Annotation
Slavery constituted a critical political, social, literary, and cultural issue in the U.S. during the nineteenth century; but the contents, manifestations, contexts, and rhetorics of that issue were, for the most part, far more nuanced and complex to 19th-century contemporaries than they sometimes appear to be to twenty-first-century observers. This seminar explores the historical, literary, and cultural nuances of the construction of slavery in the nineteenth century before, during, and after the Civil War. of the world -- a society that prides itself on its openness, pluralism, and equality of opportunity.