Introduction

Students often wonder why people like me make a career out of history. One reason is because history is so relevant: it teaches us how the world works and who we are. When it comes down to it, history is all about power and identity—and these are crucial subjects for every thinking individual to explore. This course examines the United States and its people since 1865. During this period the country mended deep sectional divisions, industrialized, experienced profound economic growth as well as depression, rose as a world leader, and wrestled with the domestic and foreign ramifications of its power. We will focus on two themes that deal directly with both power and identity: how Americans have understood race, and how foreign relations have related to American society. These themes raise questions about political, economic, social, and diplomatic issues on personal as well as national levels, and they will give us a handle on what can be an overwhelming amount of history. To explore them we will shift back and forth between the general and the particular, the “big picture” and specific historical actors. Classes will consist of lectures interspersed with periods of group work and discussion. They will incorporate a variety of primary sources including a memoir, contemporary newspaper accounts, music, and the occasional film as well as a standard textbook and primary source reader.

We will be covering a lot of material this semester, but the skills you will learn along the way are just as important. 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. 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.

Accomplishing these goals is an important part of a liberal arts education and will give you life skills that will serve you well. It is to this end that I have designed lectures, writing assignments, exams, and the general structure of the course. Beyond adding to an understanding of American society and culture, this course speaks to a number of IUPUI’s Principles of Undergraduate Learning: it refines communication skills through class discussion, exams, and papers, it demands that students analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and apply a range of ideas and information both in class and in assignments, it teaches information and skills useful in a variety of real life situations, and in training students how to be good historians, it strengthens students’ intellectual depth and breadth. In short, history courses like this one are a good idea for everyone.

Books – you should have regular access to 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, 5^th edition, volume II (hereafter

referred to as “W&B”)

Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (1968)

These books are available for sale, and I will put a copy on 2 hour reserve in the library as well.

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. We 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. Each exam will be worth 25% of your grade. The third exam will be given during finals week; it will not be cumulative. Since successful test taking often requires practice and learning is the main point of the course, I will take improvement on test scores into account when factoring final grades.

2) Two short writing assignments, due in class as noted below on the schedule of assignments. The first will ask you to find and interpret news coverage of a specific event 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 Coming of Age in Mississippi and is worth 15% 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 and make it more interesting for both of us. It will also make you look good when I have to figure final course grades. Sometimes I will offer more formal opportunities to show your intellectual activity, and by doing one you can earn an extra point or two on top of your final grade, so keep your ears open for them.

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 average. Avoid this at all costs! Save your free misses for emergencies! If you maintain a perfect or near perfect attendance record for the semester, I will add a point or two to your final average.

The success of our class lectures and discussions depend 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 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 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. Also avoid intellectual dishonesty at all costs—plagiarism, cheating, and the like will result in failure of 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 our 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 to class, along with your notes and ideas on it, whenever readings from that book are due.

Jan 13 Introduction

Jan 15 Reconstruction (text chapter 17 due for class)

Jan 20 Conquering the American West (text ch. 18)

Jan 22 Economic and Environmental Conquest

Jan 27 Race, Labor, and Industrialization (text ch. 19)

Jan 29 Class, Consumer Culture, and Fun (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)

Feb 3 Politics of the people (text ch. 20)

Feb 5 American Imperialism (W&B chapter 4 – identify the main question from

the chapter and choose three photos that help answer it)

Feb 10 Workers and Reform (text ch. 21)

Feb 12 Progressivism

Feb 17 First Exam

Feb 19 World War I (text ch. 22 and W&B chapter 5—be able to discuss the main

questions on p. 133)

Feb 24 1920s Culture (text ch. 23, W&B chapter 6, selections TBA)

Feb 26 1920s Economy: Into the Great Depression

Mar 2 The Dust Bowl (W&B chapter 7 – answer the questions to consider)

Mar 4 The New Deal (text ch. 24)

Mar 9 World War II Homefront (text ch. 25)

Mar 11 World War II and Foreign Policy

Mar 16 Spring Break (start reading Coming of Age in Mississippi)

Mar 18 Spring Break

Mar 23 The Cold War (text ch. 26)

Mar 25 Containment Culture

Mar 30 Second Exam

Apr 1 Rebellion in the 1950s (text ch. 27)

Apr 6 Civil Rights (text, ch. 28, Moody, Coming of Age parts I and II)

Apr 8 Civil Rights (Moody, parts III and IV)

* writing assignment on Moody due at the start of class

Apr 13 American Society and Liberal Consensus

Apr 15 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)

Apr 20 1968 and Its Aftermath

Apr 22 Politics and Society in the 1970s and ‘80s (text ch. 30)

Apr 27 America in the World (text ch. 31)

Apr 29 Course Wrap Up

May 4 Third Exam 1-3:00pm (in LE100, as usual)