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FIRST YEAR SEMINAR
SYLLABUS
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Political Science 51
FALL 2008 LeFebvre
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IMPORTANT DATES – Mark your calendars!!
2 Weeks-Down-Pizza-Get-Together:
Cameran’s house 6:30-9 pm, Sept. 4, 5, or 11th
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I. PURPOSE and SCOPE OF COURSE
The purpose of this seminar is to introduce you to the law, civil rights, Southern history, politics,
moral questions, and culture surrounding the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson, a case that has
had an impact on every part of our life in America. You'll learn all about the legal issues and
then bring them and the case to life by researching, writing, producing, and performing a play
about some aspect of this case.
In Plessy v. Ferguson, the United States Supreme Court created the "separate but equal"
doctrine, allowing the legal segregation of citizens of America, based solely on their race. This
case is one of the most important ones in our legal and cultural history; it marked a dreadful
turning point in American constitutional law and civil rights, and it created a moral and legal
catastrophe from which we have never fully recovered. In Plessy, the United States Supreme
Court gave its stamp of approval to "Jim Crow" laws, race discrimination, segregation, and
second class citizenship for African Americans. With this case, as one historian said,
"Permission to hate had been granted." It took the Supreme Court nearly 60 years to reverse
Plessy, in Brown v. Board of Education, in 1954. However, despite the Brown case, the legacy
of Plessy v. Ferguson endures into the twenty-first century, and it continues to have an impact
on the lives of all Americans.
This course is multidisciplinary in content. Therefore, the materials that you'll be studying and
reading are diverse and cover a variety of disciplines— political science; law; African-American
studies; Southern culture and politics; history; philosophy; sociology; literature; and dramatic
arts. By looking at the Plessy case from the points of view of various disciplines, you'll be able
to see the connections that occur between them. In this seminar, we'll look at how society and
the legal system both created and reacted to the social, moral, and legal dilemmas of the Plessy
case. You will critically examine those moral issues through the eyes of the law and through the
lenses of race, economics, class, history, and culture, and then discuss and compare these
different perspectives. Why are the Brown and Plessy cases different? Why is the dissent in
Plessy famous? In what ways are you different from and the same as the people you're studying?
Students will read and learn about the social, cultural, political, racial, religious, and economic
traditions and realities of New Orleans, before and after the Civil War, from 1800 to 1900.You'll
meet and get to know the major characters in the Plessy case, including the members of the
New Orleans Citizens' Committee, who decided in 1892 to take the state of Louisiana to court
and challenge the law that made it a crime for whites and African Americans to sit in the same
train car, and Homer Plessy, the New Orleans shoemaker, "seven-eighths white and one-eighth
black", who "looked white" and who agreed to board the "white" train and break the law. You
will also get to know Homer Plessy's lawyers: Albion Tourgee, a well-known, controversial
“carpetbagger” lawyer, novelist, businessman, newspaper writer, judge, and civil rights activist
in post-Civil War North Carolina; Sam Phillips, a Chapel Hill lawyer who became an outcast in
Chapel Hill and North Carolina for his civil rights views and cases, his prosecution of KKK
members, and for his relationship to President Ulysses S. Grant, who made Phillips Solicitor
General of the United States. You'll learn, as well, about U.S. Supreme Court Justice John
Marshall Harlan, the iconoclastic, former slave-holder, who in his famous dissent in the case,
correctly predicted the future of U.S. race relations, and about Henry Billings Brown, the Justice
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who penned the Plessy opinion and who, during the Civil War, paid someone else to take his
place as a soldier.
In this course, I want you to see the Plessy case through the eyes of those who lived it. You will
then translate your new knowledge of the times, the people, and the historical, moral, legal, and
social context of Plessy into the medium of drama. You'll read about and have workshops on
playwriting and acting. You'll then collaborate with a group of classmates on writing, producing,
and performing your play. You'll have a lot of flexibility in creating this dramatic piece, as long
as the play is meaningfully connected to the Plessy case; effectively communicates the problems
and issues presented in that case, as well as the difficulties those issues continue to present for all
of us; and reflects substantial knowledge and serious research. Some groups may want to create
a play, or a "playlet", that is stark and minimalist, with a twenty-first century —or even later—
setting. Other students may be more interested in a nineteenth century period piece, or a musical.
Towards the end of the semester, each group will present its play to a larger audience.
Other important purposes of this course are as follows: to allow you to perfect your research
skill and writing skills through the researching, writing—and rewritings— of your plays; to
develop your speaking skills through informal discussions and informal and formal dramatic
presentations; and to encourage you to go to plays, with the hope that participation in the
dramatic arts will become for you a lifetime habit. You will accomplish the purposes of the
course through reading books, articles, and court cases; by attending plays in the community; by
class and group oral presentations, discussions, group work, through role-playing, and
simulations; through local field trips; and by writing, producing, and performing a dramatic
work.
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B. The Plays: Writing and Acting as part of Small Groups: Much of the work in this course
will take place in small groups. Interaction and collaboration are important—in your future
careers, whatever they are, most projects are done with at least one other person. Working as
a member of a group, you'll be able to contribute your particular talents and knowledge to
the project, but it takes patience, hard work, and cooperation to make a group succeed.
Guidelines for Groups: READ!!!
• Meet Early and Often.
• Divide Up the Work - Each person should know clearly what his/her job is. You also
need to make sure that the work is divided up fairly and equally.
• Share Your Work Regularly - Exchange your work with your partner or team members
often for input and as a way of staying on track.
• Set Deadlines, and then meet them. Don’t miss meetings with your group!
• Evaluate Yourselves Regularly - You should ask yourselves and each other the
following questions a few times during your work together:
(1) What is each member of the group contributing?
(2) What more can each member do?
(3) What part of the group process is working well?
(4) What part of the group process is not working well?
(5) How does each member propose to improve the process?
C. In-Class Team Dramatic Presentations-- You will write and perform short plays during
class on topics from our readings. Each student will be part of a team. Instructions and the
dates for the presentations are on the assignment sheet at the end of the syllabus
D. Class Participation and Commitment: The success of the course depends on you—on
your participation in class, as well as on your commitment to being open, tolerant of others'
work and opinions, enthusiastic about your work and the work of your classmates, and
being on time and present for all rehearsals, etc. I'm relying on each of you to make this
class a success. If you decide to take this seminar, I'll take that to mean that you've agreed
to commit yourself to both the spirit and the substance of this course.
E. Seating Chart and Attendance -- Please choose your seat carefully and sit in that seat until
we all know each other's names. I will pass out a copy of the seating chart to everyone.
Class attendance is required.
F. Grading:
• Exam: 30% of your grade—Covers class notes, class presentations, books,
Course Pack readings, and any other assignments and handouts.
• Class Participation: 20% of your grade. This includes contributions to your
playwriting group and to the play you’re cast in; cooperation with your director
and other cast members; being on time and present at all rehearsals and other
class meetings; and general participation in the class.
• Group In-Class Plays/Dramatic Presentations: see send of syllabus: 20% of total
grade
• THE PLAY-Dramatic Work: Creation and Public Performance-30% of your grade
(includes your written work):
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• Grading Scale –Grading is on a 10-point scale, as follows: A = 93 - 100;
A- = 90 - 92; B+ = 87 - 89; B = 83 - 86; B- = 80 - 82; etc.
G. The Honor Code– The Honor Code is very important to UNC and to me; you
should adhere to it scrupulously.
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ASSiGNMENTS & OUTLINE
POLI. 51- Plessy v. Ferguson: The Play
• Assignments- IMP. NOTE!- I will let you know when you should move on to the
next assignment.
• Exam: Includes all class notes, readings, and handouts; and all other assigned materials.
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Assignment 6- Plessy v. Ferguson and Jim Crow
Assignment: Medley: pp.214-223; CP-read Plessy v. Ferguson, pp. 43-59
Field Trip: To Sam Phillips' law office, house, and grave in Chapel Hill; Phillips Hall.
Assignment 7- Plessy v.Ferguson and Jim Crow (con’t)
Assignment: Brief Plessy v. Ferguson and bring your case brief to class; read CP-pp.60-
80
Discussion Topics: The Court's rationale in Plessy; Harlan's dissenting opinion—did his
predictions come true?
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Set 2~ DRAMA Readings: Creating and Performing in a
Dramatic Work
ASsignment #1- Overview of a Play
Discussion Topic: -Overview of the elements of a successful play-Read: Play Elements
sheet at the end of this syllabus
ASsignment #2- Acting
• Class activities: Acting in a Play; elements of good acting- Read: Acting Elements sheet
at the end of this syllabus
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ASsignment #8- Writing & Acting together
Class activities: Writing and acting in a scene; playwriting groups
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ASsignment #15: CAST Names; Production Assistants; Rehearsal Schedule; and
FINAL, FINAL Scripts
Assignment due: Clean up your script and put it in its final, formal format; bring copies
for each actor in your group’s play
First Read Through- in class for all plays
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Plessy : Directions- Group In-Class PLAYS [ 20% of gra de ]: R E A D
Carefully
1) TIME: Each team has about 35 minutes total only for your plays AND the discussion.: 3-4 persons
per group.
2) CONTENT: I expect your presentations to be as imaginative as you like, as long as what you do is a
play incorporating your class readings AND that you follow the outline of “Elements of a Play”
[attached]. After your play, you should lead a short discussion on your topic.
3) LENGTH: Your play should not be shorter than 10 minutes and no longer than 15 minutes.
4) ACTING and PROPS: you should use/bring props and be in costume as much as possible. Make sure
that you follow carefully the “Principles of Acting”, attached.
5) REHEARSALS-2: Each group is required to rehearse the entire presentation at least twice
before you present to the class, the last one with a TA, to make sure you meet the time
constraints, have reviewed the work as a whole, and fine-tuned it. The TA will provide
feedback, but she/he is not the director—YOU are.
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DATE~Tues., Sept. 9_______
*GROUP # 1: Dramatic Presentation TOPIC: “Free Persons of Color in New Orleans and as
Slave Owners in Louisiana in the 1800s.”
Include: Where did they come from? What was a white Creole in nineteenth century NO? A Black
Creole? Other African Americans? What other countries had FPC lived in? Why did they leave those
countries? How did they become free? What were their trades, professions, and other jobs in New
Orleans? What were some example of laws in NO that discriminated against them? Who were these
people? How many slaves did they own? Why didn’t they feel conflict about owning slaves? What
happened to them during the Civil War? How were they treated? What happened to them in
the Civil War and afterwards?”
Members of Group: 4_____________________________________________________
Members of Group__________________________
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DATE~Tues., Sept. 16________
*GROUP # 3: ? Dramatic Presentation TOPIC: Cholera, Yellow Fever, Riot, Politics,
Immigrants, Slaves, FPC, Whites in New Orleans from 1800-1860: What Were the Most
Important Events in the Lives of the People?
If you had lived in NO in the 1800s, up until the CVivil War, and you looked back over your
life, what would you list as the most important things that happened there, with the most impact
on your life and the lives of others?
Members of Group: 4___________________________________________________________
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DATE~Thurs., Sept. 23__________
*GROUP # 5:
Dramatic Presentation TOPIC: “The Phillips Family in Nineteenth Century Chapel Hill”:
What was James, the father, like? What was his deep, dark secret and why did he do what he did in
deserting his family and creating a new identity? Do you think he was afraid of being found out? What
was Cornelia like? Why is she controversial at UNC? Why did Sam break away from his family’s
attitudes? Was it hard for someone like Sam Phillips to have the courage of his convictions, to stand up
for what he believed in? Why? What impact do you think Albion Tourgee had on Sam?
Members of Group: 3_________________________________________________________
*GROUP # 6:
Dramatic Presentation TOPIC: “The Plessy Family in Nineteenth Century New Orleans”:
What was Homer Plessy like, do you think? What was his life like, growing up? What about his wife?
Was it hard being a shoemaker then? Why do you think he volunteered for this case? How you you think
did he felt being arrested, convicted, losing ultimately? How do you think he lived his life later? Was it
hard for him to have the courage of his convictions, to stand up for what he believed in?
Members of Group: 3_________________________________________________________
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E LEMENTS In Every SHORT PLAY
VERY IMPORTANT: Before you write each play, read this sheet EVERY time. After you write
it, check your play against this list to make sure ALL these elements are present.
*YOUR PLAYS MUST HAVE ALL OF THESE, in order to get a good grade:
1- The STRUCTURE ~ Create a Defined Structure: Your play must have A BEGINNING, A
MIDDLE, and AN END—but you need to start writing towards The Middle! -This is a short play. Ask
yourselves—what can I leave out? SO-get to the Heart of the Play asap--get to the central point of it all
fast, to get and keep the audience interested.
2- The CONFLICT/TENSION
1. SHE/HE . . . NEEDS!~ The Central Character(s) Really Need/Want/Desire/GOT-to-have
Something—you must create that thing she/he has got to have—the audience quickly need to
know what this is--what is it that creates his/her emotional struggle?
AND
2. The OBSTACLES! ~ What are the Obstacles You are creating to the Central Character's
Getting what He/She Really Needs/Wants/Desires/GOT to Have? You need to set these up
right away. You need to create things, or people, or whatever, that stand in the central
character’s way, keeping that character from getting what he/she wants.
3. OVERCOMING THOSE OBSTACLES ~ or not. Next, you need next to create ways that
the central character tries to get around/past those things standing in his/her way—what does
she/he DO to TRY to WIN what she/he wants??
4. OTHERS ALSO NEED BUT HAVE TROUBLE GETTING!~ What do the Other
5.
6. Characters in the Play Really Need/Want/Desire/GOT to Have? You need to create DESIRES
for them, too, AND you need to create OBSTACLES to those folks getting what they want.
7. EVERYONE in your play WANTS something—but not everyone has to get it—that’s up to
you. You have to decide how those characters WIN, LOSE, or DRAW/TIE. SO-by the end of
the play, you need to make sure that each character either GETS what he/she wants or FAILS.
3- The RESOLUTION
1. RESOLVE the CONFLICT/TENSION, in your Ending~ By The End, you must make sure
in that your Main Character(s) in your play:
(1) GETS what she/he really wants/got to have; OR
(2) CAN’T GET what she/he really wants/got to have; OR
(3) CANT get it, BUT comes up w/ a PLAN B to deal with it.
4. THE CHARACTERS~ Miscellaneous:
1. NUMBER~Don’t have more than 3-4 characters—this is a short play.
2. DIALOGUE~ Remember—different characters talk differently from each other and
have different quirks and different ways of putting words together—just like you. SO-
when you read your play, if you can’t tell who is talking because they all talk like each
other—then you need to revise your play so that each has a different style.
5. THE INTRODUCTION to your Play ~ In the Beginning, before the dialogue starts, be sure
to set up your Play's World: WHO? ~Name and describe the characters—names, ages, gender,
physical description, clothes, etc. WHERE?~ Where is the locale, the setting? WHEN?~The year,
month, season, or whatever you think is important for the audience to know WHAT?~What is going
on that you want the audience to know, if anything, before the characters speak?
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Poli.51. Plessy
Acting
1. “Given Circumstances”- What just happened to you the character BEFORE the
play/action started? “Given Circumstances” are the backstory to what is going on. For
example, my “givens” right now as I write this are that I had a good day, I just talked to some
friends, and I’m wearing long pants, and I just drank orange juice.
3. Objectives- What do you, the character, want--past, present, and future? These
objectives can be broken down into scene objectives, play objectives, and super objectives-
what you want in the grand scheme of life.
3. Obstacles- What is in your way of achieving your objective? These can be literal—such as
somebody’s marriage, or figurative, such as lack of motivation.
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