Introduction

We study history in order to learn more about society and ourselves. History cannot tell us where we are going, but it is essential for understanding where and who we are today. Since 1865 American peoples have struggled over issues including racial equality, poverty, immigration, the role of the U.S. government at home and abroad, as well as questions of personal identity. This course offers a survey of America’s history since 1865 through such themes as America’s role as a world power, the economic and social role of the government, race relations, labor, gender, and the rise of popular culture. We will shift back and forth between the general and the particular, the “big picture” and specific historical actors. Classes will consist of lectures interwoven with periods of discussion. They will incorporate a variety of primary sources including two memoirs, music, and the occasional film as well as a standard textbook.

Survey courses are notoriously difficult because they cover so much material. Don’t let the amount of history we cover get you down; you will have to study hard but if you keep up with the work you should succeed. My goals are to: 1) introduce students to the main issues, events, and people that have shaped America and Americans since 1865; 2) show how historians analyze primary sources and how that skill is relevant to us all; and 3) help students communicate effectively orally and on paper. The point of this class is to give you a working familiarity with the period, to engage you in the process of historical and critical analysis, and to get you thinking and writing clearly. It is to this end that I have designed lectures, writing assignments, exams, and the general structure of the course.

Books – you should own a copy of the following:

Faragher, et al, Out of Many: A History of the American People, brief third edition,

volume II (hereafter referred to as “text”)

Wheeler and Becker, Discovering the American Past, 4^th edition, volume II (hereafter

referred to as “W&B”)

John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks (1932)

Malcolm X and Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1964)

Requirements

1) Three written exams, given in class. Each will contain a number of identifications asking you to link a specific person, event, or idea to its historical context and significance, and an essay question asking you to incorporate course material into larger themes. Exams will cover class lectures and all the readings assigned during that period of the course. You will compile a list of identifications from each lecture, and I will distribute potential essay questions a week in advance of each exam. We will go over how to write a strong exam in class beforehand. Since successful test taking often requires practice, the first exam will be worth 20% of your final grade, and the second two will each be worth 25%. The third exam will be given during finals week; it will not be cumulative.

2) Two short writing assignments, due in class as noted below on the schedule of assignments. The first will be on Black Elk Speaks and will ask you to interpret the book on a fairly basic level in one to two pages. It will be worth 10% of your final grade. The second assignment, slightly longer and more in depth, will be on The Autobiography of Malcolm X and is worth 20% of your final grade.

3) Participation. Since we are such a large group I have not designated a specific participation grade. I am very interested in informed, thoughtful comments, however, and encourage you to participate in discussion whenever we switch to that mode in class. (Questions are welcome at any time.) If you would like to share some ideas in a different forum, please take advantage of our office hours or email accounts. Making your intellectual investment in the course known in either of these ways will help you learn, make it more interesting for us, and it will serve you well at the end of the semester when we compute final grades.

4) Attendance. Faithful attendance is vital to your success in this course and is required. An attendance list will be circulated at some point during each class, and if you miss signing in due to lateness or an early departure, you will be counted as absent for the day. Since emergencies plague even the most diligent, however, you may miss up to four classes without penalty, no questions asked or excuses required. *For each and every class missed past four, I will deduct two points from your final grade. Avoid this at all costs since it can do significant damage to an otherwise hard-earned grade. Save your free misses for emergencies! If you maintain an excellent attendance record for the semester, you can count on good karma when we compute final grades, which often demand rounding up or down according to how much it seems the student has invested in the course.

The success of our class discussions depends upon students keeping up with the reading. If you choose not to attend class regularly or keep up with the reading, classes will be less interesting and your own grades will reflect your behavior. I expect you to meet deadlines and due dates. Print out your papers well ahead of time, and always save a copy on disk. If you have an unresolvable conflict with an exam, you must come talk to me or Aaron BEFORE the exam, otherwise I will need documentation of illness or other emergency. If you miss an exam you will receive a zero for the exam, which usually results in failure of the course. Avoid intellectual dishonesty at all costs—plagiarism, cheating, and the like will result in a grade of zero on the work in question and perhaps disciplinary action from the university. (See the Indiana University Academic Handbook, p. 123 or come see me if you have questions.) Please take advantage of my and Aaron’s office hours and email accounts if you have questions, need help, or just want to talk about the class.

Schedule of Assignments

*Note: bring your Wheeler and Becker (W&B) text or whatever outside reading (besides the text) is due with you to class, along with your notes and ideas on it, of course.

Aug. 23 Introduction

Aug. 28 Reconstruction (text chapter 17 due for class)

Aug. 30 The American West (text ch. 18)

Sept. 4 Environment, Region, and Industrialization

Sept. 6 Indian Wars (read and discuss Black Elk Speaks)

*written assignment on Black Elk Speaks due at the start of class

Sept. 11 Race, Labor, and Industrialization (text ch. 19)

Sept. 13 Industrialization from the Top Down (read and discuss W&B chapter 3—

choose 2 advertisements and be able to explain why that ad and/or product would

be appealing to contemporary readers)

Sept. 18 Politics of the people (text ch. 20)

Sept. 20 American Imperialism (W&B chapter 4 – identify the main question from

the chapter and choose three photos that help answer it)

Sept. 25 First Exam

Sept. 27 Workers and Reform

Oct. 2 Progressivism (text ch. 21)

Oct. 4 no class

Oct. 9 World War I (text ch. 22 and W&B chapter 5—be able to explain how

examples from the evidence section used views of either a) gender or b)

race/national identity to generate support for the war effort)

Oct. 11 The 1920s (text ch. 23, W&B ch. 6, pages 164-176 – what are the

messages of this fiction?)

Oct. 16 Into the Great Depression (begin reading Malcolm X if you haven’t already) Oct. 18

The Dust Bowl (W&B chapter 7 – answer the questions to consider)

Oct. 23 The New Deal (text ch. 24)

Oct. 25 Into World War II (text ch. 25)

Oct. 30 World War II – The Home Front (Malcolm X, chapters 1-9)

Nov. 1 The Cold War (text ch. 26)

Nov. 6 Second Exam

Nov. 8 Containment Culture

Nov. 13 Race and Rebellion in the 1950s (text ch. 27)

Nov. 15 Civil Rights (text, ch. 28)

Nov. 20 American Society and Liberal Consensus

Nov. 22 Thanksgiving – no class

Nov. 27 Malcolm X (finish Autobiography of Malcolm X)

*short papers on Malcolm X due at the start of class

Nov. 29 1968 and Its Aftermath

Dec. 4 Vietnam (text, ch. 29, W&B chapter 10—use the evidence provided to

answer the main question from the chapter NOTE: you DO NOT need to do your

own interview)

Dec. 6 The 1970s and 80s (text ch. 30)

Dec. 11 Third Exam 1-3:00pm (in LE103, as usual)