Announcements

• Primary research emails are now overdue, but still required for your midterm report.
• Reminder on the Discussion grading rubric. Don’t forget to ask about technology.
• Thanks for all your contributions so far!

AGENDA

• Device time
  • News item
• Device-free time
  • Timed exercise
  • Discussion circle with audio excerpt
• End Notes
  • Primary research check-in + tips. If your emails go unanswered, what’s your backup plan?
  • Midterm report of 6+ pages due on October 23 at 5pm
    • For full credit, you must have booked your primary research interview and/or archival visit by this date. Don’t forget to copy me on all correspondence, since this is your proof of work.

ASSIGNMENT

You can use AI, but you must verify any information you find. I may ask you about it.

1. NEWS: Please share a relevant news item and be prepared to explain it.
2. READ and be prepared to discuss:
   • PBS Newshour: Before cotton, sugar established American reliance on slave labor (7:45)
   • Related NY Times reading (Muhammad 2019): The sugar that saturates the American diet has a barbaric history as the ‘white gold’ that fueled slavery.
   • National Geographic: Industrial Revolution and Technology
3. REVIEW and be prepared to discuss:
   • Beloved up until “Let’s see you walk on em.”
     (The entirety of Beloved-Part03.mp3)
   • Any/all previous assignments
4. PRIMARY RESEARCH EMAILS
   • Follow-up Email:
     • If you sent your initial email more than a week ago, it’s time to follow up or move on to Plan B. Remember to copy me and relevant colleagues.
   • Overdue Initial Emails:
     • If you haven’t sent me your draft email messages for primary research, do this ASAP!!
     • If I’ve responded to your draft messages with approval, please send your emails in accordance with the General Notes for D&T Email Drafts.
     • If you’re confused or have questions, let me know.
5. FOR DISCUSSION FACILITATORS: If you’re leading the next session discussion, email me the following by 1:30pm ET before class, as part of your discussion grade:
   • your audio excerpt
   • a simple discussion question on the Beloved reading assignment
   • a more challenging discussion question on the same assignment

Optional Reading

• Dickinson, Harry W. A Short History of the Steam Engine. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2019, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429423123. From the book description: “First published in 1938, this volume details steam engine as the most dynamic factor in the Industrial Revolution, freeing humanity from their age-long dependence upon the power of water, wind, and animals, or of their own muscles.”