HIST – 05151-14 U.S. History Since 1865 Spring 2012 Dr. Chanelle Rose TR: 10:50 a.m. – 12:05 p.m. Office: Robinson Hall, 216L Phone: 856.256.4500 x3963 Office hours: TR: 1:00-2:00 p.m. and by appointment. T: Education Bldg, 3117 R: Whitney Center CL-202 Email: rosec@rowan.edu Purpose of Course This course will introduce students to the major topics, debates, and themes in American history from Reconstruction to the present. Areas of focus will include important developments ranging from Western Settlement, Progressivism, the Great Depression and World War II, to the Cold War, Civil Rights Movement, feminism, the rise of the Religious New Right, and multiculturalism. We will address a variety of factors that have helped shape American society such as industrialism, immigration, urbanization, politics, economics, class, race, gender, religion, ethnicity, and region. The course will cover prominent figures and national events while examining the experiences of marginalized groups. In effect, we examine the traditional “grand narrative” of American history to better understand the divergent and multiple perspectives of interpreting the past. In addition, we will explore the rise of the United States as a global power along with the impact of its foreign policy at home and abroad. Students will also be asked to analyze how the shifting conceptions of race, citizenship, and freedom have shaped contested notions of “Americaness” and U.S. democracy. Design of Course The class will be a combination of lectures and discussion. In addition to the required text, we will use film, music, oral histories, and other historical resources to broaden our discussion of the weekly assigned readings. Students should come prepared to engage in a lively and informed discussion each week. Required Reading Available at the Campus Bookstore Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs and Jon Gjerde. Major Problems in American History: Documents and Essays/Volume II Since 1865. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2007 ISBN: 978061867833-4 Bell, Thomas. Out of This Furnace. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburg Press, 1976. ISBN: 978082295273-2 1 Martin Luther King Jr., Why We Can’t Wait [1st Ed.]. (New York: Harper & Row, 1964) OCLC: 268783 Schneider, Gregory L. The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution (Lanham, Md. :Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009) ISBN: 9780742542846 Weekly Assignments The readings from Major Problems in American History contain two parts. The first section is a series of documents or “primary sources” produced by people who lived during the particular time. These writings address some aspect of the theme(s) in the historians’ essays. The other section contains essays written by historians or “secondary sources” on the topic for that week. Weekly written assignments from Major Problems in American History should be single-spaced, Roman Numeral 12-point font, and one page in length. Assignments that require typed notes should be single-spaced, bullets, 12-pont font, and one page in length. You are allowed to miss two weekly assignments, but additional missed assignments will affect your grade. Read Both Sections Carefully and Follow These Instructions In the first paragraph, state only the thesis or argument advanced by the historian(s). Three or four sentences should be sufficient. In the second paragraph, evaluate the documents or “primary sources.” After closely reading and thinking about the primary sources, ask if the evidence upholds the argument(s) of the historian(s). Does a particular author convince you? Why? Do you think the evidence upholds no author? What do you think the evidence offers instead? Suggest a possible argument. Could you combine different arguments to create your own synthesis, based on the sources? Attendance and Participation Regular attendance in class is absolutely necessary. During the course of the semester, you are permitted two class absences without penalty, and no excuse for these two is necessary. However, each additional missed class will cost you one point from your grade average, and no excuse will be acceptable. Since emergencies and unexpected circumstances sometimes arise, you would be wise not to waste your excused absences. Blackboard Various assignments and readings will be posted on Blackboard under course content or weekly assignment. Please check your syllabus regularly to see which information is available. Also, students must either upload their weekly assignment and/or typed notes as an attachment or cut and paste them. Students must submit their weekly assignments through Blackboard every Thursday by 10:00 AM. Exams 2 Students will receive exam questions two weeks in advance. All exams will be based solely on the primary and secondary source readings (including Out of This Furnace, Why We Can’t Wait, The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution), lectures, films/documentaries, and handouts provided in class. Finally, exams will be taken in class. Grading Weekly Writing Assignment 25% Participation/Attendance 15% Midterm Exam 30% Final Exam 30% COURSE OUTLINE Week 1 Jan. 17 Introduction to American History & the Cultural Wars Debate Jan. 19 Handout: Sean Grindlay, “Social Forces” Shaping American University, January 1, 2003; excerpt from National Standards for History; and David Warren Saxe’s Land and Liberty 1: A Chronology of Traditional American History (2006), pp. 15-19; James C. McKinley Jr., “Texas Conservatives Win Curriculum Change,” March 12, 2010. *Remember, all handouts are posted on Blackboard. Written assignment: Students should either upload or cut/paste typed notes on Blackboard and be prepared to discuss them in class. Week 2 Jan. 24 Reconstruction & the Experiment in American Democracy Jan. 26 Reading: Chapter 1, Major Problems in American History, including the Preface. Film: Excerpts from D. W. Griffith, Birth of A Nation, 1915. Written assignment due: Please follow the instructions provided on page 2 of the syllabus. Week 3 Jan. 31 Western Settlement, Native Americans & the Frontier Feb. 2 Reading: Chapter 2, Major Problems in American History. Written assignment due: Please follow the instructions provided on page 2 of the syllabus. 3 Week 4 Feb. 7 Industrialization & the Rise of Big Business Feb. 9 Readings: Chapter 3, Major Problems in American History. Written assignment due: Please follow the instructions provided on page 2 of the syllabus. Note: Students should have read pp.3-208 from Out of This Furnace by the end of this week. Week 5 Feb. 14 Workers, New Immigrants & Labor Conflict 30-Minute Documentary: 1877: The Grand Army of Starvation, 1986. Feb. 16 Reading: Finish Out of This Furnace (pp. 209-413). Written one-page (single-spaced) assignment due: How do the lives of the main characters shed light on the social, economic, and political experiences of European immigrants in the United States? Does Thomas Bell make an argument about the impact of industrialism, labor rights, and class struggle on American society during this period? Week 6 Feb. 21 Excerpt: Race: The Power of An Illusion (2003). The Progressive Era Feb. 23 -------------------No Class------------------------Note: Students must still complete the readings and assignment!!!!!! Reading: Chapter 5, Major Problems in American History. Handout: John Spargo, The Bitter Cry of Children (New York: Macmillan, 1906), 163–165; posted on Blackboard. Written assignment due: You should upload or cut/paste typed notes from Major Problems in American History along with the John Spargo handout on Blackboard and be prepared to discuss them both in class. Students are not required to read the two essays by Michael McGerr and Daniel T. Rodgers this week! Week 7 Feb. 28 U.S. Imperialism, Manifest Destiny, and World War I 30-Minute Documentary: Savage Acts: Wars, Fairs and Empire 1898-1904 Reading: Chapter 4, Major Problems in American History. Mar. 1 Reading: Chapter 6, Major Problems in American History. Written assignment due: Please follow the instructions provided on page 2 of the syllabus for both chapters. 4 Week 8 Mar. 6 Crossing a Cultural Divide: The Jazz Age A. Mitchell Palmer, "The Case Against the 'Reds'," Forum 63 (1920). Mar. 8 Reading: Chapter 7, Major Problems in American History. Written assignment due: You should upload or cut/paste typed notes from each primary source from Major Problems in American History along with A. Mitchell Palmer’s essay and provide a two-paragraph summary of Paula S. Fass and Edward J. Larson’s main arguments. MIDTERM EXAM ON MARCH 8, 2012 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! March 12-16 Spring Break! Week 9 Mar. 13 The Great Depression, the New Deal & FDR Mar. 15 Reading: Chapter 8, Major Problems in American History. Written assignment due: Please follow the instructions provided on page 2 of the syllabus. Week 10 Mar. 20 America at War: The Homefront and Abroad Mar. 22 Reading: Chapter 9, Major Problems in American History. *Written assignment due: You should either upload or cut/paste typed notes of each primary source from Major Problems in American History and provide a two-paragraph summary of John Morton Blum and Alan Brinkley’s main arguments. Week 11 Mar. 27 The Cold War, Affluence and Anxiety Mar. 29 Reading: Chapter 11, Major Problems in American History; Gregory L Schneider, The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution (Introduction and Chapter 1). *Written assignment due: Students must either upload or cut/paste a two-paragraph summary of Walter LaFeber and John Lewis Gaddis’s essays from Major Problems in American History along with a one-paragraph summary of Gregory L. Schneider’s main arguments. Week 12 5 Apr. 3 The Struggle for Civil Rights and Social Reform Film: Excerpts from Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years 1954–1964. Apr. 5 Readings: Chapter 12, Major Problems in American History; MLK, Why We Can’t Wait. Written assignment due: Please follow the instructions provided on page 2 and upload or cut/paste notes from Why We Can’t Wait. Week 13 Apr. 10 The Sixties, Counterculture, and the Vietnam War Apr. 12 Reading: Chapter 13, Major Problems in American History; Gregory L Schneider, The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution, Chapter 5. Documentary: Berkeley in the Sixties (1990). Written assignment due: Please follow the instructions provided on page 2 and upload or cut/paste notes from The Conservative Century, Chapter 5. Week 14 Apr.17 The Rise of the ‘New Right” and President Ronald Reagan Apr. 19 Reading: Chapter 15, Major Problems in American History; Ronald Reagan: "Radio Address to the Nation on Domestic Social Issues," January 22, 1983. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/. Written assignment due: Please follow the instructions provided on page 2 of the syllabus. Week 15 April 26 Cultural Wars Revisited: Multiculturalism, President Barack Obama, and the Occupy Movement. Handout: Obama speech: 'Yes, we can change' IOWA, January 26, 2008; posted on Blackboard. No written assignment due! All students must bring an article to class that addresses one of the current topics posted on Blackboard. Articles must come from the following newspapers: New York Times, Washington Post, Time, Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald, and Huffington Post. (May 1-5) Finals Week! FINAL EXAM: TBA!!!!!!!! 6