Professor: Jones Course format: Seminar Number of respondents: 9 Total Enrollment: 14 Class Composition: Froshs: 5 Sophs: 5 Jrs: 1 Srs: 2 Concs: ? Non-Concs: ? Don't Know: ?

Instructor Average: 1.66 Course Average: 1.68

“Africana History and Society Before 1800” is a seminar on African American history focusing on aspects of slavery before the 19th Century and its relation to the greater American society. There are no prerequisites for this course, but most students agreed that a general knowledge of American history would have been helpful.

The consensus amongst respondents revealed a general positive opinion of Professor Jones. According to the majority of survey participants, he was very good at leading class discussions and bringing up insightful questions. Some students felt that some of the discussions continued to return to the same ideas, and the class would debate over minor issues. However, most agree that he took students’ interests into account extremely well, seriously cared about his students, and was always receptive to questions during class.

Reviewers found all of the assigned readings to be useful for discussion and found them to be relevant to the course in many different ways. Class members particularly enjoyed David Walker’s Appeal. The coursework consisted of two take home exams, weekly questions about the reading to encourage discourse, two final papers, and a group presentation.

Prospective students can expect to devote between three to five hours per week to work for this course, which matched most people’s initial previous expectations. Take this class if you are interested in early African American history, and are ready to prepare well for class every week and actively participate in discussion. You will get out of this class “exactly what you put into it!”

View AF/0017 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.