History 1493 MW 9:30-­‐10:20am Spring 2015 Dale Hall 103 US History, 1865-­‐Present Professor: Jennifer Holland Office: 417 DAHT Email: [email protected] Office Hrs: Wed. 2-­‐4pm or by appt. GTAs: John Baucom Email: [email protected] Mette Flynt Email: [email protected] Michael Molina Email: michael.j.molina-­‐[email protected] Matt Pearce Email: Matt.A.Pearce-­‐[email protected] COURSE DESCRIPTION First and foremost, this course will survey the major events of American history from the Civil War to the present. The primary theme of this course will revolve around the question of how Americans viewed themselves and their nation as the United States emerged as a political and economic superpower over the course of the twentieth century. We will focus on two secondary, but interrelated themes. We will interrogate the changing role of the federal government and the emergence of the modern nation-­‐state, asking how the state came in and out of people’s lives, how people rejected and furthered state intervention. We will also consider the shifting dynamics of class, racial, gender, and sexual hierarchies and how these have structured cultural images, political change, social and economic opportunities, and national identity. All together, the course will follow Americans’ lives from the 1870s and ends in the post-­‐Cold War period, tracing the challenges they faced in defining their roles in the nation and in the world. REQUIRED TEXTS You will find all required secondary and primary source reading in the course pack available at King Kopy (119 W. Boyd St.) The first week’s reading will be on D2L but subsequent weeks will not be. I am not requiring a textbook but I am recommending one for those who feel like they need more context. One textbook is available at the bookstore, or you can buy any college level, post-­‐Civil War textbook online. The general website for this course is at http://explore.ou.edu. You should familiarize yourself with this website. This is where you will find all the online tutorials and the paper prompts. COURSE GOALS The overall goal of this course if for you to understand the broad outlines of modern American history—especially the processes of American imperialism and military intervention, the changing role of the federal government in American life, specific histories 1 of American peoples, and finally the varieties of ways that residents of North America defined being “American.” LEARNING OUTCOMES At the successful completion of the course, you will be able to: 1) Describe how the self-­‐definition of different types of Americans changed between 1865 and the end of the 20th century 2) Explain how different Americans understood their role in the world as the U.S. became an economic and political superpower 3) Compare the experiences and life histories of different types of Americans, based on race, class and gender 4) Assess the role of the federal government in modern American history 5) Comprehend and analyze primary sources and secondary sources 6) Construct convincing arguments supported by evidence from primary and secondary sources 7) Write clear, detailed analysis of historical questions/problems ASSIGNMENTS Quizzes: 100 points Periodically through the semester, there will be pop quizzes in lecture. These will contain basic, multiple-­‐choice questions and will test your knowledge for both readings and lectures. Your best four quiz grades will count. There will be no makeup quizzes. Midterm and Final: 350 points You will take two exams, a midterm and a final. The midterm will be worth 150 points and the final, 200 points. The midterm will consist of five IDS and a single essay. It will cover the material from the first half of the course. The final will consist of five IDs, a short essay, and a long essay. It will focus primarily on the second half of the course, but the long essay will be comprehensive. We will discuss the format of the exams later in the semester. First Paper: 150 points Your first paper is a 1000-­‐word analysis of primary documents, due February 9. You will use four documents I have provided to you on lynching at the turn of the twentieth century. You will turn in a hard copy of this paper at the beginning of lecture, and an electronic copy submitted to Dropbox on D2L. Second Paper: 250 points Your second paper is 2000-­‐word research paper, due April 8. You will have homework assignments throughout the semester that help you prepare for this paper, which will be a part of your final grade. Each of the two homework assignments will be worth 50 points and the final paper will be worth 150 points. You will turn in a hard copy of this final paper at the beginning of lecture, and an electronic copy submitted to Dropbox on D2L. You will have the opportunity (though you are not required) to rewrite this final paper for an 2 increase in your grade. That optional rewrite is due in your discussion sections, in the last week of class. Discussion: 150 points Attendance and participation in your discussion sections is required. You are expected to show up on time. Make sure you budget your time so that you can complete assigned readings and homework each week before your discussions. Your TA will give you additional assignments throughout the semester, which you are expected to complete. Extra Credit: If you meet with both your TA and Prof. Holland in the first four weeks of class, you will receive 4 extra credit points. There may be additional extra credit opportunities later in the semester. Grading: The following scale will determine your letter grade in this class: A 900-­‐1000, B 800-­‐900, C 700-­‐800, D 600-­‐700, F below 600. COURSE POLICIES AND RESOURCES Accessibility: Everyone, regardless of disabilities or special needs, is welcome in this course. Please let me know if you need any accommodations in the instruction or evaluation procedures in order to facilitate your full participation. Computers and cell phones: I ask that you do not use laptops in class unless, for reasons of disability and accessibility, you need one to fully participate in lecture. Let me know if this is the case. I also ask that you turn off cell phones before lecture starts, and keep them in your bag for the duration of class. Communication: I will answer all emails in a timely manner, usually within 24 hours (excluding weekends). Please provide a signature with your full name so I know with whom I am communicating with, as well as a greeting: “Dear Professor Holland.” Please also include a proper closing, such as “Sincerely.” I will not respond to rude messages. At the same time, all inquiries about grades must be handled in person and cannot be discussed over email. Late paper policy: Papers are due at the beginning of lecture. Any papers turned in later that day will be penalized at least 5 percentage points. After that, late papers will be penalized by 10 percentage points per 24-­‐hour period after the due date. No late papers will be accepted more than a week after the due date. Academic Misconduct: This class will strictly follow and enforce the university’s policies on academic integrity. Academic misconduct includes acts in which a student seeks to claim credit for the work or efforts of another without authorization or citation. Examples include but are not limited to: a. Cutting and pasting text from the web without quotation marks or proper citation. 3 b. Paraphrasing from the web or written texts without crediting the source. c. Using notes in an exam when such use is not allowed. d. Using another person’s ideas, words, or research and presenting it as one’s own. You may brush up on the university’s standards by reading “A Student’s Guide to Academic Integrity at the University of Oklahoma.” You can find this at http://integrity.ou.edu/students_guide.html. WEEKLY SCHEDULE Week 1 Rebirth of a Nation Jan. 12 Introduction Jan. 14 The Promise of Reconstruction Secondary Reading: William Cronon, “Why the Past Matters” Primary Sources: Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address (1865) A Letter from Jourdan Anderson to His Former Master (1865)
Week 2 American Empire Jan. 19 No Class-­‐ Martin Luther King Day Jan. 21 Closing the Frontier Secondary Reading: Patricia Nelson Limerick, “The Frontier as a Place of Conquest and Conflict” Donald A. Grinde, Jr., “Taking the Indian out of the Indian: U.S. Policies of Ethnocide through Education” Week 3 The Gilded Age Jan. 26 Redemption and Reunion Jan. 28 The Labor Problem Secondary Reading: David Blight, “Ending the War: The Push for National Reconciliation” Primary Sources: Excerpt from Thomas Dixon, The Leopard’s Spots (1902) Thomas Nelson, “The Lynching of Negroes: Its Cause and Its Prevention” (1904) Senator Ben Tillman, Speech before the Senate (1900) Mary Church Terrell, “Lynching from a Negro’s Point of View” (1904) 4 Week 4 Age of Reform Feb. 2 Progress and Its Limits Feb. 4 The New Woman Secondary Reading: Arnaldo Testi, “The Gender of Reform Politics: Theodore Roosevelt and the Culture of Masculinity” Week 5 The Great War Feb. 9 The New Radicalism ESSAY ONE DUE IN LECTURE Feb. 11 The War to End All Wars Secondary Reading: Russel Lawrence Barsh, “American Indians in the Great War” Primary Sources: The U.S. Government Punishes War Protestors: The Espionage Act (1918) Wilson Proposes a New World Order in the “Fourteen Points” (1918) Week 6 Modern Times Feb. 16 Great Migrations Feb. 18 The Jazz Age Secondary Reading: Mae M. Ngai, “Nationalism, Immigration Control, and the Ethnoracial Remapping of America in the 1920s” Primary Sources: The Governor of California Tells of the “Japanese Problem,” 1920 Week 7 Hard Times Feb. 23 MIDTERM Feb. 25 Making a New Deal Secondary Reading: Donald Worster, “Hard Times in the Panhandle” Primary Sources: President Herbert Hoover Applauds Limited Government (1931) The Nation Asks, “Is It to Be Murder, Mr. Hoover?” (1932) John Steinbeck Portrays the Outcast Poor in The Grapes of Wrath (1939) Week 8 The American Century Mar. 2 War without Mercy Mar. 4 The War at Home 5 Secondary Reading: Benjamin Alpers, “This is the Army: Imagining a Democratic Military in World War II” Sections: Meet in Bizzell Library, Lower Level 123 for Library Scavenger Hunt Week 9 The Affluent Society Mar. 9 New Prosperity and New Poverty Mar. 11 The Way We Never Were Secondary Reading: Elaine Tyler May, “Cold War—Warm Hearth: Politics and the Family in Postwar America” Homework for Section: Turn in a list of the primary sources and secondary sources you will use in your Second Essay. Provide a 1-­‐2 sentence summary for each primary source and a description of the secondary source’s argument. Week 10 SPRING BREAK Week 11 Origins of the Cold War Mar. 23 The Iron Curtain Mar. 25 The Third World Secondary Reading: David K. Johnson, “Puerifoy’s Revelation: The Politics of Purges” Primary Sources: Diplomat George F. Kennan Advocates Containment (1946) Soviet Ambassador Nikolai Novikov Sees a U.S. Bid for World Supremacy (1946) Senator Joseph McCarthy Describes the Internal Communist Menace (1950) Homework for Section: Turn in a first draft of your essay’s thesis and an outline for the paper. Week 12 Contesting the New Deal Order Mar. 30 The Long Civil Rights Movement Apr. 1 Rejecting the Nuclear Family Secondary Reading: John Hubbell, “The Desegregation of the University of Oklahoma, 1946-­‐1950” Mary L. Dudziak, “Brown as a Cold War Case” 6 Week 13 The Late Cold War Apr. 6 The New Left Apr. 8 Vietnam War ESSAY TWO DUE IN LECTURE Secondary Reading: Gael Graham, “Flaunting the Freak Flag: Karr v. Schmidt and the Great Hair Debate in American High Schools, 1965-­‐1975” Week 14 New Conservatives Apr. 13 Suburban Warriors Apr. 15 Massive Resistance Secondary Reading: Joseph Crespino, “Strom Thurmond’s Sunbelt: Rethinking Regional Politics and the Rise of the New Right” Primary Sources: Young Americans for Freedom Draft a Conservative Manifesto (1960) Week 15 American Babylon? Apr. 20 A Crisis in Confidence Apr. 22 The Reagan Revolution Secondary Reading: Derek N. Buckaloo, “Carter’s Nicaragua and Other Democratic Quagmires” Heather Ann Thompson, “Why Mass Incarceration Matters: Rethinking Crisis, Decline, and the Transformation in Postwar American History” Week 16 A New Century Apr. 27 War at Home Apr. 29 War Abroad Podcast: “Harper High School,” Part One and Part Two, This American Life (2013) Part One: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-­‐archives/episode/487/harper-­‐
high-­‐school-­‐part-­‐one Part Two: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-­‐archives/episode/488/harper-­‐
high-­‐school-­‐part-­‐two Homework for Section: Turn in the optional rewrite of your Second Essay. May 4, 8:00am: FINAL EXAM 7 Full Citations for Secondary Readings Benjamin Alpers, “This is the Army: Imagining a Democratic Military in World War II,” Journal of American History 85 (June 1998): 129-­‐63. Russel Lawrence Barsh, “American Indians in the Great War,” Ethnohistory 38 (Summer 1991): 276-­‐303. David Blight, “Ending the War: The Push for National Reconciliation,” in Major Problems in American History, vol. 2: since 1865 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007), pp. 25-­‐31. Derek N. Buckaloo, “Carter’s Nicaragua and Other Democratic Quagmires,” in Rightward Bound: Making America Conservative in the 1970s, ed. Bruce J. Schulman and Julian E. Zelizer (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008), pp. 246-­‐64. Joseph Crespino, “Strom Thurmond’s Sunbelt: Rethinking Regional Politics and the Rise of the New Right,” in Sunbelt Rising: The Politics of Space, Place, and Region, ed. Michelle Nickerson and Darren Dochuk (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011), pp. 58-­‐81. William Cronon, “Why the Past Matters,” Wisconsin Magazine of History (Autumn 2000): 3-­‐ 13. Mary L. Dudziak, “Brown as a Cold War Case,” Journal of American History 91 (June 2004): 32-­‐42. Gael Graham, “Flaunting the Freak Flag: Karr v. Schmidt and the Great Hair Debate in American High Schools, 1965-­‐1975,” Journal of American History 91 (Sept. 2004): 522-­‐43. Donald A. Grinde, Jr., “Taking the Indian out of the Indian: U.S. Policies of Ethnocide through Education,” Wicazo Sa Review 19 (August 2004): 25-­‐32. John Hubbell, “The Desegregation of the University of Oklahoma, 1946-­‐1950,” Journal of Negro History 57 (October 1972): 370-­‐84. David K. Johnson, “Puerifoy’s Revelation: The Politics of Purges,” in The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), pp. 15-­‐40. Patricia Nelson Limerick, “The Frontier as a Place of Conquest and Conflict,” in Major Problems in American History, vol. 2: since 1865 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007), pp. 50-­‐59. Elaine Tyler May, “Cold War—Warm Hearth: Politics and the Family in Postwar America,” 8 in The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930-­‐1980, ed. Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989), pp. 153-­‐81. Mae M. Ngai, “Nationalism, Immigration Control, and the Ethnoracial Remapping of America in the 1920s,” OAH Magazine of History 21 (July 2007): 11-­‐15. Arnaldo Testi, “The Gender of Reform Politics: Theodore Roosevelt and the Culture of Masculinity,” Journal of American History 97 (March 1995): 1509-­‐33. Heather Ann Thompson, “Why Mass Incarceration Matters: Rethinking Crisis, Decline, and the Transformation in Postwar American History,” Journal of American History 97 (December 2010): 703-­‐34. Donald Worster, “Hard Times in the Panhandle,” in Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), pp. 119-­‐38. 9