STANTON SHARP TEACHING SYMPOSIUM

Saturday, February 9, 2008

8:30 a.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Sponsored by the Clements Dept. of History

Southern Methodist University

1:45-3:15 p.m.            SESSION III

"Americans from Africa"

  Professor Kenneth Hamilton

  102 Dallas Hall

African-American history is an American experience.  The historical study of the African-American community is an exploration of our nation’s heritage.  From their 1619 introduction to Jamestown, African Americans have participated in the processes that have cumulated into the America of today.  From indentureship, to slavery, to freedom, African Americans have fulfilled much of the nation’s labor demand.  Their residence inspired major political debate, governmental compromises, Civil War, pop-cultural innovations, and the redefinition of citizenship.  During their 388 years of residency in English North America, African Americans have represented the best and the worst that this nation has to offer.  As such, no person can secure a comprehensive understanding of the nation’s past without a basic knowledge of its African American population.  With this premise as its foundation, this workshop will provide insights into the teaching of American History while focusing on and emphasizing the African-American experience.

Kenneth Hamilton teaches African-American history courses and writes on several aspects of the past lives of black Americans.  He is the author of Black Towns and Profit and is currently completing a book on the memorializing of Booker T. Washington.