HISTORY of the UNITED STATES since 1877

HISTORY of the UNITED STATES since 1877

Fall 2006

Class number: 71161 Course number: 3400:251: 010

Dr. TJ Boisseau

Office: A&S 204B, Office hours: Mon 5:00-6:00, Tu/Th 3:30-5:00, and by appointment.

Office phone: x6277; Email: tjboiss@uakron.edu

Lectures will be held T/Th 10:45-12:00 in Olin 124

Teaching assistants: Ozgun Basmaz, Stacie Goosman, Brian Pelanda

Discussion sections meet as follows:

011 Tu 12:15-1:05 Carroll 203

012 Tu 12:15-1:05 Carroll 219

013 Th 1:45-2:35 CAS 135

014 Th 12:15-1:05 Carroll 203

015 Th 12:05-1:05 Carroll 219

Course description and objectives:

This course is an introduction to modern United States history, from the late nineteenth century to the present. The primary goal of this course is to provide students with a systematic view of the past 125 years of U.S. history and to promote insights into the way the past acts to shape American experiences in the present. Lectures are drawn from the work of prominent historians whose research has made significant contributions to the fields of American social, political, economic and cultural history, supplemented by primary sources and documents including video footage. Material in this course is arranged chronologically. Assignments such as the primary source essay and research projects are designed to train students to evaluate historical sources, to read independently and critically, and to write with clarity and cogency. Lectures require students to adopt effective listening habits, to expose them to historical perspectives on U.S. politics, society and culture and to view history analytically. Discussion sections are meant to enhance comprehension of lectures, field questions and encourage open debate, and to promote intellectual reflection.

Major themes and important concepts of the course

The predominant theme explored in the course is the role of the federal government in society, culture and economics. In assessing this role, students’ attention will be directed primarily towards the effects and politics of industrialization and capitalist development. Important issues and concepts we will consider include class formation and class identity; capitalist accumulation and consumerism; communist visions, socialist alternatives and anti-communist crusades; national identity and imperialism; urbanization and modernity; gender as a dimension of social identity; race, racism and anti-racism; democracy in action and expressions of collective dissent.

EDUCATION MAJORS OR PROSPECTIVE EDUCATION MAJORS IN SOCIAL STUDIES WHO ARE TAKING THIS COURSE : If you entered the University for the first time in, or after, Fall 2002 or if you have not signed a College of Education program plan before August 26, 2002, and you will seek licensure to teach in social studies, you are required to collect evidence from several of your classes to be included in a College of Education portfolio. You must have specified portfolio entries before you will be allowed to sign your College of Education program plan, before you are admitted to student teaching, and before you are cleared for graduation. Material from this course is required in the College of Education portfolio.

For further information about the portfolio requirements please contact: DR. WALTER YODER, 323 Zook Hall, 972-6124, if you are or intend to be in the Adolescent to Young Adult Program, grades 7-12, or DR CAROLE NEWMAN, 10A Zook, 972-6465, if you are or intend to be in the Middle Level Program, grades 4-9

Texts: Texts are on order at university bookstore but may also be obtained easily and likely less expensively through other sources such as area bookstores and the internet.

Required textbook:

Give Me Liberty! An American History by Eric Foner Volume 2 (W. W. Norton 2005/2006)

ISBN: 0-393-92784-9

Required primary source texts:

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (Bantam, 1900/1982). ISBN: 0553213741

Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody (Doubleday, 1965). ISBN: 0440314887

Class policies

Attendance: Class meetings will begin on time, lateness will not be tolerated. Students should not be walking through the door at 10:45 AM, they should aim to be present, seated and prepared to begin class by that time. As students enter the classroom, they should expeditiously seek out their teaching assistant in order to initial an attendance sheet. I will provide 2 or 3 minutes at the beginning of class for attendance to be taken and seating assumed, after that and upon commencement of the lecture, the attendance sheet will not be available for signing. Thus, late students may not receive attendance credit regardless of how minimally late they were in arriving to class! Students should not seek to explain occasional absences they deem unavoidable unless they have experienced an extended period of crisis and are requesting an incomplete. Repeat: Occasional absences are accounted for within the attendance credit policy and do NOT require student explanation.

Class meetings: Students should be alert and focused on lecture or discussion throughout class meetings. They may consume beverages but should not bring food to class. Cell phones and all electronic screens should be turned off prior to the start of class unless express permission is granted. Students should not allow their attention to be diverted by conversation or reading materials, such as newspapers, magazines or personal correspondence, during lecture. Unauthorized consultation of screens during lecture will not be tolerated and unnecessary wandering in and out of the classroom is unacceptable.

Late work: Late essays and papers will be marked down one full grade for each day late unless otherwise arranged with the professor. No work will be accepted more than one week late. However, any work submitted on time may be revised indefinitely for an improved grade (see revision policy below).

Revision: All written work regardless of quality, if initially submitted on time, may be revised in accordance with instructor or TA feedback for an improved grade. There is no limit on the number of revisions a student may submit of any one assignment, no limit on the number of assignments a student may choose to revise, and no time limit for submission of revisions other than that all revisions must be submitted prior to the last day of class meeting (not finals week, the last week of class lecture).

Extra credit: One to three extra credit points will be awarded for attendance at speaker events sponsored or co-sponsored by the history department during the semester if followed by submission of a 2-3 page essay relating the ideas and information of the lecture to major themes or issues dealt with in the course. A total of six extra credit points may be earned in this manner. (Several qualifying events are scheduled, see university calendar and watch for history updates).

Notice on incompletes and withdrawals: The granting of incompletes will follow university guidelines (e.g. reasons must be compelling and students must have completed 80% of the course and propose a workable plan for completion of course requirements). Students choosing to withdraw from the course must do so prior to the Friday of the 12th week of the semester in accordance with university policy.

BEWARE! Plagiarism, meaning the presentation of statements or ideas as one’s own which have been culled from others’ works (whether published or unpublished) will not be tolerated in any form. A student who commits plagiarism can expect immediate expulsion from and failure of the course. A letter of approbation will be sent to the Dean’s office detailing the offense and recommending the student’s expulsion from the university. There will be no exceptions to this rule.

Evaluation

Timeline quiz pass/fail (pass is required to pass course)

1^st Primary source essay, 3-4 pages 15%

1^st Independent research project, 4-5 pages 15%

2^nd Primary source essay, 3-4 pages 15%

Final exam 30%

2^nd Independent research project, 4-5 pages (15%)

In-class essay (15%)

Attendance to lecture (22 lecture days, two free absences) 20%

Attendance to discussion (11 discussion days, one free absence) 5%

100%

Assignments and Exams

Timeline quiz (September 14/15, in discussion section): Students will be required to list the major periods of U.S. history and major events as outlined on the timeline sheet attached to this syllabus. Timelines will be judged pass/fail. A passing timeline may contain at most only one or two minor inaccuracies or omissions. Students who do not pass this quiz on the first try must arrange with their TA to retake this quiz until they achieve a satisfactory result. Warning: Students will not be permitted to take their final exam unless they have already succeeded in passing a timeline quiz.

Primary source essays: In the first half of the course, students will submit a 3-4 page essay discussing Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser as the story relates to the material encountered in the lectures up to that time. Essays should seek not only to identify relevant issues and topics illuminated by Dreiser’s novel but also to explore how this source sheds light on major themes and concepts of the course. They will do the same for Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody, relating it to material encountered in the second half of the course. Essays require titles. The supra (top) title should be one of the bold-faced terms or phrases in the following paragraph (taken from the first page of this syllabus):

Students should also compose a specific individualized subtitle, one that encapsulates the specific focus of their essay. Thus, an example of a supra/subtitle might look something like this:

Consumerism and Class Identity:

Shopping with Sister Carrie in 1890s Chicago

Independent research projects:

Students will review major, national newspapers (such as the New York Times) on file in Bierce or another library and published between the dates indicated (between 1877 and 1939 for the first project and between 1940 and the present for the final exam). In each case, students will select a news item closely related to a major issue or theme encountered in the first or second half of the course. In a 4-5 page essay, students provide the historical context and explain the historical significance of the issues raised by this article, in light of ideas and information encountered in lecture and discussion. Copies of the referenced articles should be stapled to the essays when submitted. Projects will be assessed for the degree to which they reveal students’ understanding of course themes and major issues as well as cogency of writing and logic. Projects require supra- and sub-titles same as primary source essays.

Final exam:

Part I: Students submit their second independent research paper (referencing an article found in a

major newspaper published between 1940 and the present) at the outset of the final exam.

Part II: Students will respond in essay form to one of three questions drawn from a selection of

questions originally structuring weekly lectures.

Class schedule

Week 1. Aug 29/31 INTRODUCTION to course / BACKGROUND to 1877

Discussion: Roster confirmation, syllabus review

2. Sept 5/7 BACKGROUND to 1877 & Timeline overview

Discussion: Q&A re background and Timeline quiz.

3. Sept 12/14 LECTURE 1: Industrializing the Farm South and West

Discussion 1: Q&A on lecture.

Textbook reading: pp. 510-538

4. Sept 19/21 LECTURE 2: Urban Industry and Unrest

Discussion 2: Q&A on lecture.

Textbook reading: pp. 538-545

5. Sept 26/28 LECTURE 3: Modernity and the New American City

Discussion 4: Q&A on lecture. 1^st Primary source (Sister Carrie) essay due.

Required supplemental reading: T. Dreiser, Sister Carrie, chapters 1-8.

6. Oct 3/5 LECTURE 4: Populist and Progressive Reforms

Discussion 3: Q&A on lecture and primary source essay.

Textbook reading: pp. 546-572, 581-619

7. Oct 10/12 LECTURE 5: New Empire

Discussion 5: Q&A on lecture

Textbook reading: pp. 572-581, 620-28

ANNOUNCEMENT! The Annual Knepper Lecture Series, sponsored by the History Department, will take place Tuesday, October 10^th at 5:30 in the Martin Center Ballroom. This is a prime opportunity for extra credit (see class policies for more details).

8. Oct 17/19 LECTURE 6: World War I and the Red Scare

Discussion 6: Q&A on lecture/research project (confirm primary sources).

Textbook reading: pp. 620-659, 674-688

9. Oct 24/26 LECTURE 7: Depression and the New Deal

Discussion 7: Q&A on lecture. First independent research paper due.

Textbook reading: pp. 688-735

10. Oct 31/2 LECTURE 8: WW II: The War at Home

Discussion 8: Q&A on lecture

Textbook reading: pp. 736-775

11. Nov 7/9 LECTURE 9: Cold War

Discussion 9: Q&A on lecture

Textbook reading: pp. 776-807, 822-833

12. Nov 14/16 LECTURE 10A: Civil Rights Movement

Discussion 10: Anne Moody

Textbook reading: pp. 833-864

Required supplemental reading: Anne Moody, Coming of Age (1965)

13. Nov 21 LECTURE 10B: Civil Rights Movement

No discussion. 2^nd Primary source (Coming of Age) essay due.

14. Nov 28/30 LECTURE 11: The New American Empire: From Vietnam to Iraq

Discussion 11: Textbook reading: pp. 864-884, 917-981

15. Dec 5/7 Course review, final exam questions distributed, and Q&A

Discussion section: Q&A re: Final Exam

16. Dec 11-15 Final Exam (Second independent research paper due & In-class exam)