Women in America / Topics in Women’s Studies HIS 3650 / WSM 4900 Baruch College, CUNY Fall 2014 T, Th 11:10 am-­‐12:25 pm A-­‐17 Lex 1403 Professor Sara Fieldston sara.fieldston@baruch.cuny.edu Office hours: By appointment. Please e-­‐mail me; I will be happy to meet with you. Hy Mayer, “The Awakening,” Puck, 1915, Library of Congress Goals: This course is intended to acquaint students with the history of women in America from the colonial period through the present. Students will learn how to articulate persuasive historical arguments, hone their writing skills, and gain competence in analyzing textual and visual sources. Course description: This course explores the political, economic, social, and cultural dimensions of U.S. women’s history. We will examine the experiences of women in America and consider how definitions of womanhood have changed over time. Students will gain a greater understanding of the ways in which gender has structured American society and shaped the lives of individual women. We will explore changing conceptions of motherhood, women’s bodies, and sexuality; women’s wage labor; and the various social movements—for abolition, suffrage, peace, civil rights, and feminism—in which women have been key players. We will also examine how gender has intersected with other social categories such as race and class. Finally, we will consider what the history of women can teach us about American history more generally. Required readings: Amy Gilman Srebnick, The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers: Sex and Culture in Nineteenth-­
Century New York (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), ISBN 9780195113921 Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (New York: Dell, 1992 [1968]), ISBN 9780440314882 [any edition of this book is fine] Both books are available at the Baruch bookstore and are on reserve at the library. All other assigned readings are available on Blackboard. Assignments: Students will write two papers. The first paper is an in-­‐depth analysis of a primary source (5 pages). For the second paper, students will conduct an oral history interview with a female family member or friend about her experiences and write a paper that relates this interview to material covered in the course (5 pages). In addition, students will post a short response to a question on the reading to Blackboard each week. Posts are due by 9 a.m. on Thursday. Students will also complete midterm and final exams. The due dates for the assignments are as follows: Midterm: October 23 Paper 1: November 7 Paper 2: Proposal due November 25; Final paper due December 11 Final: December 18 Grading: Paper 1: 20% Paper 2: 20% Midterm: 20% Final: 20% Weekly Posts: 10% Participation: 10% Attendance: Attendance is mandatory and counts toward your participation grade. Students with more than 3 unexcused absences will receive a failing grade for participation. Please let me know ahead of time if you know you will have to miss a class. Writing Center: Baruch College’s Writing Center is a great resource. See http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/writingcenter/ to learn more and to make an appointment. Academic honesty: Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated in any form. Being caught cheating or plagiarizing will result in a failing grade for the class and further disciplinary action will be taken through the school. Please familiarize yourself with Baruch’s Academic Honesty Policy at http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.html Schedule: Week 1 August 28: Introduction: Why Study Women’s History? Week 2 September 2: Gender, Culture, and Conflict in the New World Reading: • Mary Rowlandson, “A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” (1682) September 4: Women in the Chesapeake Reading: • Mary Beth Norton, “‘Searchers again Assembled’: Gender Distinctions in Seventeenth-­‐Century America” Week 3 September 9: Witches and Goodwives: Women in Puritan New England Reading: • Accusations Against Elizabeth Morse (1679-­‐1680) September 11: Refinement, Enlightenment, Awakening Reading: • The Lady’s Companion: or, an Infallible Guide to the Fair Sex, “Of Wives” (1743) Week 4 September 16: From “Republican Mothers” to “Female Politicians”: Women in Revolutionary America Reading: • Abigail Adams, “Remember the Ladies” (1776) September 18: Gendering Early Nineteenth-­‐Century American Culture Reading: • “Choosing a Husband” (1833) and “Advice on Choosing a Wife” (1839) • Srebnick, The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers, chapters 1-­‐2 Week 5 No class Week 6 September 30: The Market Revolution and the “Cult of Domesticity” Reading: • Srebnick, The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers, chapters 3-­‐5 October 2: Women in the Antebellum South Reading: • Linda Brent (aka Harriet Jacobs), Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl [excerpt] (1861) Week 7 October 7: Manifest Destiny: Women in the West • Amelia Stewart Knight, “Crossing the Plains” (1854) October 9: Antebellum Reform and the Birth of the Women’s Movement Reading: • Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions (1848) Week 8 October 14: The Civil War Reading: • Louisa May Alcott, “A Union Nurse” (1863) • Louticia Jackson, “A Wartime Mistress” (1863) • Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Petition to the Senate (1874) October 16: “Women Adrift”: Immigration, Urbanization, Industrialization Reading: • Sadie Frowne, “A Sweatshop Girl’s Story” (1902) Week 9 October 21: Midterm Review October 23: MIDTERM EXAM Week 10 October 28: The “New Woman” Reading: • Winnifred Harper Cooley, The New Womanhood [excerpt] (1904) October 30: War, Peace, and Winning the Vote Reading: • “Mrs. Lyman Abbott on Woman Suffrage: Address Before the Anti-­‐Woman Suffrage Society of Albany, New York” (late 19th/early 20th century) • “Let Her Come,” New York Times (late 19th/early 20th century) Week 11 November 4: Flappers and Fundamentalists: Women in the 1920s Reading: • Joan Jacobs Brumberg, The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls (New York: Random House, 1997), 97-­‐107 November 6: The Great Depression Reading: • Ellen S. Woodward, “The Lasting Values of the Works Progress Administration” (1930s) November 7: PAPER 1 DUE (via e-­‐mail by the end of the day) Week 12 November 11: “Rosie the Riveter” and Women during World War II Reading: • Lucy Greenbaum, “I Worked the Assembly Line” (1943) • Eleanor Roosevelt, “Woman’s Place After the War” (1944) November 13: Women in the Postwar Era Reading: • Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, parts 1 and 2 Week 13 November 17: Reviving the Women’s Movement(s) Reading: • Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique [excerpt from chapter 1] (1963) • Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, part 3 November 20: Women and the Civil Rights Movement Reading: • Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, part 4 Week 14 November 25: Wage Work, Pregnancy, and Reproductive Rights Reading: • Roe v. Wade (1973) • ORAL HISTORY PROPOSAL DUE November 27: No class. Happy Thanksgiving! Week 15 December 2: Fractured Feminisms and the Conservative Backlash Reading: • Women Who Want to Be Women, “Equal Rights Amendment is Dangerous to Women!” (1975) December 4: The “Mommy Wars” and Feminism’s “Third Wave” Reading: • Nina Darnton, “Mommy vs. Mommy” (1990) Week 16 December 9: “Leaning In”?: Women in America Today Reading: • Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead [excerpt] (2013) December 11: Final Review • ORAL HISTORY PAPER DUE (via e-­‐mail by the end of the day) Week 17 December 16: No class, reading day December 18: FINAL EXAM