History 303: America, 1877-1945
Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 11-12 Noon.
Colorado State University - Pueblo
Fall 2009
Jonathan Rees
Office: Psych 124
Office Phone: 549-2541
Office Hours: MWF 10-11AM, MW 2-3PM
E-Mail: Jonathan [dot] Rees [at] colostate-pueblo [dot] edu
This course will examine the social, cultural and political changes accompanying America's evolution into a modern society. The topics covered will not necessarily be similar to those discussed in the first part of my version of History 202, the U.S. History II survey. My intention in this course is to get into some of those topics in greater detail and cover a few brand new ones. Another difference between this upper-level course and the introductory course is that this one emphasizes reading and writing rather than memorizing specific factual knowledge. Translation: This course makes no effort to be comprehensive. Indeed, my topic choices are extremely quirky, but I think you'll find them useful all the same.I encourage students with questions or concerns about any aspect of this course to visit me during office hours, make an appointment or contact me via e-mail. Any student eligible for and needing academic adjustments or accommodations because of a disability should speak to me during the first two weeks of class. The taping of class lectures is not permitted unless you have my explicit permission.
Turn off and put away your cell phones before class begins. If I see you typing into a cell phone on your lap or even if it is sitting on the table in front of you, I will stop the lecture and ask you to put it away. After that, I will ask you to leave. Those absences will count against you with respect to the attendance policy outlined below.
In order to facilitate communication between you and I, having an e-mail is a requirement of this course. I will be collecting e-mails from you on the first day of the course. You will want to give me an address that you check fairly frequently because I will use it if I need to get a hold of you for course-related business. All correspondence with me should go through the university e-mail listed above. All assignments (including draft papers, but excluding final papers) should be sent to reesassignments@gmail.com.
Required Reading
Fink, Leon, Ed. Major Problems in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, Second Edition.
Gordon, Colin. Major Problems in American History, 1920-1945.
Lewis, Sinclair. Babbitt.
Richardson, Heather Cox. West From Appomattox.
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath.
Grading and Attendance Policies
Your grade will be based on:
- A paper reviewing on Heather Cox Richardson's West from Appomattox (10%).
- A research paper based on the topic of your choice from American history during the 1877-1945 period (30%)
- Three out of four pop quizzes on reading material due on Friday discussion days (5% each)
- A paper based on the three novels that you've been assigned for this course (30%)
- Class participation (15%)
The question for the Richardson assignment is: "According to Heather Cox Richardson, how was the United States reconstructed after the Civil War? Is she correct in this assessment? Why or why not?" Your answer should be six to eight double-spaced pages long.
The question for your paper based on the novels assigned in this class is: "What do The Jungle, Babbitt and The Grapes of Wrath tell us about the concept of social class in the United States during the period of 1877-1945." Your answer should be between eight and ten double-spaced pages long.
For more information on the research paper, click here.
For advice on how to write a good paper and the format it should take, click here.
For information on footnote and bibliography format, click here.
On four of the Friday reading discussion sections there will be a fifteen-minute three-question reading comprehension quizzes based on the assignment for that week. The questions will be in short answer format and factually based. In other words, if you've read the assignment, you should have no problem answering them. If you answer two of those questions correctly, you will get full credit for the quiz. Only three of the four quizzes will count towards your final grade. These quizzes will be unannounced. As you can miss one quiz with no repercussions, there will be no make-up quizzes.
When determining class participation, I will be interested in the quality of your statements rather than the frequency with which you talk. If your comments demonstrate that you have not done the reading, you are better off not speaking at all. However, failure to talk at all during the class will make an above average grade on class participation impossible.
Grading will be done on an A-F scale with pluses and minuses with the exception of the exception of the grade C- which has been banned across the University. Your final grades will be recorded the same way. I will do my best to explain the criteria by which each assignment is graded before you undertake them.
It is assumed that students will make every effort to attend each class period, arrive on time and stay for the entire class. An attendance sheet will be passed around at the beginning of each class. If you arrive late to class, make sure your name is on the attendance sheet before you leave. Otherwise, you will be counted as absent. You will be permitted four unexcused absences during the course of the semester (to account for the random mishaps, mistakes and burdens of everyday life). After that, you will fail the class participation section of this course. If you miss class six times for any reason, I reserve the right to drop you from the course.
Any form of academic dishonesty will result in a failing grade for the entire course. This includes plagiarism, the taking of words and/or ideas of another and passing them off as your own. If another person's work is quoted directly in a formal paper, this must be indicated with quotation marks and a citation. Paraphrased or borrowed ideas must be identified in the footnotes of the text. If you do not understand this definition of plagiarism, it is your responsibility to have me discuss this topic with you further.
Weekly Topics and Reading Assignments
Week of August 24th:
Reading:
- Sharecroppers' Contracts, [Fink, pp. 87-8].
- Grady, [Fink, pp. 88-91].
- Ayers, "Mill and Mine," [Fink, pp. 98-107].
- Start Richardson, West from Appomattox.
Session Topics:
1. Introduction and the Columbian Exposition of 1893.
2. The Wizard of Oz
3. Reading Discussion
Week of August 31st:
Reading:
- Immigrant Distribution in Six Cities, [Fink, p. 120].
- Advice Column for Jewish Immigrants, [Fink, pp. 128-31].
- Bodnar, "Families Enter America," [Fink, pp. 141-57].
- Continue Richardson.
Session Topics:
1. Industrialization and the Ideology of Industrialization.
2. Immigration from an International Perspective.
3. Reading Discussion
Week of September 7th:
Reading:
- Knights of Labor, [Fink, 24-25].
- "Eugene V. Debs Denounces...," [Fink, 193].
- Finish Richardson.
Session Topics:
1. What Are the Rights of Labor?
2. What Is Social Class?
3. Reading Discussion (Richardson).
Week of September 14th:
Reading:
- "Jane Addams Explains the Need for Social Settlements," [Fink, 235-37].
- "Mary Church Terrell Praises the Club Work of Colored Women," [Fink, 305-07].
- "Charlotte Perkins Gilman Seeks to Extricate Women...," [Fink, 327-28].
- Schlosser, "Forward," in The Jungle, pp. vii-xv.
- Begin Sinclair, The Jungle.
Session Topics:
1. Jane Addams and the Settlement House Movement.
2. Discuss Richardson Drafts.
3. Reading Discussion.
September 14th: Draft Richardson Papers Due.
Week of September 21st:
Reading:
- Beveridge, [Fink, pp. 270-72].
- Thompson, [Fink, pp. 328-332].
- Barth, "Baseball and the Values of Industrial America," [Fink, pp. 336-46].
- Continue The Jungle.
Session Topics:
1. High Culture.
2. Low Culture
3. Reading Discussion.
Week of September 28th:
Reading:
- Finish The Jungle.
Session Topics:
1. The Great War.
2. Woodrow Wilson: Right or Wrong?
3. Reading Discussion (Sinclair).
October 2: Richardson Papers Due
Week of October 5th:
Reading:
- Two Treatments of the Color Question During Wartime [Fink, 455-56].
- Wilson's Fourteen Points [Fink, 457-59].
- Attorney General Palmer's Case Against the "Reds," [Gordon, 26-27].
- Begin Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt.
Session Topics:
1. The Research Paper Process.
2. Reading Discussion
October 9th: Class Canceled
Week of October 12th:
Reading:
- Continue Babbitt
Session Topics:
1. Research/Library Skills Refresher.
2. History Sources.
October 16th: Class Canceled.
Week of October 19th:
Reading:
Finish Babbitt
Session Topics:
1. Ice and Refrigeration.
2. The Colorado Fuel and Iron Archives (directions forthcoming).
3. Reading Discussion (Lewis)
Week of October 26th:
Reading:
- Hoover, [Gordon, pp. 183-85].
- Rosenof, "Understanding the Crash," [Gordon, pp. 193-200]
- Begin John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath.
Session Topics:
1. The Harlem Renaissance
2. Houdini
3. Reading Discussion
Week of November 2nd:
Reading:
- "The Plight of the Unemployed," [Gordon, pp. 278-79].
- "The New Deal is No Revolution," [Gordon, pp. 308-10].
- Gordon, "Business vs. the New Deal," [Gordon, pp. 389-96].
- Continue Steinbeck.
Session Topics:
1. Film: The Plough that Broke the Plains (and discussion)
2. The Great Depression from the Bottom Up.
3. Reading Discussion
Week of November 9th:
Reading:
- Finish Steinbeck
Session Topics:
1. Assessing the New Deal.
2. Reading Discussion (Steinbeck).
3. Discuss Novels Paper Draft.
November 13th: Draft Novels Paper Due
Week of November 16th:
Reading:
- "President Franklin Roosevelt Identifies the 'Four Freedoms'...", [Gordon, pp. 399-401].
- "A Woman Worker Reflects...," [Gordon, pp. 401-03].
- Brinkley, "WWII and American Liberalism," [Gordon, pp. 443-50].
Sessions:
1. Labor and Social Movements of the 1930s.
2. Film(s): Why We Fight.
3. Reading Discussion.
Week of November 23rd:
Thanksgiving Break
Week of November 30th:
1. Discuss Research Paper Drafts
2. Hiroshima Right or Wrong?
3. Optional class for those panicked about their papers.
November 30th: Draft Research Paper Due
Final Research Paper Due at Beginning of Final Exam Period