HIST 4210U - Course Overview

A comprehensive survey of Georgia's development from the occupation by the earliest Indians to the present. Satisfies the Georgia History legislative requirement.

Instructor: John G. Crowley, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of History, Valdosta State University.

Course Overview

Introduction

From Georgia’s unique origins as a colony, the state that emerged has remained individualistic and, indeed, exceptional. A strong supporter of centralized government in 1787 and among the first states to ratify the Constitution, Georgia was one of the earliest to secede and to abandon the Union in 1861. Although it was the only southern colony to prohibit slavery (in 1735), a century later the state was part of the plantation belt in which slaves performed much of the agricultural work.

Politically, Georgia has produced many prominent national leaders, from William H. Crawford, Alexander H. Stephens, and Robert Toombs to Richard B. Russell, Jimmy Carter, and Sam Nunn. Georgia has been, also, the keystone state of the Southeast economically. Since Reconstruction days following the Civil War, Atlanta has served as the business and transportation capital of the entire region. From Georgia have come such literary figures as Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, Sidney Lanier, Joel Chandler Harris, Margaret Mitchell, Flannery O’Connor, James Dickey, and Alice Walker.

Even though Georgia’s history contains far more racial bigotry and violence, social injustice, and political repression than many Georgians would care to remember or admit, the state nevertheless has given the nation such civil rights pioneers as James Edward Oglethorpe, Ralph McGill, Julian Bond, John Lewis, and Martin Luther King, Jr. The history of Georgia bristles with paradoxes, contradictions, and inconsistencies that help to make that history fascinating, and sometimes puzzling, to those who take the time to study it.

The purpose of this course is to acquaint you with Georgia’s history and with some of the current writing and thinking about the state’s past. The hope is that the course will attract not only college or university students who are working toward degrees but also those who, while neither needing nor seeking college credits, share an interest in the state’s history. The course is a thorough treatment of all aspects of Georgia’s past. Its design is to achieve a balance of political history with social, cultural, economic, and even biographical approaches to the past.

You should derive from this course, or from any other history course, a better understanding of your identity, as well as a considerable amount of pleasure. You should profit from reliving history and seeing the people of the past with all that is both good and bad about them: their noble features and their human frailties and strengths, their prejudices and shortcomings. History not only allows one to look at the people of the past with all their warts; it also is a path to self knowledge. This course offers an excellent opportunity for Georgia students to know themselves better, for one must remember that the people who came ashore from the Anne on February 12, 1733, were the founders of Georgia, and they were our ancestors.

Readings

The atmosphere of the classroom and the opportunity for discussion are unavailable in Independent Study courses. Therefore, you, the student, must necessarily do extensive reading for each lesson. Study the assigned readings carefully and thoughtfully. You would be wise to make notes on the materials that you read and to be certain that you understand fully what each author has written.

The readings are divided into those that are required and those that are supplementary. The required text is A History of Georgia (2nd edition). I recommend strongly that you read as much as possible from the supplemental list to enrich your own knowledge, to fill in the background, and to locate additional material on topics that the text does not cover extensively. The supplemental readings contain older books on Georgia that continue to be pertinent as well as newer studies of Georgia history. It includes most of the significant works published in the last decade.

Written Assignments

Be aware that this is an upper division course and that a consistently high level of performance is expected of those enrolled. Because you will have your sources at hand when you do the ten lessons, the essays that you write for each lesson must be comprehensive and specific. The word "comprehensive" is defined for our purposes as "covering a matter under consideration completely, showing extensive knowledge and understanding of the subject." The word "specific" refers to the use of details that are accurate, concrete, factual, and precise. Do not write essays (or identifications) that are vague or generalized.

As you write your essays in answer to the lesson assignments, remember also that you should be writing toward some point or thesis. In the most basic sense, a thesis is a position or a point of view that a person assumes on a given question or issue. You should collect and assemble ideas and factual information in an orderly way to support your thesis or position. Employ the supplementary readings to expand your knowledge of each topic. Organize each of your essays before you commence writing it. The best organizational device for writing essays in history is an outline.

Study Questions

Each lesson contains at least one study question; some lessons have more. The purpose of the study question(s) is to point you to the most significant aspect(s) of each lesson, to whet your interest in the content of the lesson, and to prepare you to answer the questions in the lesson’s written assignment. You should give close consideration and thought to the study question in each lesson before you begin answering the questions in the written assignment. The final examination for the course is drawn in part from the study questions.

Final Examination

The final examination ends the course and has a format resembling that of the written assignments in the ten lessons. It will come primarily from the study questions and written assignments in each of the lessons and from your required readings. To prepare for the final you should review the study questions, the written assignments, and the required readings. The examination will challenge you to synthesize your ideas and your knowledge about given topics or periods in Georgia’s history. If you have been thorough in completing the lessons and have prepared well for the final, the examination can be a pleasant and stimulating experience. It will account for one-third of your grade for the course; the lessons will account for two-thirds.

Independent Study policy stipulates that you must pass the final to pass the course, regardless of grades earned on lessons. You are responsible for knowing and abiding by Independent Study policies and procedures. See your Student Handbook for detailed information.