Spring 2013 is my first time offering this course, but the idea for it has been in the making for about a decade. I decided to develop this class because I realized that slavery is an incredibly important topics for Americans and students of American history, but that most discussion of slavery concerns only American slavery (often only as practiced in the United States in the decades immediately preceding the Civil War). Slaves are first mentioned, however, in some of the earliest human writing to have survived (when it appears to be already a well-established institution) and occurs in different forms throughout the world. Furthermore, slavery and other institutions of servitude or unfreedom (indentured service, serfdom, etc.) appear in a very large proportion of societies worldwide.
It seemed to me that this would be a useful course for students wanting to expand their consideration of freedom, servitude, and the "half free" status of serfs and others who have lost some but not all of their freedoms. This course naturally complements other courses offered at TSU in History, Africana Studies, and other disciplines.
Syllabus and Schedule of Readings
Pre-Writing Assignments: Preliminary Annotated Bibliography and Thesis Statement
History Assessment Essay