History of the United States Since 1877
HIST 1493.26851
Online Course
Fall 2015
Department of History and Geography
College of Liberal Arts
Dr. Patti Loughlin, Professor of History
ploughlin@uco.edu
(405) 974-5491
Office: 202D, Liberal Arts Building
Office Hours: TR 8:30-11:00 a.m. and by appointment
Mission of the University of Central Oklahoma: The University of Central Oklahoma
exists to help students learn by providing transformative education experiences to
students so that they may become productive, creative, ethical and engaged citizens and
leaders serving our global community. UCO contributes to the intellectual, cultural,
economic and social advancement of the communities and individuals it serves.
Transformative Learning Outcomes: Transformative learning at the University of
Central Oklahoma places students at the center of their own active and reflective learning
experiences. Transformative learning includes the Central Six: discipline knowledge;
research, creative and scholarly activities; leadership; service learning and civic
engagement; global competency; and health and wellness. In this course, we will include
elements of the Central Six in our work together.
Catalog Description: This course is a survey of American history from the conclusion of
the Civil War to the present.
Student Learning Objectives:
Students who successfully complete HIST 1493 U.S. History since 1877 will be able to:
1. Understand the dynamics of change over time.
2. Distinguish between primary and secondary materials and decide how to use each.
3. Generate a historical argument that is reasoned and based on historical evidence
selected, arranged, and analyzed.
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4. Understand that the ethics and practice of history mean recognizing and building
on other scholars’ work, peer review, and citation.
5. Apply historical knowledge and analysis to contribute to contemporary social
dialogue.
Overview: HIST 1493 examines the political, social, economic and cultural traditions in
the United States from 1877 to the present. Our two textbooks complement the lectures,
offering students multiple voices and interpretations of U.S. history. The American
Promise emphasizes four major themes: diversity, class and systems of power,
environment and globalization, in keeping with UCO’s mission to offer students a
multicultural narrative of American history as well as international comparisons and
global meaning. Building Traditions, Educating Generations: A History of the University
of Central Oklahoma provides us with the opportunity to learn the history of the
University of Central Oklahoma – celebrating 125 years with UCO@125 – and make
connections to state and national history from the 1890s to the present.
Required Texts:
Patricia Loughlin and Bob Burke, Building Traditions, Educating Generations: A History
of the University of Central Oklahoma
James L. Roark et al., The American Promise
Course Requirements: Active learning, asking questions, and your observations are
encouraged. Online assignments and quizzes will be posted on course site. There will be
two exams (once you open the exam, you will have two hours to complete it). Students
will receive a study guide (identifications and essays) at least one week before the exam.
The exam is comprised of identifications and essays – all from the study guide.
Online Assignment
Museum or Historic Site
Visit
(2 pages)
Freedom Essay Draft
(3-5 pages)
Freedom Essay Revision
(3-5 pages)
Quizzes (you may take the
chapter quizzes multiple
times during the testing
period and we will record
your highest score for each
chapter quiz)
50 points (due September
18 before 10:00 p.m.)
50 points (please post your
summary paper to the
discussion board by
October 2 before 10:00
p.m.)
50 points (due October 30
before 10:00 p.m.)
50 points (due December 4
before 10:00 p.m.)
100 points (10 points each)
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10%
10%
10%
10%
20%
Exam I
100 points (available
20%
October 6-12 before 10:00
p.m.)
Exam II
100 points (available
20%
December 7-9 before 10:00
p.m.)
Grading Scale: 90-100, A; 80-89, B; 70-79, C; 60-69, D; below 60, F.
Class Management Information
Attendance Policy: Your active participation in your own learning is essential in this
course.
Policy for Late Assignments, Make-Up Work and Missed Exams: Please complete your
assignments and exams before the timed due dates noted on the course syllabus. No late
assignments. No exceptions.
Communication: This course places diversity and technology at the center of our
learning. All e-mail between instructor and students will occur in the course site. In
addition, the syllabus, lectures, and assignments will be posted on the course site.
ADA Statement: The University of Central Oklahoma complies with Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Students with
disabilities who need special accommodations should make their requests by contacting
the Coordinator of Disability Support Services at (405) 974-2549. It is the student’s
responsibility to contact the instructor as soon as possible after the DSS has verified the
need for accommodations to ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a
timely fashion.
Emergencies During Finals Statement: If a university emergency occurs that prevents
the administration of a final examination, the student’s final course grade will be
calculated based on the work in the course completed to that point and the faculty
member’s considered judgment. Final exams will not be rescheduled, and a grade of “I”
will not be given as a result of the missed exam.
Expectation of Work OSHRE II-2-34 Statement: It is expected that a full-time college
student will spend time each week in class attendance and study out of class approaching
a 40-hour work week. A person employed on a full-time basis should not simultaneously
expect to maintain a full-time schedule. At the undergraduate level, this means that for
each hour in class, a student is expected to spend at least two hours outside of class doing
homework.
Academic Integrity Statement: Academic dishonesty includes, but is not confined to:
plagiarizing; cheating on tests or examinations; turning in counterfeit reports, tests, and
papers; stealing tests or other academic material; knowingly falsifying academic records
or documents of the institution; accessing a student’s confidential academic records
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without authorization; disclosing confidential academic information without
authorization; and, turning in the same work to more than one class without informing the
instructors involved. Each student is expected to engage in all academic pursuits in a
manner that is above reproach. Students are expected to maintain complete honesty and
integrity in academic experiences both in and out of the classroom. Any violation of
plagiarism in any of the courses in this department makes the student liable to the penalty
for academic dishonesty, which includes as its possible punishment an “F” in the course
and dismissal from the college by the academic dean.
The University of Central Oklahoma subscribes to the Turnitin.com plagiarism
prevention service. Students, by taking this course, agree that all required assignments
may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the
detection of plagiarism. All submitted assignments will be included in the Turnitin.com
restricted access reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such
assignments. Use of the Turnitin.com service is subject to Terms and Conditions Use
posted on the Turnitin.com website. Turnitin.com is just one of the various plagiarism
prevention tools and methods that may be utilized by your instructor during the semester.
The UCO Office of Student Conduct describes the process for contesting allegations of
plagiarism. Here is a helpful guide on avoiding plagiarism from UCO’s Chambers
Library.
Student Information Sheet and Syllabus Attachment
Please refer to the useful information found on the UCO Student Information Sheet.
From Reconstruction to the Great Depression and New Deal
Date
Week 1:
August 1721
Topic
Introduction to
Course;
Reconstruction
and New South
Content Module
What is a primary source?
What is a secondary source?
The UCO Library offers
helpful tools and videos to
understand the difference
between primary and
secondary materials.
Read Chapter 16 in
American Promise
Read Chapter 1 in Building
Traditions, Educating
Generations
View and Visit UCO@125
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Assignment
Complete Student
Introduction on
Discussion Board
Consult Study Guide
for Exam I
Begin Online
Assignment (due
September 18 before
10:00 p.m.)
View and Visit UCO
Archives and Special
Collections: UCO History
and UCO Oral History
Project
Week 2:
August 2428
Industrial
America
Week 3:
August 31September
4
American West
Week 4:
September
8-11
Imperialism
Week 5:
September
14-18
Week 6:
September
21-25
View and Visit:
Historian Ed Ayers: (1)
Memory and the Civil War,
(2) Civil War and the South;
historian Eric Foner: (1)
Changing Views of
Reconstruction, (2)
Reconstruction and Its
Legacy; Freedmen’s Bureau
Chapters 17 and 19 in
Take Chapter Quiz
American Promise
for Chapter 17 and
Chapter 19 (available
Ellis Island (please check
August 17-28); you
out this site – and click on
may take the quizzes
“passenger search”)
multiple times during
the testing period and
we will record your
highest score
Read Chapter 18 in
Take Chapter Quiz
American Promise
for Chapter 18
(available August 31September 4)
Labor Day (no class)
Read Chapter 20 in
American Promise
Progressive
Reform
Read Chapter 2 in Building
Traditions, Educating
Generations
Read Chapter 21 in
American Promise
World War I;
1920s
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
(please check out the video
clip, web site, and audio
interview)
Read Chapters 22-23 in
American Promise
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No Assignment
Take Chapter Quiz
for Chapter 20
(available September
8-11)
Online Assignment
(due September 18
before 10:00 p.m.)
Take Chapter Quiz
for Chapter 22
(available September
Read Chapter 3 in Building
Traditions, Educating
Generations
Week 7:
September
28-October
2
Great Depression
and New Deal
Week 8:
October 514
Exam I
“Inherit the Wind” (video
clip and web site)
Read Chapter 24 in
American Promise
Visit Migrant Mother, an
explanation of the iconic
photograph and the
photographer, Dorthea
Lange, and the series of
images at the Library of
Congress
Fall Break (October 1518)
21-25)
Museum or Historic
Site Visit Paper (due
October 2 before
10:00 p.m.)
Exam I
(identifications and
essays) (Exam
available October 612 before 10 p.m.)
No Assignment
From World War II to Post-Cold War America
Date
Week 9:
October
19-23
Week 10:
October
26-30
Topic
World War II
Early Cold War
and 1950s
Content Module
Read Chapter 25 in
American Promise
Assignment
Consult Study Guide
for Exam II
Read Chapter 4 in Building
Traditions, Educating
Generations
Take Chapter Quiz
for Chapter 25
(available October 1923)
View and Visit: historian
Richard White: (1) World
War II and the American
West, (2) Urban and Rural
West; Japanese American
internment during World
War II and Manzanar as a
national historic site
Read Chapters 26-28 in
American Promise
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Begin Freedom Essay
Draft (due October 30
before 10:00 p.m.)
Freedom Essay Draft
(due October 30
before 10:00 p.m.)
Week 11:
November
2-6
Civil Rights
Week 12:
November
9-13
Vietnam
Week 13:
November
16-24
1970s and 1980s
Week 14:
November
30December
4
Post-Cold War
America; U.S.
and the World
Read Chapter 5 in Building
Traditions, Educating
Generations
Read Chapters 6 and 7 in
Building Traditions,
Educating Generations
View and Visit: historian
Anthony Badger on the
Civil Rights Movement;
Emmett Till: (1) excerpt
from Eyes on the Prize, (2)
Emmett’s mother Mamie
Till
Read Chapter 29 in
American Promise
Read Chapter 30 in
American Promise
Read Chapter 8 in Building
Traditions, Educating
Generations
Thanksgiving Break
(November 25-29)
Read Chapter 31 in
American Promise
Read Chapters 9 and 10 in
Building Traditions,
Educating Generations
Take Chapter Quiz
for Chapter 26 and
Chapter 28 (available
November 2-6)
Take Chapter Quiz
for Chapter 30
(available November
9-13)
Take Chapter Quiz
for Chapter 31
(available November
16-24)
No Assignment
Freedom Essay
Revision (due
December 4 before
10:00 p.m.)
Visit Oklahoma City
National Memorial and
Museum
Review for Exam II
Week 15:
December
7-9
Exam II
Exam II
(identifications and
essays) (exam
available December
7-9 before 10:00
p.m.)
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Museum Essay (2 pages)
Visit a museum or historic site in your area (50 points): During the first half of the
semester, please visit a museum or historic site in your area. Some Oklahoma museums
include: the Oklahoma History Center, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, the Oklahoma
City National Memorial and Museum, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage
Museum, the Gilcrease Museum, the Philbrook Museum, Edmond Historical Society,
UCO's Laboratory of History Museum. Please check the museum websites in advance for
free admission days, events and other opportunities. For historic sites, please visit
Oklahoma Historical Society’s historic sites page.
Then prepare a two-page summary and your evaluation of the museum or historic site and
post your paper under “Museum or Historic Site Visit Paper” on the Discussion Board so
that we can learn from you. The last day to post the paper is October 2.
Freedom Essay Guidelines and Rubric
Draft due October 30 (3-5 pages, 50 points)
Revision due December 4 (3-5 pages, 50 points)
Essay Topic: The idea of “freedom” is central to many people’s conceptualization of the
founding and development of the United States. Think about the notion of freedom and
what it means to you. Of course, this idea has been and continues to be debated, and
looks different depending on one’s position and perspective. From the post-Civil War
period to the twenty-first century, discuss how different people or forces have worked to
expand freedom, and how other people or forces have worked to contract freedom. Please
make sure your answer includes at least SIX (6) concrete examples: two examples from
the history of the University of Central Oklahoma, two national examples and two
international examples.
Essay Guidelines: Essays must be typewritten, and must be 3-5 pages, double-spaced,
set in Times New Roman 12-point font, with one-inch margins. Footnotes or endnotes are
not expected – in an essay of such a short length, quotations should not be used. Please
include a title page that includes your name and student ID. Also, please include a
bibliography.
The question is intentionally broad and thematic in nature. The answer should address the
core of the question, and must include references to specific historical events to support
the answer. Answers should draw on specific historical events spanning the periods
covered in class – from the time of Reconstruction through today. Do not cluster your
examples from one particular period.
Since the essay is take-home, you are expected to critically engage with the history in
question, rather than simply list a catalogue of dates and events. The answer should
include a central point or perspective (a thesis), and use references to specific historical
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examples to support the central point. Here is a helpful link to UCO’s Chambers Library
on the research process.
Freedom Essay Rubric
Category
Excellent
(10 points)
Good
(6-9 points)
Introduction/Conclusion
and Bibliography
Thesis Statement – what
is the central theme or
argument in your essay?
Make it clear in one
sentence.
Two local or state
examples from UCO
history in the textbook,
Building Traditions,
Educating Generations:
A History of the
University of Central
Oklahoma
Two national examples
from the textbook,
Roark’s American
Promise
Two international
examples from
newspaper articles in
The New York Times
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Needs Improvement
(0-5 points)