Professor: Jones Course format: Seminar Number of respondents: 12 Total Enrollment: 14 Class Composition: Froshs: 1 Sophs: 2 Jrs: 5 Srs: 6 Concs: 3 Non-Concs: 6 Don't Know: 1

Instructor Average: 1.51 Course Average: 1.71

This course focuses on many aspects of the lives of African-Americans prior to 1800. In particular, much attention is paid to the slaves of the English, Dutch, and Spanish colonies in North America. There are no prerequisites for this course, and students suggest that anyone who has taken a course in American History should be well enough prepared to take it.

Students appreciated Professor Jones's intense knowledge of the subject matter. As this was a seminar course, the students were responsible for most of the class discussion. Some of the respondents, however, felt that Professor Jones relied too heavily on student participation, and did not say enough during class. But most of the students agreed that he was a good facilitator of the discussions, and asked thought-provoking questions.

Most of the respondents say that they spent between four and six hours per week outside of class on this course. Two papers were assigned, and the two exams were in take-home format. A lot of reading was assigned, and while most of the students found the reading material interesting, they also found it dense and somewhat difficult to understand. Many of them said that they had to allow themselves time to read the passages very carefully, so that they could really understand them. Some felt that the reading was too intense, and that they should not have had to read so much for one course. Class participation was definitely the most important component of this course.

While most of the students found this course intriguing and thought-provoking, a few commented that they did not feel that they had acquired much in-depth knowledge of African-American history. Perhaps this was because so much time was devoted to class discussion, and there wasn't really any solid lecture time. Be sure to note that this class met once a week for two-and-a-half hours at a time, which some students thought was too long. Overall, though, the students thought that this course was definitely worth their while, and they encourage anyone interested to check it out.

View AA/0017 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.