Schedule and Syllabus

This tentative 2024 schedule is subject to change

Summer 2024     Knowledge for Freedom Seminar

Dickinson College / Summer 2024
Seminar:  M/T/W/TH/F 930am to 12pm
Classrooms: Denny 317 (lecture / discussion), Denny 212 / 112 for groups
Plus various afternoon and weekend activities and field trips

[ PRINTABLE SYLLABUS]

Faculty and Grad TAs

  • Director: Prof. Matthew Pinsker // Email: pinsker@msn.com
  • Assistant Director: Prof. Todd Mealy  // Email: tmmealy@comcast.net
  • Visiting Faculty:  Richard Blackett (Vanderbilt)
  • Senior TA: Cooper Wingert (PhD candidate, Georgetown) // Email: chw52@georgetown.edu
  • TA:  Jordyn Ney (Dickinson 2023, post-grad) // Email: jordynney13@gmail.com

Overview

Slavery, or the idea of holding people as property, might well be the most insidious repudiation of American democratic ideals. And yet, slaveholding was both widespread and long-entrenched in the United States, a country that has always prided itself on embracing individualism and universal natural rights. How was such a fundamental contradiction even possible? That is the kind of searing question that will help open a gateway toward both deeper learning and more engaged citizenship in the Knowledge for Freedom seminar. Students who successfully conclude this program and complete their final web-based projects will receive free Dickinson College credit for the equivalent of a History 101 general topical survey course.

Required Books & Pamphlets (distributed free)

  • Andrew Delbanco, ed., The Portable Abraham Lincoln (Penguin, 2009 ed.)
  • Eric Foner, A Short History of Reconstruction, 1863-1877 (Harper, 2015 ed.)
  • Jonathan Holloway, The Cause of Freedom:  A Concise History of African Americans (Oxford 2021)
  • James Oakes, The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics (WW Norton, 2007)
  • Matthew Pinsker, ed., Dickinson & Slavery: A Report to the Community (2019) [WEB]
  • Matthew Pinsker, ed., Knowledge for Freedom Source Book (2024) [PDF]

Course Policies

For details on course policies, especially those regarding attendance, participation, accommodations for disabilities, plagiarism and general learning objectives, visit the link above.

Workshops, Activities and Field Trips

Each afternoon, seminar participants will participate in various workshops, covering topics such as the college admissions process, research, writing and multi-media production.  Seminar participants will also undertake historical walking tours on campus and in town and will enjoy extended field trips to places such as Gettysburg and Washington, DC.  For details on these trips, visit the links above.

Participation

Students will be responsible for regular attendance and participation in the daily seminar sessions for two weeks, about 2.5 hours per day.  In addition, students will be expected to fully attend separate afternoon workshop sessions and various other program activities. The best way to participate in this seminar (and in most college classes) is to come prepared with thoughtful questions.  The most important questions usually concern possible connections with other texts or experiences, designed to draw broader insights and deeper understanding about context and meaning.  All participants will receive a written evaluation of their participation.

Close Reading Reflections

During the July seminar, all students will produce one short close reading reflection essay with document video, posted at the 2024 student project website –with first draft due to grad TAs by Sunday afternoon, July 21 and final draft due by Monday night, July 22.   Students are expected to begin working with both undergrad tutors and grad TAs in daily workshop sessions during the first week of class to ensure that they are making good progress in the development of their reflection essay posts.  Reflections should analyze one of the course texts in close reading style, about 500 to 1,000 words or 2 to 3 pages (single spaced), with 2-3 images (properly credited and captioned) and with one short video or podcast reading (link included in post) that attempts to bring to life a short snippet (20 to 60 seconds) from the assigned text. Students may select ANY document from the course texts list –from 2024 or from previous years. These assignments will be evaluated for analysis, prose and multi-media effort. Models for these reflections are available on the assignment page.  The best close reading reflection posts will be published online.   Students pursuing optional college credit will also produce a second close reading reflection post with document video (due by August 9).

Final Essays

Students seeking optional college credit will need to continue to meet remotely with Prof. Pinsker at weekly one-hour Zoom sessions for four weeks following the conclusion of the residential seminar experience .  They will work with him to produce a second close reading reflection post (see above) and  a final essay (about 2,000 to 2,500 words or roughly 4 to 5 pages, single spaced) that draws lessons about how best to achieve change in American democracy through comparing and contrasting the antislavery strategies of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.   All post-campus work will be due by Friday, August 23 at 5pm posted at the student projects site.  Final essays should include properly captioned and credited images as well as Chicago-style footnotes, citing wherever relevant the primary source texts from the course syllabus as well as secondary sources provided by the program, including James Oakes’s dual biography and Jonathan Holloway’s survey of African American history. Outside research beyond these materials is allowed but not required. Final essays will be graded on prose quality, research, and depth of analysis. Models for these final essays will be available at the course site. The best student essays will also be considered as models for future seminar students and for inclusion in Prof. Pinsker’s online Student Hall of Fame gallery. Late  projects will be penalized up to 5 points each day.

Grade Distribution

NOTE:  all participants will receive comments on their participation and grades on their first close reading post shortly after the regular program concludes.  Other grades and an overall course grade will only be distributed in early September for those seeking college credit.

Seminar Participation……………………………………35 percent
First close reading post…………………………………15 percent
Second close reading post……………………………15 percent
Final Essay……………………………………………………..35 percent

Full daily schedule (subject to change)

Check out our daily blog for Summer 2024

Week 1:  Background on Slavery and Freedom

  • Sunday 7/14 -Arrival Day (Dickinson College campus)
    •  2pm to 4pm = Participants arrive to House Divided studio (61. N. West St)
    • 2pm to 430pm = Move in at Morgan Hall (360 W. High St)
    • 430pm to 5pm = Quick campus orientation (STAFF)
    • 5pm to 630pm = Dinner with STAFF (Holland Union Building / HUB)
    • 7pm to 9pm = Dorm activities
    • 9pm to 11pm = Personal time / lights out
  • Tuesday 7/16  –Framing Slavery
    • 7am to 9am = Breakfast available (HUB)
    • 930am to 945am = Announcements (Denny 317)
    • 945am to 1045am = Debate:  Founding Compromises (Mealy / Pinsker)
    • 1045am to 11am = Break
    • 11am to 12pm = Group discussions (Denny 212)
    • 12pm to 1pm = Lunch available (HUB)
    • 130pm to 245pm = Field trip:  CCHS (21 N. Pitt St)
    • 3pm to 430pm = Admissions Activity: Finding Your College (Denny 112)
    • 445pm to 630pm = Dinner available (HUB)
    • 7pm to 9pm = Dorm activities
    • 9pm to 11pm = Personal time / lights out
  • Wednesday7/17  –Douglass and Lincoln
    • 7am to 9am = Breakfast available (HUB)
    • 930 to 945am = Announcements (Denny 317)
    • 945am to 1045am = Context lecture:  Abolitionism (Mealy)
    • 1045am to 11am = Break
    • 11am to 12pm = Group discussions (Denny 212)
    • 12pm to 130pm = Lunch available (HUB)
    • 145pm to 430pm =  Visit to State Capitol
    • 445pm to 630pm = Dinner available (HUB)
    • 7pm to 9pm = Dorm activities (Optional Brainstorming meetings)
    • 9pm to 11pm = Personal time / lights out
  • Thursday 7/18– Seeking Freedom
    • 7am to 9am = Breakfast available (HUB)
    • 930am to 945am = Announcements  (Denny 317)
    • 945am to 1045am = Context Discussion on UGRR with Richard Blackett
    • 1045am to 11am = Break
    • 11am to 12pm = Group discussions (Denny 212)
    • 12pm to 1pm = Lunch available (HUB)
    • 130pm to 245pm = Field trip:  Old Courthouse & UGRR (Outside Denny)
    • 3pm to 430pm = Admissions Activity:  Application Process (Denny 112)
    • 445pm to 630pm = Dinner available (HUB)
    • 7pm to 9pm = Dorm activities (Required Brainstorming meetings)
    • 9pm to 11pm = Personal time / lights out
  • Saturday 7/20 – Field Trip to Gettysburg
    • 7am to 9am =  Breakfast available (HUB)
    • 9am to 4pm = Activity: Field trip to Gettysburg (Outside Denny at 9am)
    • 445pm to 630pm = Dinner available (HUB)
    • 7pm to 10pm  = Dorm activities
    • 10pm to 11pm = Personal time / lights out
  • Sunday 7/21 –Close Reading assignments
    • 7am to 9am = Breakfast available (HUB)
    • 9am to 10am = Denim coffee run (free)
    • 930am to 430pm = Denny 112 computer lab available
    • 10am to 12pm = Optional Close Reading support (Tutors)
    • 12pm to 1pm = Lunch available (HUB)
    • 1pm to 4pm = Required Close Reading Draft Review (Grad TAs)
    • 445pm to 630pm = Dinner available (HUB)
    • 7pm to 10pm  = Reading & writing time
    • 10pm to 11pm = Personal time / lights out

Week 2: The Other Lincoln-Douglass Debates

  • Wednesday 7/24 –Field Trip to DC
    • 7am to 730am = EARLY Breakfast only (HUB)
    • 730am to 9pm = Activity: Field trip to Washington DC
    • 9pm to 11pm = Personal time / lights out
  • Thursday 7/25 –Age of Reckoning
    • 7am to 9am = Breakfast available (HUB)
    • 930am to 945am = Announcements (Pinsker / Denny 317)
    • 945am to 1045am = Context lecture:  Age of Reckoning (Pinsker)
    • 1045am to 11am = Break
    • 11am to 12pm = Group discussions (Denny 212)
    • 12pm to 1pm = Lunch available (HUB)
    • 130pm to 245pm = Debate prep (TBD)
    • 3pm to 430pm = Admissions Activity: Financial Aid (Denny 112)
    • 445pm to 630pm = Dinner available (HUB)
    • 7pm to 9pm =  Dorm activities (PowerPoint presentations)
    • 9pm to 11pm = Personal time / lights out
  • Friday 7/26 –Closing Activities

Likely dates for OPTIONAL online college credit sessions:

 

COVID STATEMENT:  Participants in the 2024 seminar will be required to be vaccinated for COVID prior to their on-campus arrival on July 14, 2024.