Except for the assigned text for the course, the assignments are exerpts or selections from larger writings, documentary and dramatic films or series, and court cases, and are limited by the professor s own background and experience. The professor is grateful for Dr. Susan Brinkley s role as guest professor in this course and her presentation of the class on the topic of criminal justice, on Saturday, June 23, 2001. The professor also thanks Associate Dean Darby Dickerson and Professor James W. Fox, Jr., for their advice and assistance in the preparation of this course. No other national history holds such tremendous lessons, for the American people themselves, and for the rest of mankind. It now spans four centuries and, as we enter the new millennium, we need to retell it, for if we can learn these lessons and build upon them, the whole of humanity will benefit in the new age which is now opening.
American history raises three fundamental questions.
All nations are born in war, conquest, and crime, usually concealed by the obscurity of a distant past. In the judgement scales of history, such grievous wrongs must be balanced by the erection of a society dedicated to justice and fairness. The second question provides the key to the first. We deem it a settled point that the destiny of the colored man is bound up with that of the white people of this country We can be remodified, changed and assimilated, but never extinguished. . . All assigned readings are to be completed prior to each class session.