|
HIST 203
|
COURSE DESCRIPTIONHIST 203 is the third in a three-quarter sequence of courses introducing U.S. history. Taking HIST 201 and/or 202 is helpful, but it is neither necessary nor required to do well in this course. HIST 203 surveys most of the twentieth century. British historian Isaiah Berlin called this "the worst century there has ever been." Americans have tended to be more optimistic and also more arrogant. In 1941, publisher Henry Luce proclaimed "the American century" and declared that the United States should "exert upon the world the full impact of our influence, for such purposes as we see fit and by such means as we see fit." Supreme confidence in the purposes of the American nation-state may be older than the nation-state itself, but the unprecedented power to realize and enforce these purposes, both at home and abroad, was a key feature of U.S. history only during the twentieth century. In addition to surveying major events that shaped domestic society and eventually made the United States into a global superpower, a central goal of this course will be to come to terms with the meanings of modern America. What makes modern America modern? In answering this question, we will pay particular attention to a wide range of issues: immigration, work, reform movements, war, peace, consumption and poverty, politics, mass culture, economic crisis and abundance, education, health, and family. During the past century, how and why have race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and other dimensions of public and private identity changed Americans' ideas about equality and freedom so profoundly? Another important goal of the course is to introduce students to history as a way of thinking about the social world. What is history all about? Who belongs in it? Why does history matter? How do historians do what they do? Format |
WRITING REQUIREMENTSThere will be two short (3-page, double spaced, 12-point type) writing assignments, a midterm exam, and a final exam. The short essays will interpret documents; the first one is due during week 3 and the second one is due during week 7. The goal is to expose students to the primary sources that historians use and the way that historians work with them to write history. Exams will cover material from lectures as well as required readings. You can expect them to include short and long essay questions as well as brief identifications and comparisons. The midterm exam is scheduled for Friday, April 29, 2011 and will cover material assigned during the first four weeks of the course. The final exam is scheduled for Monday, June 6 at 10:15 am. It will be comprehensive, but will pay relatively more attention to material covered after the midterm. Note: GTFs may also give short quizzes or other brief assignments in discussion sections. The specifics of the short essays may also vary from section to section. |
READING REQUIREMENTSEric Foner, Give Me Liberty! 2nd Seagull edition (W.W. Norton, 2009). Frederick Winslow Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management (Dover, 1998). [The full text can be found online through Google books and Project Gutenberg.] Waldo E. Martin, Jr., ed., Brown v. Board of Education: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford/St. Martin's, 1998). Tim O'Brien, If I Die in a Combat Zone Box Me Up and Ship Me Home (Random House, 1975). Arlene Stein, The Stranger Next Door: The Story of a Small Community's Battle Over Sex, Faith, and Civil Rights (Beacon Press, 2001). |
thinking Requirements |
RULESAcademic Honesty Lateness Policy Attendance Policy Accommodations |
GRADEStwo 3-page papers: 15% each Grades for HIST 203 will be recorded in Blackboard, where you can access them at your convenience. All other information about the course can be found here. |
RECOMMENDED WEBSITESCourse Calendar
|
Week 1 |
MAKING AMERICA MODERNMarch 28, 2011: Introduction March 30, 2011: How to Think Like a Historian April 1, 2011: What were "modern times"? ReadingsGive Me Liberty!, chap. 18 Barack Obama, "A More Pefect Union," a speech on race and politics delivered on March 18, 2008 in Philadelphia. |
Week 2 |
PROGRESSIVISMApril 4, 2011: Why was the early twentieth century full of reform movements? April 6, 2011: profiles: Frederick Winslow Taylor; Jane Addams April 8, 2011: Did World War I and the 1920s advance or impede Progressivism? ReadingsTaylor, The Principles of Scientific Management, entire [The full text can be found online through Google book search.] Taylor Reading and Discussion Questions Give Me Liberty!, chaps. 19, 20. |
Week 3 |
WELFARE STATES AND WARFARE STATESTHE 1930SApril 11, 2011: What made the Great Depression great? April 13, 2011: What was the New Deal and what did it accomplish? April 15, 2011: profile: Eleanor Roosevelt ReadingsGive Me Liberty!, chap. 21 Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address (1933) audio file / text file Dorothea Lange, "Migrant Mother." Look at and think about all five of the photos that Lange took for the FSA. Also, listen to the short testimony of Florence Thompson, the woman pictured in this iconic phogoraph. Writing AssignmentShort essay #1 due at the beginning of your discussion section |
Week 4 |
WORLD WAR IIApril 18, 2011: What did it mean for the United States to be the "arsenal of democracy"? April 20, 2011: Why is World War II known as the "good war"? April 22, 2011: profiles: Little Boy and Fat Man ReadingsGive Me Liberty!, chap. 22 Executive Order 9066, February 19, 1942 Korematsu v. United States (1944), excerpt |
Week 5 |
THE COLD WARApril 25, 2011: What was the Cold War about? April 27, 2011: Film: "Atomic Cafe" April 29, 2011: in-class midterm exam (covers material through week 4) ReadingsGive Me Liberty!, chap. 23 Joseph McCarthy, speech at Wheeling, West Virginia, February 9, 1950 |
Week 6 |
THE DEATH OF CONSENSUSTHE RIGHTS REVOLUTIONMay 2, 2011: If Americans in the 1950s were so affluent, why was poverty such a major issue during the postwar era? May 4, 2011: How did the African-American freedom struggle give birth to a rights revolution? May 6, 2011: profiles: Bayard Rustin, Jacobus tenBroek ReadingsMartin, ed., Brown v. Board of Education: A Brief History with Documents. Your GTF may assign additional selections, but please read at least the following: Introduction (p. 1); Plessy v. Ferguson, majority opinion (p. 76); Plessy v. Ferguson, dissenting opinion by John Harlan (p. 81); Appellants’ Brief, 1952 (p. 137); “The Effects of Segregation and the Consequences of Desegregation” (p. 142); Appellees’ Brief; 1952 (p. 151); Brown v. Board of Education (p. 168); Ruling on Relief (p. 194); Lillian Smith letter (p. 208); Zora Neale Hurston letter (p. 209); The Southern Manifesto (p. 220); “Forty Years and Still Struggling” (p. 228); Epilogue (p. 230) Martin Reading and Discussion Questions Give Me Liberty!, chap. 24 Jacobus tenBroek, "Cross of Blindness," July 6, 1957 United Nations, "Declaration on the Rigths of Mentally Retarded Persons," December 20, 1971 |
Week 7 |
THE LONG 1960S: ACTION AND REACTIONMay 9, 2011: What was the Great Society? May 11, 2011: Why was the Vietnam War the most divisive war in U.S. history? May 13, 2011: profile: Robert McNamara ReadingsTim O'Brien, If I Die in a Combat Zone, pp. 1-100 O'Brien Reading and Discussion Questions Give Me Liberty! chap. 25 Lyndon Baynes Johnson, "The Great Society" (1964) audio file / text file Writing AssignmentShort essay #2 due at the beginning of your discussion section |
Week 8 |
THE LONG 1960S: ACTION AND REACTIONMay 16, 2011: Film: "Chicano: The Struggle in the Fields" May 18, 2011: What impact did femimism and the sexual revolution have in public and in private? May 20, 2011: profiles: Alfred Kinsey; Betty Friedan ReadingsTim O'Brien, If I Die in a Combat Zone, pp. 101-209 O'Brien Reading and Discussion Questions Give Me Liberty! chap. 26 Loving v. Virginia (1967) |
Week 9 |
THE AGE OF POLARIZATIONMay 23, 2011: Why did the New Right and the Reagan revolution set out to undo the liberal gains of the 1960s? May 25, 2011: profiles: Barry Goldwater; George Wallace, Phyllis Schlafly May 27, 2011: Film: "The Most Dangerous Man in America" ReadingsArlene Stein, The Stranger Next Door, chaps. 1-5 Stein Reading and Discussion Questions
|
Week 10 |
IS THE AMERICAN CENTURY HISTORY?May 30, 2011: Memorial Day holiday June 1, 2011: What did the end of the Cold War mean for the U.S. and the world? June 3, 2011: Looking Backward to Look Forward ReadingsArlene Stein, The Stranger Next Door, chaps. 6-10 Stein Reading and Discussion Questions Give Me Liberty! chap. 27, 28 THE FINAL EXAM WILL BE ON MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2011 AT 10:15 AM |