazz, jazz musicians, and the politics of sex, race, and music
Thursday April 16: Louis Armstrong
Week Twelve: April 14 and April 16
Five page papers due in class April 16.
The Birth of Jazz
Read: Louis Armstrong, Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans;
Tuesday April 14: Jazz, jazz musicians, and the politics of sex, race, and music
Thursday April 16: Louis Armstrong
Click here for Louis Armstrong's "King of the Zulus" and (free, legal) access to other musical gems.
Click here for a short article about Morton and Armstrong, with links to music downloads (special software required to listen).
Click here for an interview with Gary Giddins, a jazz critic and historian, who also wrote a biography of Louis Armstrong.
Click here for Armstrong obituary (Time magazine).
FILM: New Orleans at Hornbake. 4-6 or 7-9
Week Thirteen: April 21 and April 23
STELLA!
Read: Alecia Long, The Great Southern Babylon to end (chapter 5 and epilogue); Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire
Tuesday April 21: Segregating Storyville and its ultimate demise
Thursday April 23: Streetcar Named Desire: the importance of place
Film at night: meet at Hornbake Library to see A Streetcar Named Desire from 4-6 or 7-9
Week Fourteen: April 28 and April 30
Civil Rights and lack thereof
Read Creole New Orleans final chapter “Simply a Matter of Black and White,” and Mitchell, All on a Mardi Gras Day, epilogue; Kim Lacy Roberts, Righteous Lives: READ CHAPTERS TWO AND THREE, SKIM THE INTRODUCTION TO GET A SENSE OF THE BACKGROUNDS OF THE PEOPLE SHE PROFILES. THE REST OF THE BOOK IS OPTIONAL.
Click here for Alecia Long's article, "Poverty is the New Prostitution."
Click here for an account of the Howard Johnson sniper, Mark Essex.
Tuesday April 28: Civil Rights Fights
Thursday April 30: Progress and problems
Week Fifteen:
May 5 and May 7
Read: Ari Kelman, A River and its City
The earth, the environment and “Natural” disasters
Tuesday May 5: The environment and the making of a natural disaster (1927)
Thursday May 7: Ditto (2005)
We will also review the materials for the final.
Week Thirteen: April 21 and April 23
STELLA!
Read: Alecia Long, The Great Southern Babylon to end (chapter 5 and epilogue); Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire
Tuesday April 21: Segregating Storyville and its ultimate demise
Thursday April 23: Streetcar Named Desire: the importance of place
Film at night: meet at Hornbake Library to see A Streetcar Named Desire from 4-6 or 7-9
Week Fourteen: April 28 and April 30
Civil Rights and lack thereof
Read Creole New Orleans final chapter “Simply a Matter of Black and White,” and Mitchell, All on a Mardi Gras Day, epilogue; Kim Lacy Roberts, Righteous Lives: READ CHAPTERS TWO AND THREE, SKIM THE INTRODUCTION TO GET A SENSE OF THE BACKGROUNDS OF THE PEOPLE SHE PROFILES. THE REST OF THE BOOK IS OPTIONAL.
Click here for Alecia Long's article, "Poverty is the New Prostitution."
Click here for an account of the Howard Johnson sniper, Mark Essex.
Tuesday April 28: Civil Rights Fights
Thursday April 30: Progress and problems
Week Fifteen:
May 5 and May 7
Read: Ari Kelman, A River and its City
The earth, the environment and “Natural” disasters
Tuesday May 5: The environment and the making of a natural disaster (1927)
Thursday May 7: Ditto (2005)
We will also review the materials for the final.
Click here for an article about "race war" after Hurricane Katrina.
Week Sixteen:
May 12: Trouble the Water
May 12: Trouble the Water
Click here for an interview with Kimberly and Scott Roberts and Carl Deal.
Click here for another story about the film and Kimberly and Scott Roberts.
May 14: Our final is scheduled today, 8-10 am.
