State University of New York
School of Education
SPRING 2008
HIST 53OB/EDUC 508: Issues in American History After
1877
Professor: Adam Laats
Class Times:
Office:
AB 231
Phone:
777-3329
E-Mail:
alaats@binghamton.edu
Thurs. 1:15-4:10 PM
Meeting Place: AB-124
Office Hours: Wednesdays 10-12 and by appt.
This graduate seminar is intended to assist students pursuing a Certificate in the Teaching
of American History by providing a strong foundation of key historical and
historiographical issues in American history. The course is organized around four units:
Thinking and Teaching History; Industrialization and its Discontents; America
Between the Wars; and Postwar America. Within this framework, the course addresses
a range of political, economic, social, and ideological topics.
LIST OF REQUIRED BOOKS

Sam Wineburg, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts : Charting the
Future of Teaching the Past

C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow.

Robert C. McMath, Jr., American Populism: a Social History 1877-1898.

Robert Wiebe, The Search for Order, 1877-1920.

Edward Larson, Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s
Continuing Debate over Science and Religion.

Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great
Depression.

John Morton Blum, V Was for Victory: Politics and American Culture during
World War II.

Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman, Jon Gjerde, eds., Major Problems in American
History, Volume II, since 1865.

Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumer’s Republic: the Politics of Mass Consumption in
Postwar America.

John Dittmer, Local People: the Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi.

Lisa McGirr, Suburban Warriors: the Origins of the New American Right.

Dorothy Sue Cobble, The Other Women’s Movement: Workplace Justice and
Social Rights in Modern America.
I. CLASS MEETINGS
The class meets on Thursday afternoons from 1:15-4:10 pm in AB 124. This is a
discussion-based course. The assigned readings are the basis for the discussions, and
students are expected to carry the bulk of our conversations. Students should come to
class prepared to critique the readings assigned for that afternoon's meeting. A high level
of participation is expected. For most class meetings we will spend one-third to one-half
of our time discussing the reading. The other portion of the class will be devoted to
reviewing peer work and developing teaching strategies and lessons with primary
documents through the internet.
Attendance: Due to the fact that our class meets only once per week, attendance at all
class meetings is mandatory. If an emergency occurs and a student must miss a class, she
or he must meet with me at a convenient time to discuss the class proceedings. If a
second class is missed, the student must write a five-six page review essay of that week’s
reading AND meet with me to discuss it. If more than two classes are missed, or if a
student does not make up missed classes, there will be a grade penalty on the student’s
participation grade. Penalties may range from a severe grade penalty on the participation
grade to a grade of incomplete for the entire course, at the discretion of the instructor.
II. COURSE DETAILS
Readings/Discussions: The goal of assigned readings (indicated in schedule of class
meetings) is for students to engage one another with regard to the material at hand and
unpack the ways in which historians practice their craft through the use of evidence,
argument, theoretical paradigm, and methodology. Students do not have to complete the
suggested readings, but will find that the list of related works for each unit provides a
broader understanding of topics of interest. Students must commit to open and respectful
discussions. See Student Handbook for details: http://studenthandbook.binghamton.edu/
Documents: Throughout the semester I will provide primary documents so that students
can work with them as a group and integrate them into their knowledge
base/understanding of assigned readings. Lists of documents will be made available at
each class meeting.
Assignments: All student work must be original. Plagiarism and cheating will not be
tolerated. See Student Handbook for details: http://studenthandbook.binghamton.edu/
III. STUDENT REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING
Students will complete a range of written assignments. These include a book review, a
medium-length paper, a documents-based question, and an annotated compendium of
internet resources.
Class participation: 15% of the course grade:
Students will come to each class prepared to discuss the reading assigned for that day.
Discussion formats will vary; at times I will lead the class in the discussion, at other
times I will divide the class into smaller discussion groups which will have their own
discussions. Students will also lead discussions for the books they choose to review. See
appendix for details.
Book Review: 15% of the course grade
Students will be assigned one of the required readings from Units 2, 3, or 4 to review.
The book review is limited to five pages. Students will email their book review to me no
later than the Tuesday before class; I will then forward the review to the rest of the class
so that all will have read it by the time we meet. When class meets, the reviews and
reviewers will help direct our discussion. You may revise and resubmit your book
review if you wish. First and second grades will be averaged for an improved final grade.
See appendix for details.
Paper: 25% of the course grade
Students will research and write a paper of ten-fifteen pages on any topic from Units 2
or 3. Topics must address an aspect of social, political, or economic life in the United
States from 1877-1940. Students should draw a substantial portion of their documentary
evidence from the internet sources that they are gathering for their annotated compendia.
You will NOT be able to revise and resubmit your paper. The draft you turn in to me will
earn the final grade. See appendix for details.
Documents-Based Question: 25% of the course grade
Students will create a DBQ, based on any topic from this course, that consists of two
parts: a short-answer section where the scaffolding questions come directly from primary
documents and an essay section where students must answer a capstone question using
the same documents. The primary documents should come from the semester-long
compendium project. Students will present their DBQs throughout the semester.
Students will email their DBQ to me no later than the Tuesday before class. I will make
it available electronically for the rest of the class to preview. You may revise and
resubmit your DBQ if you wish. First and second grades will be averaged for an
improved final grade. See appendix for details.
Annotated Compendium: 20% of the course grade
The purpose of the annotated compendium is to introduce students to using the internet
for scholarly and pedagogical purposes, to critically consider methods for using it as a
teaching resource, and to help students produce a reference of web-based materials for
use in their own classrooms. Students will assemble, organize, and critically comment on
websites that track the topics of this course. See appendix for details.
IV. CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT
The faculty and staff in the School of Education are committed to serving all enrolled
students. The intention is to create an intellectually stimulating, safe, and respectful class
atmosphere. In return it is expected that each of you will honor and respect the opinions
and feelings of others.
V. ACCOMODATIONS
If you are a student with a disability and wish to request accommodations, please notify
the instructor by the second week of class. You are also encouraged to contact the Office
of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) AT 777-2686. Their office is in LH-B51.
The SSD office makes formal recommendations regarding necessary and appropriate
accommodations based on specifically diagnosed disabilities. Information regarding
disabilities is treated in a confidential manner.
VI. ACADEMIC HONESTY
"All members of the university community have the responsibility to maintain and foster
a condition and an atmosphere of academic integrity. Specifically, this requires that all
classroom, laboratory, and written work for which a person claims credit is in fact that
person's own work." The annual university Student Handbook publication has detailed
information on academic integrity. Binghamton University has obtained a license with
Turnitin.com to facilitate faculty review for potential plagiarism of papers and projects in
their courses, which they are encouraged to do. "Students assume responsibility of the
content and integrity of the academic work they submit. Students are in violation of
academic honesty if they incorporate into their written or oral reports any
unacknowledged published or unpublished or oral material from the work of another
(plagiarism); or if they use, request, or give unauthorized assistance in any academic
work (cheating)." (SOE Academic Honesty Policies) Neither plagiarism nor cheating will
be tolerated in this class. Incidents of either will result in a failing grade for the
assignment in question, at the minimum. If you have any questions about what
constitutes plagiarism or cheating, PLEASE ASK ME! See also
http://soe.binghamton.edu/faculty/policies.html#honesty
SCHEDULE OF CLASS MEETINGS
UNIT I: Thinking and Teaching History
January 31: Introductions
February 7: What is history? How can we teach it?
Sam Wineburg, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts
UNIT II: Industrialization and its Discontents
February 14: Life after the Second American Revolution
C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow.
From Modern Problems: Steven Hahn, “Continuing the War”
February 21: Farmers and workers, workers and farmers
Robert McMath, American Populism
From Modern Problems: Anders Stephanson, “Global Competition and Manifest Destiny
on the Cusp of the Twentieth Century”
February 28: The Progressives
Robert Wiebe, The Search for Order.
From Modern Problems: Daniel T. Rodgers, “American Progressivism in the Wider
Atlantic World”
March 6: In-Class Workshop
"Women, Industrialization, and Reform."
From Modern Problems: Eric Rauchway, “A Distinctive American Progressivism;” Gail
Bederman, “Gendering Imperialism”
Assignment for this unit: Begin annotated compendium of web resources. Write a DBQ
based on a topic related to weekly reading assignment.
Suggested readings for this unit: Thomas Dublin, Transforming Women's Work; Melvyn
DuBofsky, We Shall Be All: A History of the Industrial Workers of the World; Herbert
Gutman, Work, Culture, and Society in Industrializing America; Samuel Hays, The
Response to Industrialism; John Kasson, Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn
of the Century; Kathy Peiss, Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in TurnOf-The-Century New York; Roy Rosenzweig, Eight Hours for What We Will: Workers
and Leisure in an Industrial City, 1870-1920; David Nasaw, Children of the City: At
Work and at Play; Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull-House; Alice Kessler-Harris: Out
to Work: A History of Wage-Earning Women in the United States; Perry Duis, The
Saloon: Public Drinking in Chicago and Boston, 1880-1920; Elliot J. Gorn, Mother
Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America; William Leach, Land of Desire:
Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture; John Kasson, Houdini,
Tarzan, and the Perfect Man; Steven Hahn, The Roots of Southern Populism; Peter
Argersinger, The Limits of Agrarian Radicalism: Western Populism and American
Politics; Daniel Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age;
Gabriel Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism: A Reinterpretation of American History,
1900-1916; Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R.; Nell Irvin
Painter, Standing At Armageddon: The United States, 1877-1919; James J. Connolly, The
Triumph of Ethnic Progressivism: Urban Political Culture in Boston 1900-1925;
Maureen Flanagan, Seeing With Their Hearts: Chicago Women and the Vision of the
Good City, 1871-1933; Alan Dawley, Struggles for Justice: Social Responsibility and the
Liberal State.
UNIT III: America Between the Wars
March 13: Confronting Modernity? Teaching Science, Religion, and all that Jazz
Edward Larson, Summer for the Gods
From Modern Problems: Paula S. Fass, “Sex and Youth in the Jazz Age”
March 20: FDR and the New Deal
Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest
From Modern Problems: David M. Kennedy, “FDR: Advocate for the American People”
March 27: NO CLASS -- Spring Recess
April 3: World War II and its Aftermath
John Morton Blum, V Was for Victory
From Modern Problems: Alan Brinkley, “American Liberals”
Assignments for this unit: Write a DBQ based on a topic related to weekly reading
assignment. Research paper, topic from Units 2 or 3. (10-15 pages). Due no later than
May 8. Continue annotated compendium of web resources.
Suggested readings for this unit: William Leuchtenberg, The Perils of Prosperity, 19141932; John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929; Arthur M. Schlesinger, The Crisis
of the Old Order and The Coming of the New Deal and The Politics of Upheaval; Basil
Rauch, The History of the New Deal; Ellis Hawley, The Great War and the Search for a
Modern Order; Colin Gordon, New Deals: Business, Labor, and Politics in America
1920-1935; Richard Pells, Radical Visions and American Dreams: Culture and Social
Thought in the Depression Years; Robert McElvaine, Down and Out in the Great
Depression; Paul Conkin, The New Deal; Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal:
Industrial Workers in Chicago 1919-1939; Robert D.G. Kelley, Hammer and Hoe:
Alabama Communists During the Great Depression; Shawn Lay, Hooded Knights on the
Niagara: The Ku Klux Klan in Buffalo, NY; Nancy MacLean, Behind the Mask of
Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan; Kristi Andersen, After Suffrage:
Women in Partisan and Electoral Politics Before the New Deal; Gloria Hull, Color, Sex,
and Poetry: Three Women Writers of the Harlem Renaissance; Horace Cayton and St.
Clair Drake, Black Metropolis; E. Franklin Frazier, Black Bourgeoisie; Alan Brinkley,
Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression and The End of
Reform: New Deal Liberalism in Recession and War; Claire Bond Potter, War on Crime:
Bandits, G-Men, and the Politics of Mass Culture.
UNIT IV: Postwar America
April 10: Eat or be Eaten? Postwar Consumption
Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumer's Republic
From Modern Problems: Stephanie Coontz, “Families in the Fifties”
April 17: The Civil Rights Movement
John Dittmer, Local People
April 24: Equity, Work and Culture Change
Dorothy Sue Cobble, The Other Women’s Movement: Workplace Justice and
Social Rights in Modern America.
May 1: Focus on the Cold War - Vietnam
From Modern Problems: Chapter fourteen, “Vietnam and the Downfall of Presidents,”
documents and essays.
May 8: The Right Turn in American Politics
Lisa McGirr, Suburban Warriors
From Modern Problems: Kenneth Cmiel, “Triumph of the Left”
Research paper due no later than this date.
Assignments for this unit: Write a DBQ based on a topic related to weekly reading
assignment. Complete annotated compendium of web resources. Compendium is due no
later than May 13.
Suggested readings for this unit: Thomas Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis; Studs
Terkel, The Good War; Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle, Rise and Fall of the New Deal
Order; Richard Fried, Nightmare in Red: The McCarthy Era in Perspective; Stephen
Ambrose; Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938; William H. Chafe,
Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for
Freedom; Amy Swerdlow, Women Strike for Peace: Traditional Motherhood and the
Radical Politics in the 1960s; Susan Faludi, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against
American Women; Joanne Meyerowiz (ed.), Not June Cleaver: Women and Gender in
Post-War America 1945-1960; Sara Evans, Personal Politics: The Roots Of Women's
Liberation In The Civil Rights Movement And The New Left; Philip Caputo, A Rumor of
War; Terry H. Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties; Todd Gitlin, The Sixties: Years
of Hope, Days of Rage; Maurice Isserman, If I Had a Hammer: The Death of the Old Left
and the Birth of the New Left; Michael Schaller, Reckoning with Reagan: America and its
President in the 1980s; Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los
Angeles; Andrew Hurley, Environmental Inequalities: Class, Race, and Industrial
Pollution in Gary, Indiana, 1945-1980; Timothy Tyson, Radio Free Dixie: Robert F.
Williams and the Roots of Black Power; Daniel Horowitz, Betty Friedan and the Making
of The Feminine Mystique: The American Left, the Cold War, and Modern Feminism;
Susan Faludi, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women.
HIST 530b/EDUC 508
Assignment I: Book Review
The Assignment:
Write a critical, analytical review of any assigned book from Units 2, 3 or 4.
The book review is limited to five double-spaced pages. Students will email
their book review to me no later than the Tuesday before class; I will then
forward the review to the rest of the class so that all will have read it by the
time we meet. When class meets, the reviewers will lead the discussion.
A good book review will contain these fundamental features

I. Essential facts about the book:
o Identify the main thesis
o What are the major questions/historical problems being
addressed?
o How does the author develop the argument?
o What primary sources were used?

II. Your original analysis:
o What the author proposes that is new
o Where the book fits into historical literature on the subject
o Theoretical and methodological approaches used by the
author
o Strengths and weaknesses of the author's use of sources - is
this a convincing argument?
Is there a model for me to use?
There is no single definitive way of doing this type of assignment. You may
find it helpful, however, to look at book reviews in major academic journals
such as the Journal of American History, the American Historical Review,
etc. These are housed in the Binghamton University Library and available
online.
Do I need to bring in outside materials?
If you have the knowledge at your fingertips and doing so is appropriate to
your review, then go right ahead. You may notice that one of the items
listed above is "where the book fits into historical literature on the subject,"
which can be tricky if you haven't read in the area already. Do your best
with this, and use your judgment.
HIST 530b/EDUC 508
Assignment II: Synthetic Research Paper
The Assignment:
Write a medium-length paper (10-15 double spaced pages) that addresses
a topic of your choosing from Units 2 or 3. Your paper must articulate an
original thesis and it must draw a substantial amount of its evidence from
the primary documents that you are already gathering for your
compendium. The paper is due no later than May 8.
Some Guidelines:
Of course, your readings can shape your thinking and your argument. You
must cite them whenever it is appropriate. Use Chicago-style footnotes or
endnotes to identify your sources. But remember: the key to this
assignment is to use documentary evidence to explore your topic, and
these should factor prominently in the paper.
A good thesis matters.
If you can lay out your thesis as clearly as possible at the start of the
paper, you will be making your position clear and you will be framing the
boundaries in which you will tackle this historical issue.
Some examples of successful theses:

Three distinct ideas of the proper role for women’s empowerment
movement competed for recognition in the 1970s. One was a
conservative movement, one was based in workplace justice, and a
third fought primarily for elite empowerment.

The racial ideologies used among soldiers in the U.S. forces in
Southeast Asia between 1960- 1976 mirrored the racial arguments
at home.
How do I use footnotes?
Consult any academic historical writing for examples. Our books
generally use this format. For more details, consult a style guide, such as
the Chicago Manual of Style Quickguide:
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
Do I need to bring in secondary materials from beyond our list of
required readings?
No. You may find it helpful to cite a book or two not assigned for this
class, but it is not required.
HIST 530b/EDUC 508
Assignment III: Documents Based Question
The Assignment:
Create a Documents-Based Question (DBQ) based on any topic of your choosing
from this course. Your primary documents (a maximum of 8) should come from the
compendium that you have been working on all along. Students will present and
submit their DBQs throughout the semester. You must email your DBQ to me by
the Tuesday before class. I will post your DBQ for the class to preview.
The DBQ should consist of two parts: a short-answer section where the scaffolding
questions (maximum of 10) come directly from these documents and an essay
section where students must answer a capstone question using the same documents.
Unless you have a strong reason to design a question for another age group, such as
a plan to teach only middle school, please assume this is an assignment for highschool students (i.e., grade 11).
In addition, you need to write three things:
1. A cover sheet for the DBQ that clearly and succinctly lays out the directions, the
brief historical background for the questions, and an explanation of the task. YOU
MAY COPY THIS FROM EXISTING TEMPLATES.
2. An explanation of the documents you've chosen -- what they are, what their
purpose is, why you have selected them.
3. An explanation of how this will be graded, i.e., identify what will constitute a
good response to your questions.
Some Guidelines:What is this supposed to look like?
There are many places you can look to see examples of a DBQ in its component
parts. Here are three:
http://www.nysedregents.org/testing/socstre/regentushg.html. NY State
Department of Education > State Assessment > History and Government Regents
Exams. Choose a test date (downloads as a pdf) and then scroll to the DBQ portion
of the test. Pdf files require Adobe Acrobat Reader, or equivalent, to open.
http://www.edteck.com/dbq/dbquest/quest11.htm
Peter Pappas, "teaching with Documents" > Grade 11 > Civil War
http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/teacher/dbqs.htm
This site is part of the Center for the Historical Study of Women and Gender in
the "Teacher's Corner."
HIST 530b/EDUC 508
Assignment IV: Annotated Compendium
The Assignment
The purpose of the annotated compendium is threefold: to introduce students to
using the web for scholarly and pedagogical purposes, to critically consider
methods for using the web as a teaching resource, and to help students produce
a reference of web-based materials for use in their own classrooms.
Compendia should cover the range of topics we have studied in this course.
Focus on websites that are document-rich.
The Compendium is due no later than May 13.
II. Annotations
What constitutes a good annotation is really up to you -- after all, this is an
assignment that you can draw upon long after this course is over. The more you
have written now, the more useful it will be to you later. That said, I am looking
to see that you have put some real thought and substantive effort into this
project, and the quality of the annotations is one measure of that. Follow this
basic rule of thumb: an annotation should have the web address (the URL), the
title of the site, and then several sentences of your comments/analysis. If it is
easier or clearer for you, feel free to organize your information about each site
in a bulleted list.
III. Organization
How you organize your compendium is again up to you. In the past, students
have created categories into which they placed their annotated websites. These
could be chronological (late 19th century, America between the wars, etc.) or
thematic (gender, class, ethnicity, race) or topical (migration, democracy,
capitalism, etc.). It's your choice.
IV. Length
Your compendium should include at least five useful sites from units two, three,
and four. A good compendium can be made with just fifteen references. You
may include many more if you wish.
V. Format
You may turn in a hard copy or a digital copy (via email, on a floppy, a website
you've made, and so on). Again, this is your choice -- but do not turn in
printouts of these websites. Save trees!