HIST 3320: The History of Childhood

Week 10: African American Childhood

Tuesday, Oct. 29:

• Steven Mintz, “Childhood and Atlantic Slavery” https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/case-studies/57
• Joseph E. Illick, “African American Childhood,” The Global History of Childhood, ed. Heidi Morrison, Ch. 12 (pdf on BB) 
• Steven Mintz. “Red, White, and Black in Colonial America,” Huck’s Raft. Massachusetts, Belknap Press, 2004. E-book available through BC library.

Primary Sources

• Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

https://wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/1510/1546451/pdfs/incidents.pdf

• The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself. Vol. I:
  Electronic Edition. https://faculty.uml.edu/bmarshall/The%20Interesting%20Narrative%20of%20the%20Life%20of%20Olaudah%20Equiano.pdf

For more on Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745-1797), see:

• http://slaveryandremembrance.org/people/person/?id=PP003

https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/people-global-african-history/equiano-olaudah-1745-1797/

Thursday, Oct. 31:   The Many Worlds of the Indian Child: Gendering the Child and Constituting Girlhood/Boyhood

Guest Speaker Dr. Pramiti Chatterjee

• Ruskin Bond. The Essential Collection for Young Readers (pdf on BB)

(I recommend reading “A Room with many colours;” “The Blue Umbrella;” and any two of your choice. Pay close attention to the backdrop and the context of the stories).

• Grandma’s Bag of Tales (Selected Stories): Stories from Bengal, India https://www.ezcc-india.org/pdf/book/bag.pdf
• Swapna M. Banerjee. “The Many Worlds of Indian Children.” (pdf on BB)

Recommended Film:

• The Three Daughters (short stories by Rabindranath Tagore.

directed by Satyajit Ray.