I. Intro
A. Origins:
1. stock market speculation/The Great Crash
Black Tuesday: October 29, 1929
(stock value: 87-55 billion)
2. Farm Depression
3. Worldwide depression
4. Bad Policy: Hawley-Smoot Tariff
B. Impact of the Depression:
1) morally
2) economically
3) emotionally
II. What Did it do to people?
A) Work:
B) Savings:
C) Housing:
D) Eating:
III. How did people deal with it?
A. BY MAKING FEWER PEOPLE:
B. BY HELPING OUT:
C. BY MOVING:
1. . Okies:
2. African-American migration
3. Mexican-American
D. PSYCHOLOGICALLY:
1. Suicide:
2. Nervous breakdowns:
3. Blaming themselves
4. Blaming others:
a) Hoover and other politicians:
b) business interests:
c) women:
d) Mexican-Americans:
e) blacks:
HERE’S A DEEP QUESTION TO PONDER:
Does poverty cause discrimination, discrimination cause poverty, or is there no relationship between the two?
IV. No Single Great Depression Experience:
1. very wealthy
2. Pre-Depression Poor:
3. Middle-class/young middle class:
V. Why Important?
Friday, April 24, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Midterm Study Guide
TEST DATE: Wednesday, 4/22
YOU MUST BRING A NEW BLUE BOOK TO THIS EXAM.
I. TERMS: 6 Terms—you choose and write about five.
Wade-Davis Bill
Johnson’s Restoration
Tenure of Office Act
14th Amendment
Freedmen’s Bureau
Morrill Act
Social Darwinism
Jane Addams
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
Yellow Journalism
USS Maine
Pure Food and Drug Act
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Zimmerman Telegram
Edward Bernays
Sheppard-Towner Act
Carrie Nation
17th Amendment
18th Amendment
Volstead Act
19th Amendment
II. ESSAY: Two essay questions—you choose and write one.
The essay questions will come from one or two of the following themes:
1. Reconstruction: Think about the challenges of reconstructing the war-torn nation, how various groups tried to solve those problems, and which plan eventually went into effect.
2. Progressivism: Think about the many movements involved and how successful they each were in improving the world.
3. The 1920s: Think about the “progress” or “decline” model that we discussed in class.
4. Foreign Policy: Think about how the U.S. uses its power around the world.
HOW TO SUCCEED ON THIS TEST: Start early. We know that cramming can work, but it’s never as good as actual disciplined study. Make outlines for each theme. Make sure that your outlines have far more information than you could ever remember. Avoid the big general statements. Instead, add detail to your outline. Then, use those outlines to study; try to rewrite the outline without looking; say the outline out loud in front of a mirror; use the outline to impress your friends at work or at parties; come to office hours and let me see the outline.
The one comment I write more than any other on midterms is “add more detail.” So, learn some details to back up your understanding of the periods we have studied. I want you to do well!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Progressivism Outline
ARE THESE 2 QUOTES CONTRADICTORY?
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus"
There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism...The one absolutely certain way of bringing the nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities.
Theodore Roosevelt, 1915
The Progressive Era:
I. Origins
Hull House—1889
Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/10870.html
II. A New Mindset:
Progressivism Defined:
Progressivism was a series of movements designed to combat the ills of industrialism. Some progressives also wanted to control the behavior of the working classes.
Stanley Schultz, Univ. of Wisconsin:
· Government should be more active
· Social problems are susceptible to government legislation and action
· Throw money at the problem
· The world is “perfectible”
III. Progressive Movements:
A. Anti-Trust
Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890
“Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal.”
B. Anti-Lynching (Ida B. Wells-Barnett)
C. Good Government Movement
--17th Amendment=direct election of senators
--referendums and recalls
D. Consumer Protection: The Jungle
Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
IV. Progressivism in Practice:
TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FIRE OF 1911
A. The ILGWU Strike:
B. Fire on the Factory Floor
C. Reporters and the Visibility of Triangle
1. "Love Affair in Mid-Air"
2. Mortillalo and Zito
D. The Public Response
V. Progressivism in Practice Elsewhere/Progressivism Abroad
As a Progressive, you believe that you have the correct way to live and that through the proper use of government you can help other live that way. What are the boundaries, the frontiers of your belief? In other words, how far are you willing to go with this belief?
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus"
There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism...The one absolutely certain way of bringing the nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities.
Theodore Roosevelt, 1915
The Progressive Era:
I. Origins
Hull House—1889
Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/10870.html
II. A New Mindset:
Progressivism Defined:
Progressivism was a series of movements designed to combat the ills of industrialism. Some progressives also wanted to control the behavior of the working classes.
Stanley Schultz, Univ. of Wisconsin:
· Government should be more active
· Social problems are susceptible to government legislation and action
· Throw money at the problem
· The world is “perfectible”
III. Progressive Movements:
A. Anti-Trust
Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890
“Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal.”
B. Anti-Lynching (Ida B. Wells-Barnett)
C. Good Government Movement
--17th Amendment=direct election of senators
--referendums and recalls
D. Consumer Protection: The Jungle
Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
IV. Progressivism in Practice:
TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FIRE OF 1911
A. The ILGWU Strike:
B. Fire on the Factory Floor
C. Reporters and the Visibility of Triangle
1. "Love Affair in Mid-Air"
2. Mortillalo and Zito
D. The Public Response
V. Progressivism in Practice Elsewhere/Progressivism Abroad
As a Progressive, you believe that you have the correct way to live and that through the proper use of government you can help other live that way. What are the boundaries, the frontiers of your belief? In other words, how far are you willing to go with this belief?
Friday, April 10, 2009
STUDS TERKEL READING GUIDE
You may want to print this out to use as you read this great book.
As with other reading guides, this is not "due" in class but is something that will help you navigate the reading.
1. Read the Introduction;
2. Read one story from each section;
3. Fill out the following form;
Write the name of the story you read for each section:
A Sunday Morning ____________
A Chance Encounter ____________
Tales of the Pacific ____________
The Good Reuben James ____________
Rosie ____________
Neighborhood Boys ____________
Reflections on Machismo ____________
High Rank ____________
The Bombers and the Bombed ____________
Growing Up: Here and There ____________
D-Day and All That ____________
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy ____________
Sudden Money ____________
The Big Panjandrum ____________
Flying High ____________
Up Front with Pen, Camera, and Mike __________
Crime and Punishment ____________
A Turning Point ____________
Chilly Winds ____________
Is You Is or Is you Aint my Baby ____________
Remembrance of Things Past ____________
Epilogue ____________
As with other reading guides, this is not "due" in class but is something that will help you navigate the reading.
1. Read the Introduction;
2. Read one story from each section;
3. Fill out the following form;
Write the name of the story you read for each section:
A Sunday Morning ____________
A Chance Encounter ____________
Tales of the Pacific ____________
The Good Reuben James ____________
Rosie ____________
Neighborhood Boys ____________
Reflections on Machismo ____________
High Rank ____________
The Bombers and the Bombed ____________
Growing Up: Here and There ____________
D-Day and All That ____________
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy ____________
Sudden Money ____________
The Big Panjandrum ____________
Flying High ____________
Up Front with Pen, Camera, and Mike __________
Crime and Punishment ____________
A Turning Point ____________
Chilly Winds ____________
Is You Is or Is you Aint my Baby ____________
Remembrance of Things Past ____________
Epilogue ____________
Carnegie
To the left is Carnegie's Lucy Furnace
To the right
is a Bessemer converter, 
used in the crucial
Bessemer process.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Here
is
the
Carnegie Mansion,
at 5th and 91st
in NYC.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Industrialism
I. Why was there such vast growth so rapidly in the U.S.?
1. War: Why would war encourage industrial growth?
Example #1: Morrill Act (1862)
Example #2: Railroads:
1860: 30,000 miles of r.r.
1864: Congress grants 131 million acres
1910: 240,000 miles of railway
2. Resources: land, raw materials, people,
ideas=booooooom!
1864: 872,000 tons of iron and steel
1919: more than 24 million tons
1860: 20 million tons of coal
1910: 500 million tons of coal
1860: 500,000 barrels of petroleum
1910: 209 million barrels of petroleum
3. Integration:
a. Horizontal Integration:
--monopolize one part of the productive process
Example: meatpacking plants
b. Vertical Integration:
--monopolize all elements of productive process
Example: Andrew Carnegie: mining iron ore, own blast furnaces(factories), own shops, own ships, own railroad and rail lines
4. Mindset:
a. Small Government is Best:
Laissez faire: “let it do”
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations (1776)
b. Aggressive Business Mentality:
The Robber Barons
Andrew Carnegie—FRIDAY
J.P. Morgan
Jay Gould: “Mephistopheles of Wall Street”
Cornelius Van Derbilt:
Gentlemen:
You have undertaken to cheat me. I will not sue you, for law takes too long. I will ruin you.
Sincerely,
CVD
c. Justifying the New World:
How do you justify the world when fabulous wealth and wretched poverty exist so closely together?
The New Impoverished City
Rapid Urbanization:
1860: 25 million Americans lived in rural areas
6.2 million in what the Bureau of the Census
called "urban territory" (2500 or more)
1910: 42 million of the 92 million in urban areas
Tenement Buildings:
1879 NYC law declared that every room must have a window and every floor must have a bathroom
Contamination:
1877-Philadelphia: 82,000 privies
Boston Harbor was “one vast cesspool, a threat to all
the towns it washed.”
Crime-Filled:
Murder Rate: 1266 in 1881
7340 in 1898
(an increase of 25 per million people, to 107 per million people)
Women in Workforce:
1/7th of the Paid workforce
(2.6 million of the 17.4 million)
500,000 married, yet they were paid less than
men, especially after 1900 when the “family wage” idea spread.
Immigration:
Newspaper in 1900: "It is well known that nearly every foreigner…goes armed. Some carry revolvers, while many others hide huge ugly knives upon their person."
1890-1900: 3.5 million
1900-1910: 7 million
Child Labor:
1900: 700,000 10 and 15 year olds in workforce.
--Monangah, West Virginia, 1911:
Martin Honick
Children Working in the cotton mills (Tennessee Valley)
"They were children only in age…little, solemn pygmy people, whom poverty had canned up and compressed…the juices of childhood had been pressed our…no talking in the mill…no singing…they were more dead than alive when at seven o clock, the Steam Beast uttered the last volcanic howl which said they might go home…in a speechless, haggard, over-worked procession."
(we’re still “Justifying the New World”)
William Graham Sumner:
Social Darwinism
What if you do not want to justify the disparity between rich and poor? What could you do?
II. Progressivism:
Mulberry Bend (so dangerous and impoverished, it was destroyed to make the park below)
1. War: Why would war encourage industrial growth?
Example #1: Morrill Act (1862)
Example #2: Railroads:
1860: 30,000 miles of r.r.
1864: Congress grants 131 million acres
1910: 240,000 miles of railway
2. Resources: land, raw materials, people,
ideas=booooooom!
1864: 872,000 tons of iron and steel
1919: more than 24 million tons
1860: 20 million tons of coal
1910: 500 million tons of coal
1860: 500,000 barrels of petroleum
1910: 209 million barrels of petroleum
3. Integration:
a. Horizontal Integration:
--monopolize one part of the productive process
Example: meatpacking plants
b. Vertical Integration:
--monopolize all elements of productive process
Example: Andrew Carnegie: mining iron ore, own blast furnaces(factories), own shops, own ships, own railroad and rail lines
4. Mindset:
a. Small Government is Best:
Laissez faire: “let it do”
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations (1776)
b. Aggressive Business Mentality:
The Robber Barons
Andrew Carnegie—FRIDAY
J.P. Morgan
Jay Gould: “Mephistopheles of Wall Street”
Cornelius Van Derbilt:
Gentlemen:
You have undertaken to cheat me. I will not sue you, for law takes too long. I will ruin you.
Sincerely,
CVD
c. Justifying the New World:
How do you justify the world when fabulous wealth and wretched poverty exist so closely together?
The New Impoverished City
Rapid Urbanization:
1860: 25 million Americans lived in rural areas
6.2 million in what the Bureau of the Census
called "urban territory" (2500 or more)
1910: 42 million of the 92 million in urban areas
Tenement Buildings:
1879 NYC law declared that every room must have a window and every floor must have a bathroom
Contamination:
1877-Philadelphia: 82,000 privies
Boston Harbor was “one vast cesspool, a threat to all
the towns it washed.”
Crime-Filled:
Murder Rate: 1266 in 1881
7340 in 1898
(an increase of 25 per million people, to 107 per million people)
Women in Workforce:
1/7th of the Paid workforce
(2.6 million of the 17.4 million)
500,000 married, yet they were paid less than
men, especially after 1900 when the “family wage” idea spread.
Immigration:
Newspaper in 1900: "It is well known that nearly every foreigner…goes armed. Some carry revolvers, while many others hide huge ugly knives upon their person."
1890-1900: 3.5 million
1900-1910: 7 million
Child Labor:
1900: 700,000 10 and 15 year olds in workforce.
--Monangah, West Virginia, 1911:
Martin Honick
Children Working in the cotton mills (Tennessee Valley)
"They were children only in age…little, solemn pygmy people, whom poverty had canned up and compressed…the juices of childhood had been pressed our…no talking in the mill…no singing…they were more dead than alive when at seven o clock, the Steam Beast uttered the last volcanic howl which said they might go home…in a speechless, haggard, over-worked procession."
(we’re still “Justifying the New World”)
William Graham Sumner:
Social Darwinism
What if you do not want to justify the disparity between rich and poor? What could you do?
II. Progressivism:
Mulberry Bend (so dangerous and impoverished, it was destroyed to make the park below)
Monday, April 6, 2009
"RECONSTRUCTING A BROKEN UNION"
I. Reconstruction
A. PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION
--Lincoln
--Johnson
B. CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION
--Thaddeus Stevens & Charles Sumner
--Wade-Davis Bill (ironclad oath)
--Freedmen's Bureau
C. JOHNSON'S “RESTORATION”
--Black Codes
D. RADICALS STRIKE BACK
1. First Civil Rights Bill
2. First Reconstruction Acts
3. 14th Amendment
4. Tenure of Office Act
5. Fifteenth Amendment
E. The Compromise of 1877
A. PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION
--Lincoln
--Johnson
B. CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION
--Thaddeus Stevens & Charles Sumner
--Wade-Davis Bill (ironclad oath)
--Freedmen's Bureau
C. JOHNSON'S “RESTORATION”
--Black Codes
D. RADICALS STRIKE BACK
1. First Civil Rights Bill
2. First Reconstruction Acts
3. 14th Amendment
4. Tenure of Office Act
5. Fifteenth Amendment
E. The Compromise of 1877
Friday, April 3, 2009
Jourdon Anderson
Dayton, Ohio, August 7, 1865
To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, TennesseeSir: I got your letter and was glad to find you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Col. Martin’s to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again and see Miss mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville hospital, but one of the neighbors told me Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here; I get $25 a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy (the folks here call her Mrs. Anderson), and the children, Milly, Jane and Grundy, go to school and are learning well; the teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday- School, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated; sometimes we overhear others saying, “The colored people were slaves” down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks, but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Col. Anderson. Many darkies would have been proud, as I used to was, to call you master. Now, if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again. As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free-papers in 1864 from the Provost- Marshal- General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you are sincerely disposed to treat us justly and kindly- - and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty- two years and Mandy twenty years. At $25 a month for me, and $2 a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to $11,680. Add to this the interest for the time our wages has been kept back and deduct what you paid for our clothing and three doctor’s visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams Express, in care of V. Winters, esq, Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past we can have little faith in your promises in the future.We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night, but in Tennessee there was never any pay day for the Negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire. In answering this letter please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up and both good- looking girls. You know how it was with Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve and die if it comes to that than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters.You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood, the great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.P.S. — Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.From your old servant, Jourdon Anderson
Source: Cincinnati Commercial, reprinted in New York Tribune, August 22, 1865.
To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, TennesseeSir: I got your letter and was glad to find you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Col. Martin’s to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again and see Miss mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville hospital, but one of the neighbors told me Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here; I get $25 a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy (the folks here call her Mrs. Anderson), and the children, Milly, Jane and Grundy, go to school and are learning well; the teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday- School, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated; sometimes we overhear others saying, “The colored people were slaves” down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks, but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Col. Anderson. Many darkies would have been proud, as I used to was, to call you master. Now, if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again. As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free-papers in 1864 from the Provost- Marshal- General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you are sincerely disposed to treat us justly and kindly- - and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty- two years and Mandy twenty years. At $25 a month for me, and $2 a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to $11,680. Add to this the interest for the time our wages has been kept back and deduct what you paid for our clothing and three doctor’s visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams Express, in care of V. Winters, esq, Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past we can have little faith in your promises in the future.We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night, but in Tennessee there was never any pay day for the Negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire. In answering this letter please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up and both good- looking girls. You know how it was with Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve and die if it comes to that than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters.You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood, the great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.P.S. — Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.From your old servant, Jourdon Anderson
Source: Cincinnati Commercial, reprinted in New York Tribune, August 22, 1865.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
READING GUIDE FOR ANDREW CARNEGIE
Chapter 1: Read the last paragraph of Chapter 1
Chapter 2: Read the last two paragraphs of this chapter. What do you think he means by “honest poverty” in the next to last paragraph?
Chapter 4: Read the first few paragraphs. How is he making connections? Read the last two paragraphs of this chapter.
Chapter 6: Find what Carnegie’s views are on slavery in this chapter. Why might he feel this way about slavery?
Chapter 13: Read this chapter, since it’ll be important to understand what he calls the “age of steel.”
Chapter 15: Read the last couple of pages of this chapter. How does Carnegie do in love?
Chapter 16: Read the last few paragraphs of this chapter to see how he establishes the Carnegie, Phipps, and Co. firm.
Chapter 17-18: Read these whole chapters. What is his perspective on the strike and on workers in general?
THE GOSPEL OF WEALTH:
Read the whole essay.
What does Carnegie mean by this title to the essay? Why is it a Gospel?
What does he think that wealthy people should do with their money?
What does this line mean? “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced”
What does Carnegie think of government? Is there an indication here that the
government should be involved in helping the poor?
Chapter 2: Read the last two paragraphs of this chapter. What do you think he means by “honest poverty” in the next to last paragraph?
Chapter 4: Read the first few paragraphs. How is he making connections? Read the last two paragraphs of this chapter.
Chapter 6: Find what Carnegie’s views are on slavery in this chapter. Why might he feel this way about slavery?
Chapter 13: Read this chapter, since it’ll be important to understand what he calls the “age of steel.”
Chapter 15: Read the last couple of pages of this chapter. How does Carnegie do in love?
Chapter 16: Read the last few paragraphs of this chapter to see how he establishes the Carnegie, Phipps, and Co. firm.
Chapter 17-18: Read these whole chapters. What is his perspective on the strike and on workers in general?
THE GOSPEL OF WEALTH:
Read the whole essay.
What does Carnegie mean by this title to the essay? Why is it a Gospel?
What does he think that wealthy people should do with their money?
What does this line mean? “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced”
What does Carnegie think of government? Is there an indication here that the
government should be involved in helping the poor?
COURSE SCHEDULE
Wed 4/1 Intro/Reading Guide to Andrew Carnegie
Fri 4/3 Reconstruction/Jourdan Anderson
Mon 4/6 Industrialism
Wed 4/8 New Imperialism/1890s
Fri 4/10 Andrew Carnegie Due
Mon 4/13 Progressivism Defined/ Consumer Protection
Wed 4/15 Triangle Fire
Fri 4/17 Prohibition/ Harlem Renaissance/Women in the 1920s
Mon 4/20 MIDTERM EXAMINATION
Wed 4/22 Origins of the Great Depression
Fri 4/24 The Great Depression and The New Deal
Mon 4/27 From Quarantine to War
Wed 4/29 The Good War Reading Due
Fri 5/1 WWII, The Bomb
Mon 5/4 WWII
Wed 5/6 WWII
Fri 5/8 Post War Conformity/The Cold War
Mon 5/11 Coming of Age Reading Due
Wed 5/13 Civil Rights and Other Movements
Fri 5/15 Social Movements in the 1960s
Mon 5/18 Social Movements in the 1960s
Wed 5/20 Social Movements in the 1960s
Fri 5/22 War in Vietnam
Mon 5/25 Memorial Day—Campus Closed
Wed 5/27 Bloods Reading Due
Fri 5/29 Ending the 1960s
Mon 6/1 Watergate and the Turbulent 70s
Wed 6/3 Essay Due/Essay Due to turnitin.com by midnight tonight (code: 2675521 pword: history)
Fri 6/5 Review for Final Exam
Mon 6/8 Last Day of Class /FINAL EXAM: Thursday, June 11, 2-4:30pm
REMEMBER, although this syllabus is the “law” of the class, I reserve the right to change it at any time to suit the particular needs of our class. If I must do so, it will always be in your best interest, and I’ll always advise you as soon as possible.
Fri 4/3 Reconstruction/Jourdan Anderson
Mon 4/6 Industrialism
Wed 4/8 New Imperialism/1890s
Fri 4/10 Andrew Carnegie Due
Mon 4/13 Progressivism Defined/ Consumer Protection
Wed 4/15 Triangle Fire
Fri 4/17 Prohibition/ Harlem Renaissance/Women in the 1920s
Mon 4/20 MIDTERM EXAMINATION
Wed 4/22 Origins of the Great Depression
Fri 4/24 The Great Depression and The New Deal
Mon 4/27 From Quarantine to War
Wed 4/29 The Good War Reading Due
Fri 5/1 WWII, The Bomb
Mon 5/4 WWII
Wed 5/6 WWII
Fri 5/8 Post War Conformity/The Cold War
Mon 5/11 Coming of Age Reading Due
Wed 5/13 Civil Rights and Other Movements
Fri 5/15 Social Movements in the 1960s
Mon 5/18 Social Movements in the 1960s
Wed 5/20 Social Movements in the 1960s
Fri 5/22 War in Vietnam
Mon 5/25 Memorial Day—Campus Closed
Wed 5/27 Bloods Reading Due
Fri 5/29 Ending the 1960s
Mon 6/1 Watergate and the Turbulent 70s
Wed 6/3 Essay Due/Essay Due to turnitin.com by midnight tonight (code: 2675521 pword: history)
Fri 6/5 Review for Final Exam
Mon 6/8 Last Day of Class /FINAL EXAM: Thursday, June 11, 2-4:30pm
REMEMBER, although this syllabus is the “law” of the class, I reserve the right to change it at any time to suit the particular needs of our class. If I must do so, it will always be in your best interest, and I’ll always advise you as soon as possible.
COURSE SYLLABUS
History 232—MWF 1:45-3:05 Spring 2009
Section 1 (DDH 103K) Office: Faculty Towers 201A
Instructor: Dr. Schmoll Office Hours: MWF 12:30-1:30
Email: bschmoll@csub.edu Office Phone: 654-6549
Course Description: We will examine the political, social, and cultural foundations of American history from 1870 to the Present. We will cover Reconstruction, the problems of an increasingly urban and industrialized society, and the United States in World Affairs.
Course Reading:
Course Reading:
1. Autobiography of A. Carnegie
2. The U.S. in Con-Text: Digital Textbook
3. Terkel, The Good War
4. Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi
5. Terry, Bloods: An Oral History of Vietnam War
Grading Scale: 5% Historical Interview
5% Debate on Dropping of the Bomb
10% Participation
20% Book Assignment/Essay
30% Midterm Exam
30% Final Examination
The Blog: If you have questions or comments about this class, or if you want to see the course reader or the syllabus online, just go to http://schmollhistory232.blogspot.com/.
You need to sign in to this blog this week.
You will also have short readings on the blog. I will announce these in class.
Attendance:
Just to be clear, to succeed on tests and papers you really should be in class. That’s just common sense, right? To pass this class, you may not miss more than two classes. If you miss that third class meeting, you are missing 10% of the quarter. You cannot do that and pass. So, here’s what we do. Do your best to not miss any class unnecessarily. Let’s say your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife calls and wants to take you to Tahiti this weekend, but you won’t be back until late Tuesday night. Here’s what you say: “Honey, I love you, but Dr. Schmoll seems to value my education more than you do, so we are breaking up.” Ok, that may be harsh, so don’t do that, but just make sure that you do not miss any class until the 8th week. What I’ve found is that it seems inevitable that those who miss two classes early for pathetic reasons like doctor’s appointments that should have been more carefully scheduled get to the 8th week and then have to miss for a legitimate reason (like a surprise meeting at work, a sick child to take care of, or a flat tire). If you get to that 8th week and then have to miss your third class, it’ll be bad. By that point, I’ll be kind, compassionate, a real shoulder to cry on, if you want, when telling you that you’ve now failed the course. Now, if you make it to the 8th or 9th week and you have not missed those two classes, then you have some wiggle room, so that if, heaven forbid, your cat Poopsie gets pneumonia and you have to sit up all night bottle-feeding her liquid antibiotics, you and I don’t have to have that ugly conversation where I tell you that Poopsie gets blamed for you failing the course. Let’s put this another way; do you like movies? No way, me too! When you go to the movies do you usually get up and walk around the theatre for 15% of the movie? Let’s say you do decide to do that, out of a love of popcorn and movie posters, perhaps. If you did that, would you expect to understand the whole story? Okay, maybe if you are watching Harold and Kumar, but for anything else, you’ll be lost. So, please, get to class.
Being Prompt:
Get to class on time. Why does that matter? First, it sends the wrong message to your principal grader(that’s me). As much as we in the humanities would like you to believe that these courses are objective (at what time of day did the Battle of the Marne begin?), that is not entirely the case. If you send your principal grader the message that you don’t mind missing the first few minutes and disturbing others in the class, don’t expect to be given the benefit of the doubt when the tests and papers roll around. Does that sound mean? It’s not meant to, but just remember, your actions send signals. Being late also means that someone who already has everything out and is ready and is involved in the discussion has to stop, move everything over, get out of the chair to let you by, pick up the pencil you drop, let you borrow paper, run to the bathroom because you spilled the coffee, and so on. It’s rude. There’s an old saying: better two hours early than two minutes late. Old sayings are good.
So, what are the consequences of persistent tardiness? What do you think they should be? Remember that 10% participation? You are eligible for that grade if you are on time. Get here on time. And no, I’m not the jackass who watches for you to be late that one time and stands at the door and points in your face. One time tardiness is not a problem precisely because it is not persistent. It’s an accident; maybe Poopsie turned off your alarm.
The Unforgivable Curse:
Speaking of one time issues, there is something that is so severe, so awful, that if it happens one time, just one time, no warning, no “oh hey I noticed this and if you could stop it that’d be super,” you will automatically lose all 10 percent of the Participation grade. Any guesses? C’mon, you must have some idea. No, it’s not your telephone ringing. If that happens, it’ll just be slightly funny and we’ll move on. It’s a mistake and not intentional, and the increased heart rate and extra sweat on your brow from you diving headfirst into an overstuffed book bag to find a buried phone that is now playing that new Cristina Aguilera ringtone is punishment enough for you. So, what is it, this unforgivable crime? Texting. If you take out your phone one time to send or receive messages you will automatically lose 10% of your course grade. That means, if you receive a final grade of 85%, it will drop to 75%. If you receive a final grade of 75%, it will become a 65%. Why is that? The phone ringing is an accident. Texting is on purpose and is rude. It, in fact, is beyond rude. It wreaks of the worst of our current society. It bespeaks the absolutely vile desire we all have to never separate from our technological tether for even a moment. It sends your fellow classmates and your teacher the signal that you have better things to do. Checking your phone during class is like listening to a friend’s story and right in the middle turning away and talking to someone else. Plus, the way our brains work, you need to fully immerse yourself, to tune your brain into an optimal, flowing machine (see Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s incredible book Flow) that can grasp and can let itself go. Students now tend to see school as a stopover on their way to a career. Brothers and sisters, that’s deadly! I wish that I could pay for you all to quit your jobs and just focus on the mind. I can’t yet do that, but if I could I would, because it’d be worth every penny. Devoting time to the mind and to thinking deeply about your world will change who you are and how you approach your future, your family, your job, and your everything. Is that overstated? I believe it to be true. So, until my stock choices really take off so that I can pay all of your bills, promise me one thing. When you are in class or preparing for class, you have to be fully here. Oh crap, now it’s going to sound like a hippy professor from the 1960s: “I mean, like, be here man, just be here.” Maybe the hippies were on to something. Devote yourself fully to your classes by unplugging from the outside world for awhile.
Class Climate:
No, I don’t mean whether it’s going to rain in here or not. Sometimes I’ll lecture at you, but even then, your participation is vital. How can you participate when someone is lecturing? Any ideas? Turn to a neighbor and tell them the story of your first day at school in kindergarten. Now, if you are the one listening to the story, right in the middle look away, look at your watch, sneer at them, roll your eyes, yawn, wave to someone across the room, nudge a person next to you and tell them a joke, all while the other person is telling about his or her first day of kindergarten. If this happens in social setting we call it rude, and we call the people who listen in that way jackasses. They are not our friends precisely because we deeply value listening and do not put up with those who do not listen well. Right? So, there will be lecturing, and if you abhor what we are doing, then fake it. I used to do that sometimes too: “oh no, professor, I love hearing you talk about President Reagan’s policies of supply side economics.” If we listen to psychologists, by faking interest you’ll be learning much more than if you show your disinterest. The next time you are sad force yourself to smile and you’ll see what I mean. So, sometimes there will be lecture. At other times there will be discussion of short readings that we do in class. During these times, it’s crucial that you do the silly little exercises: turn to a neighbor; find someone you don’t know and discuss this or that; explain to your friend what we just went over in lecture; pick something from the reading to disagree with; find two people on the other side of the room; throw cash at your professor…ok, maybe not that last one. This class is a bit unique in that it violates the normally accepted activity systems of college history classrooms. What we do in discussion will help solidify the concepts of each section of this course in your brain. If you are active in class, you will have to study less, and you’ll find yourself remembering much more.
Reading:
How many of you love reading? I did not read a book until I was 18, so if you have not yet started your journey on this ever widening path, it’s never too late. In any course, there’s no substitute for reading. Theorist Jim Moffett says that “all real writing happens from plentitude,” meaning that you can only really write well about someone once you know about it. Reading is one way to know—not the only, by any means! I want you to have experiences with great texts. I can show you voluminous research proving why you nee to read more, but then if I assign a stupid, long, expensive textbook you probably will end up not reading, or only reading to have the reading done, something we have all done, right? The economy now requires much higher literacy rates (see The World is Flat), and even though reading levels have not gone down in the last 40 years, it is crucial that you start to push your own reading so that your own literacy level goes up. For these ten weeks, diving wholeheartedly into the course reading is vital. Remember to read in a particular way. As reading expert and UCSB professor Sheridan Blau has argued, “reading is as much a process of text production as writing is.” Reading involves revision? Does that sound silly? As you read, think about the different ways that you understand what you read. Most importantly, when you read, think about the words of E.D. Hirsch, who says that we look at what a text says (reading), what it means (interpretation), and why it matters (criticism). Hey, but if you are in a history course, aren’t you supposed to be reading for exactly the number of miles of trenches that were dug in World War One, how many railroad workers died from 1890 to 1917, or what the causes of the Great Depression were? Anyway, the answer is yes and no. There are two types of reading that you’ll do in college. As the literary goddess theorist Louise Rosenblatt explains, there is aesthetic reading, where you are reading to have an experience with the text, and there is efferent reading, where you are reading to take away information from the text. You do both types all the time. Think about a phone book. You have probably never heard someone say of a phone book, “don’t tell me about it, I want to read it for myself.” Reading a phone book is purely efferent. In this course you will practice both types of reading. I have chosen texts that you can enjoy (aesthetic) and that you can learn from(efferent). I want to see and appreciate the detail in our reading, but in this course I’ll give you that detail in class lectures. In the reading, it’s much more important that you read texts that will live with you forever and to inspire you to think more thoroughly about your world. As you read, you should be working hard to create meaning for yourself. As Rosenblatt asserts, “taking someone else’s interpretation as your own is like having someone else eat your dinner for you.” Please, don’t let the numbskulls as wikipedia or sparknotes eat your dinner for you.
Historical Interview: You get to conduct an interview with someone who remembers some aspect of American history from the following list of events: World War Two, Korean War, Vietnam War, Cesar Chavez, fear of the nuclear bomb during the Cold War, protests in the 1960s, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the election or presidency of Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, or Nixon.
You will turn in A TYPED VERSION WITH YOUR EXACT QUESTIONS, AND THE EXACT ANSWERS OF THE PERSON YOU INTERVIEW. (no tapes, no cds, no paraphrasing) The interview text will be approximately 1-2 pages in length, typed, single-spaced.
If you have problems finding someone to interview, be sure to speak with me soon!!!!!
Essay Assignment: Due June 3
1. Compare and contrast The Good War with Bloods. As you read these great books,
recognize sections that might be worthy of further analysis. Remember, your essay must focus on one particular area of these two books.
2. More essay ideas to come!
Participation: You do not need to be the person who speaks out the most, asks the most questions, or comes up with the most brilliant historical arguments to receive full credit in participation. If you are in class and on time, discuss the issues that we raise, avoid the temptation to nod off, to leave early, or to text people during class (the three easiest ways to lose credit), and in general act like you care, then you will receive a good participation grade!
Academic Honesty
You are responsible for knowing all college policies about academic honesty. Any student who plagiarizes any part of his or her papers may receive an “F” in the course and a letter to the Dean.
Course Schedule:
Wed 4/1 Intro/Reading Guide to Andrew Carnegie
Fri 4/3 Reconstruction/Jourdan Anderson
Mon 4/6 Industrialism
Wed 4/8 New Imperialism/1890s
Fri 4/10 Andrew Carnegie Due
Mon 4/13 Progressivism Defined/ Consumer Protection
Wed 4/15 Triangle Fire
Fri 4/17 Prohibition/ Harlem Renaissance/Women in the 1920s
Mon 4/20 MIDTERM EXAMINATION
Wed 4/22 Origins of the Great Depression
Fri 4/24 The Great Depression and The New Deal
Mon 4/27 From Quarantine to War
Wed 4/29 The Good War Reading Due
Fri 5/1 WWII, The Bomb
Mon 5/4 WWII
Wed 5/6 WWII
Fri 5/8 Post War Conformity/The Cold War
Mon 5/11 Coming of Age Reading Due
Wed 5/13 Civil Rights and Other Movements
Fri 5/15 Social Movements in the 1960s
Mon 5/18 Social Movements in the 1960s
Wed 5/20 Social Movements in the 1960s
Fri 5/22 War in Vietnam
Mon 5/25 Memorial Day—Campus Closed
Wed 5/27 Bloods Reading Due
Fri 5/29 Ending the 1960s
Mon 6/1 Watergate and the Turbulent 70s
Wed 6/3 Essay Due/Essay Due to turnitin.com by midnight tonight
(code: 2675521 pword: history)
Fri 6/5 Review for Final Exam
Mon 6/8 Last Day of Class /FINAL EXAM: Thursday, June 11, 2-4:30pm
REMEMBER, although this syllabus is the “law” of the class, I reserve the right to change it at any time to suit the particular needs of our class. If I must do so, it will always be in your best interest, and I’ll always advise you as soon as possible.
Section 1 (DDH 103K) Office: Faculty Towers 201A
Instructor: Dr. Schmoll Office Hours: MWF 12:30-1:30
Email: bschmoll@csub.edu Office Phone: 654-6549
Course Description: We will examine the political, social, and cultural foundations of American history from 1870 to the Present. We will cover Reconstruction, the problems of an increasingly urban and industrialized society, and the United States in World Affairs.
Course Reading:
Course Reading:
1. Autobiography of A. Carnegie
2. The U.S. in Con-Text: Digital Textbook
3. Terkel, The Good War
4. Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi
5. Terry, Bloods: An Oral History of Vietnam War
Grading Scale: 5% Historical Interview
5% Debate on Dropping of the Bomb
10% Participation
20% Book Assignment/Essay
30% Midterm Exam
30% Final Examination
The Blog: If you have questions or comments about this class, or if you want to see the course reader or the syllabus online, just go to http://schmollhistory232.blogspot.com/.
You need to sign in to this blog this week.
You will also have short readings on the blog. I will announce these in class.
Attendance:
Just to be clear, to succeed on tests and papers you really should be in class. That’s just common sense, right? To pass this class, you may not miss more than two classes. If you miss that third class meeting, you are missing 10% of the quarter. You cannot do that and pass. So, here’s what we do. Do your best to not miss any class unnecessarily. Let’s say your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife calls and wants to take you to Tahiti this weekend, but you won’t be back until late Tuesday night. Here’s what you say: “Honey, I love you, but Dr. Schmoll seems to value my education more than you do, so we are breaking up.” Ok, that may be harsh, so don’t do that, but just make sure that you do not miss any class until the 8th week. What I’ve found is that it seems inevitable that those who miss two classes early for pathetic reasons like doctor’s appointments that should have been more carefully scheduled get to the 8th week and then have to miss for a legitimate reason (like a surprise meeting at work, a sick child to take care of, or a flat tire). If you get to that 8th week and then have to miss your third class, it’ll be bad. By that point, I’ll be kind, compassionate, a real shoulder to cry on, if you want, when telling you that you’ve now failed the course. Now, if you make it to the 8th or 9th week and you have not missed those two classes, then you have some wiggle room, so that if, heaven forbid, your cat Poopsie gets pneumonia and you have to sit up all night bottle-feeding her liquid antibiotics, you and I don’t have to have that ugly conversation where I tell you that Poopsie gets blamed for you failing the course. Let’s put this another way; do you like movies? No way, me too! When you go to the movies do you usually get up and walk around the theatre for 15% of the movie? Let’s say you do decide to do that, out of a love of popcorn and movie posters, perhaps. If you did that, would you expect to understand the whole story? Okay, maybe if you are watching Harold and Kumar, but for anything else, you’ll be lost. So, please, get to class.
Being Prompt:
Get to class on time. Why does that matter? First, it sends the wrong message to your principal grader(that’s me). As much as we in the humanities would like you to believe that these courses are objective (at what time of day did the Battle of the Marne begin?), that is not entirely the case. If you send your principal grader the message that you don’t mind missing the first few minutes and disturbing others in the class, don’t expect to be given the benefit of the doubt when the tests and papers roll around. Does that sound mean? It’s not meant to, but just remember, your actions send signals. Being late also means that someone who already has everything out and is ready and is involved in the discussion has to stop, move everything over, get out of the chair to let you by, pick up the pencil you drop, let you borrow paper, run to the bathroom because you spilled the coffee, and so on. It’s rude. There’s an old saying: better two hours early than two minutes late. Old sayings are good.
So, what are the consequences of persistent tardiness? What do you think they should be? Remember that 10% participation? You are eligible for that grade if you are on time. Get here on time. And no, I’m not the jackass who watches for you to be late that one time and stands at the door and points in your face. One time tardiness is not a problem precisely because it is not persistent. It’s an accident; maybe Poopsie turned off your alarm.
The Unforgivable Curse:
Speaking of one time issues, there is something that is so severe, so awful, that if it happens one time, just one time, no warning, no “oh hey I noticed this and if you could stop it that’d be super,” you will automatically lose all 10 percent of the Participation grade. Any guesses? C’mon, you must have some idea. No, it’s not your telephone ringing. If that happens, it’ll just be slightly funny and we’ll move on. It’s a mistake and not intentional, and the increased heart rate and extra sweat on your brow from you diving headfirst into an overstuffed book bag to find a buried phone that is now playing that new Cristina Aguilera ringtone is punishment enough for you. So, what is it, this unforgivable crime? Texting. If you take out your phone one time to send or receive messages you will automatically lose 10% of your course grade. That means, if you receive a final grade of 85%, it will drop to 75%. If you receive a final grade of 75%, it will become a 65%. Why is that? The phone ringing is an accident. Texting is on purpose and is rude. It, in fact, is beyond rude. It wreaks of the worst of our current society. It bespeaks the absolutely vile desire we all have to never separate from our technological tether for even a moment. It sends your fellow classmates and your teacher the signal that you have better things to do. Checking your phone during class is like listening to a friend’s story and right in the middle turning away and talking to someone else. Plus, the way our brains work, you need to fully immerse yourself, to tune your brain into an optimal, flowing machine (see Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s incredible book Flow) that can grasp and can let itself go. Students now tend to see school as a stopover on their way to a career. Brothers and sisters, that’s deadly! I wish that I could pay for you all to quit your jobs and just focus on the mind. I can’t yet do that, but if I could I would, because it’d be worth every penny. Devoting time to the mind and to thinking deeply about your world will change who you are and how you approach your future, your family, your job, and your everything. Is that overstated? I believe it to be true. So, until my stock choices really take off so that I can pay all of your bills, promise me one thing. When you are in class or preparing for class, you have to be fully here. Oh crap, now it’s going to sound like a hippy professor from the 1960s: “I mean, like, be here man, just be here.” Maybe the hippies were on to something. Devote yourself fully to your classes by unplugging from the outside world for awhile.
Class Climate:
No, I don’t mean whether it’s going to rain in here or not. Sometimes I’ll lecture at you, but even then, your participation is vital. How can you participate when someone is lecturing? Any ideas? Turn to a neighbor and tell them the story of your first day at school in kindergarten. Now, if you are the one listening to the story, right in the middle look away, look at your watch, sneer at them, roll your eyes, yawn, wave to someone across the room, nudge a person next to you and tell them a joke, all while the other person is telling about his or her first day of kindergarten. If this happens in social setting we call it rude, and we call the people who listen in that way jackasses. They are not our friends precisely because we deeply value listening and do not put up with those who do not listen well. Right? So, there will be lecturing, and if you abhor what we are doing, then fake it. I used to do that sometimes too: “oh no, professor, I love hearing you talk about President Reagan’s policies of supply side economics.” If we listen to psychologists, by faking interest you’ll be learning much more than if you show your disinterest. The next time you are sad force yourself to smile and you’ll see what I mean. So, sometimes there will be lecture. At other times there will be discussion of short readings that we do in class. During these times, it’s crucial that you do the silly little exercises: turn to a neighbor; find someone you don’t know and discuss this or that; explain to your friend what we just went over in lecture; pick something from the reading to disagree with; find two people on the other side of the room; throw cash at your professor…ok, maybe not that last one. This class is a bit unique in that it violates the normally accepted activity systems of college history classrooms. What we do in discussion will help solidify the concepts of each section of this course in your brain. If you are active in class, you will have to study less, and you’ll find yourself remembering much more.
Reading:
How many of you love reading? I did not read a book until I was 18, so if you have not yet started your journey on this ever widening path, it’s never too late. In any course, there’s no substitute for reading. Theorist Jim Moffett says that “all real writing happens from plentitude,” meaning that you can only really write well about someone once you know about it. Reading is one way to know—not the only, by any means! I want you to have experiences with great texts. I can show you voluminous research proving why you nee to read more, but then if I assign a stupid, long, expensive textbook you probably will end up not reading, or only reading to have the reading done, something we have all done, right? The economy now requires much higher literacy rates (see The World is Flat), and even though reading levels have not gone down in the last 40 years, it is crucial that you start to push your own reading so that your own literacy level goes up. For these ten weeks, diving wholeheartedly into the course reading is vital. Remember to read in a particular way. As reading expert and UCSB professor Sheridan Blau has argued, “reading is as much a process of text production as writing is.” Reading involves revision? Does that sound silly? As you read, think about the different ways that you understand what you read. Most importantly, when you read, think about the words of E.D. Hirsch, who says that we look at what a text says (reading), what it means (interpretation), and why it matters (criticism). Hey, but if you are in a history course, aren’t you supposed to be reading for exactly the number of miles of trenches that were dug in World War One, how many railroad workers died from 1890 to 1917, or what the causes of the Great Depression were? Anyway, the answer is yes and no. There are two types of reading that you’ll do in college. As the literary goddess theorist Louise Rosenblatt explains, there is aesthetic reading, where you are reading to have an experience with the text, and there is efferent reading, where you are reading to take away information from the text. You do both types all the time. Think about a phone book. You have probably never heard someone say of a phone book, “don’t tell me about it, I want to read it for myself.” Reading a phone book is purely efferent. In this course you will practice both types of reading. I have chosen texts that you can enjoy (aesthetic) and that you can learn from(efferent). I want to see and appreciate the detail in our reading, but in this course I’ll give you that detail in class lectures. In the reading, it’s much more important that you read texts that will live with you forever and to inspire you to think more thoroughly about your world. As you read, you should be working hard to create meaning for yourself. As Rosenblatt asserts, “taking someone else’s interpretation as your own is like having someone else eat your dinner for you.” Please, don’t let the numbskulls as wikipedia or sparknotes eat your dinner for you.
Historical Interview: You get to conduct an interview with someone who remembers some aspect of American history from the following list of events: World War Two, Korean War, Vietnam War, Cesar Chavez, fear of the nuclear bomb during the Cold War, protests in the 1960s, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the election or presidency of Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, or Nixon.
You will turn in A TYPED VERSION WITH YOUR EXACT QUESTIONS, AND THE EXACT ANSWERS OF THE PERSON YOU INTERVIEW. (no tapes, no cds, no paraphrasing) The interview text will be approximately 1-2 pages in length, typed, single-spaced.
If you have problems finding someone to interview, be sure to speak with me soon!!!!!
Essay Assignment: Due June 3
1. Compare and contrast The Good War with Bloods. As you read these great books,
recognize sections that might be worthy of further analysis. Remember, your essay must focus on one particular area of these two books.
2. More essay ideas to come!
Participation: You do not need to be the person who speaks out the most, asks the most questions, or comes up with the most brilliant historical arguments to receive full credit in participation. If you are in class and on time, discuss the issues that we raise, avoid the temptation to nod off, to leave early, or to text people during class (the three easiest ways to lose credit), and in general act like you care, then you will receive a good participation grade!
Academic Honesty
You are responsible for knowing all college policies about academic honesty. Any student who plagiarizes any part of his or her papers may receive an “F” in the course and a letter to the Dean.
Course Schedule:
Wed 4/1 Intro/Reading Guide to Andrew Carnegie
Fri 4/3 Reconstruction/Jourdan Anderson
Mon 4/6 Industrialism
Wed 4/8 New Imperialism/1890s
Fri 4/10 Andrew Carnegie Due
Mon 4/13 Progressivism Defined/ Consumer Protection
Wed 4/15 Triangle Fire
Fri 4/17 Prohibition/ Harlem Renaissance/Women in the 1920s
Mon 4/20 MIDTERM EXAMINATION
Wed 4/22 Origins of the Great Depression
Fri 4/24 The Great Depression and The New Deal
Mon 4/27 From Quarantine to War
Wed 4/29 The Good War Reading Due
Fri 5/1 WWII, The Bomb
Mon 5/4 WWII
Wed 5/6 WWII
Fri 5/8 Post War Conformity/The Cold War
Mon 5/11 Coming of Age Reading Due
Wed 5/13 Civil Rights and Other Movements
Fri 5/15 Social Movements in the 1960s
Mon 5/18 Social Movements in the 1960s
Wed 5/20 Social Movements in the 1960s
Fri 5/22 War in Vietnam
Mon 5/25 Memorial Day—Campus Closed
Wed 5/27 Bloods Reading Due
Fri 5/29 Ending the 1960s
Mon 6/1 Watergate and the Turbulent 70s
Wed 6/3 Essay Due/Essay Due to turnitin.com by midnight tonight
(code: 2675521 pword: history)
Fri 6/5 Review for Final Exam
Mon 6/8 Last Day of Class /FINAL EXAM: Thursday, June 11, 2-4:30pm
REMEMBER, although this syllabus is the “law” of the class, I reserve the right to change it at any time to suit the particular needs of our class. If I must do so, it will always be in your best interest, and I’ll always advise you as soon as possible.
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