History H106/United States History since 1865/Section C310/Spring 2002
Professor Ashendel
Office: CA 243C
Office Telephone: 274-7463
Office Hours: MW 2:00-3:00 and by appointment
Email: aashendel@aol.com and IUPUI account to be announced
Required Texts:
Nation of Nations, vol. 2 by Davidson, et al.
Bread Givers by Yezerska
Hard Times by Terkel
Coming of Age in Mississippi by Moody
Course Description and Objectives: Despite all opinions to the contrary, history survey courses such as this one are not designed to make undergraduates jump through hoops or torture them with requirements to learn useless information and meaningless dates, all irrelevant to the students' futures. Instead, a survey course is meant to give students a framework for understanding how both the present and the future unfold within structures largely defined by the past. Even the fast-paced, technology-driven, global society we find ourselves in these days has roots to historical precedents that are still shaping its development.
The course will focus on the usual themes of politics and economics, but will also show how ordinary people shaped these forces. History is not just a mountain of facts (although you must remember those), but is instead a sequence of interconnected events. Understanding those connections and explaining them through the use of facts is one way to sharpen your analytical skills, improve your ability to communicate with others, and, hopefully, to learn something to apply to your own life.
Attendance: An attendance sheet will be circulated at each class meeting. You may miss three classes without an excuse. After three absences, you will lose 2 points from your total final points for each absence. If you must miss more than three classes due to circumstances beyond your control, please see me.
Classroom procedures: Please be on time. If you must be late, please enter quietly through the back door. Listening and note taking are important academic skills. Therefore, no tape recorders are allowed in the classroom without special permission from the office of student services.
Cheating and plagiarism: Don't do it. You will earn a zero on the work in question. For further information on university policy consult the Campus Bulletin, 2000-2002: IUPUI, p. 36.
Assignments: Students will take three essay examinations. These exams will consist of 5 identifications and an essay. A study guide will be distributed in class one week prior to each exam. The actual exam will be taken from that study guide. There will also be a quiz on each of the three readings. Study questions for these quizzes are at the end of this syllabus. Each quiz will be taken from those study questions.
Grading:
3 exams @ 100 points 300 points
3 quizzes @ 50 points 150 points
Total 450 points
Grades are based on a straight scale (90% and higher = A; 80% to 89% = B; and so forth). Be sure to complete all of the examinations and quizzes. A zero has a greater negative impact on your final grade than at least some attempt to complete the assignment. Make-up exams and quizzes are strongly discouraged. No make-up exam or quiz will be given without documentation proving an extreme emergency. Documentation includes doctor's forms, funeral notices, accident reports, and similar verifiable papers. The instructor reserves the right to refuse to grant a make-up exam if the documentation is not presented. If a make-up is given, it must be taken within one week of the original exam. Incompletes are strongly discouraged and rarely given. It is not fair to the other students in the class to request more time to complete the material.
Schedule of lecture topics, readings, quizzes, and examinations. Please complete the readings before class.
January 7: Introduction/Reconstruction
Begin reading Bread Givers
Read: NON, Chapter 17; Chapter 18, pp. 568-573, 576-578
January 9: Big Business
Read: NON, Chapter 19 to p. 632; Chapter 20, pp. 660-61
January 14: Labor
Read: NON, Chapter 19, pp. 632-638
January 16: Farmers
Read: NON, Chapter 18, 594-96; Chapter 21, pp. 676-80
January 21: HOLIDAY---NO CLASS
January 23: Progressives
Read: NON, Chapter 20 to p. 660-66; Chapter 21, to p. 676 and pp. 680-87; Chapter 22
January 28: Discuss Bread Givers and QUIZ
January 30: EXAM
February 4: Imperialism
Read: NON, Chapter 21, pp. 687-703
February 6: Over There: World War I
Read: NON, Chapter 23
February 11: The Roaring (?) Twenties
Begin reading Hard Times
Read: NON, Chapter 24
February 13: Prohibition and Votes for Women
February 18: The Depression
Read: NON, Chapter 25
February 20: Discuss Hard Times and QUIZ
February 25: The New Deal
February 27: World War II
Read: NON, Chapter 26
March 4: World War II
March 6: EXAM
March 11 and 13: SPRING BREAK NO CLASSES
March 18: The Cold War
Read: NON, Chapter 27
March 20: The Cold War
March 25: The 1950s
Begin reading Coming of Age in Mississippi
Read: NON, Chapter 28
March 27: The 1950s
April 1: Civil Rights
Read: NON, Chapter 29
April 3: Discuss Coming of Age in Mississippi and QUIZ
April 8: Vietnam
Read: NON, Chapter 30
April 10: Vietnam
April 15: Revolting Youth and Liberation Movements
April 17: Nixon and Watergate
Read: NON, Chapter 31
April 22: That 70s Decade
April 24: The 80s
Read: NON, Chapter 32
April 29: Review
Study Questions for Bread Givers
1. How did ethnicity and economic opportunity shape the lives of Sara and her sisters?
2. How and why did Sara and her sisters attempt to be more "American?"
3. Are "expected" gender roles for native-born American women the same for these immigrant women?
4. Explain how education impacted Sara's life.
5. Do you see social or political reforms in this book? Why or why not?
Study Questions for Hard Times
You are required to read through page 281. You may omit the sections entitled "Bonnie Labor Boy" and "Sixteen Ton."
1. "The March" describes the Bonus March on Washington, D.C. Who were the Bonus Marchers? What was their goal? Did they succeed?
2. "Hard Travelin" describes the ways people looked for work during the Depression. What types of jobs did people find? How did they find those jobs? How did people acquire food?
3. Describe life in the Civilian Conservation Corps.
4. How did the families in "Big Money" and "Old Families" respond to the Depression?
5. What strikes are depicted in "Three Strikes?" What happened?
6. How did the farmers who were interviewed for "The Farmer is the Man" respond to possible and actual foreclosures? How did they try to raise farm prices? Did they join any organizations? If so, what were they?
7. Using evidence from "Concerning the New Deal," describe how the government developed some New Deal programs.
Study Questions of Coming of Age in Mississippi
1. Using the knowledge you have already gained in this course, how does Anne Moody's childhood differ from life in rural Mississippi during the late nineteenth century? Consider where and how her family lived, the work her parents did, and the educational opportunities that were available to Moody and her siblings.
2. How did white women interact with Moody?
3. As she reached young adulthood, what were Moody's options for education and employment? How did that compare with the options available to her mother and grandmother?
4. What civil rights organizations did Moody join? Why did she join those groups?
5. What sort of work did Moody do in civil rights organizations? Were her activities effective? Consider both short-term and long-term consequences.