View source for 328 Syllabus

== US Women’s History from 1870 ==
<br>
HIST 328<br>
Spring 2008<br>
TR 11-12:15<br>
Jeffrey McClurken<br>
Office:  Monroe 209F<br>
E-mail:  jmcclurk@umw.edu<br>
Office Phone:  x1475<br>
Office Hours:  MWF, 9-10; TR, 1:30-2:30, or by appointment<br>

'''Course Description'''
This course is a survey of the history of women in the United States from 1870 to the present.  It examines the significant cultural, economic, and political developments that shaped the lives of American women, but places gender at the center of historical analysis.  The course also stresses the variety of women’s experiences, acknowledging the importance of race, ethnicity, and class in shaping female lives.  We will discuss women’s (political and social) organizations, daily lives, economic roles, and the various ways in which gender roles have been constructed and received.  [This course counts toward the ATC requirement for Race and Gender Intensive.]
'''
Course Requirements'''
Students are expected to attend all lectures, read all assigned texts, participate in class, write two papers (with standard 1-inch margins, 12-point font and double-spaced), and take a midterm and a final examination.  Papers are collected at the start of class on the day they are due.  Papers are considered late if turned in anytime after they have been collected.  Late papers will be penalized one full letter grade or, after 24 hours, not accepted.

'''Discussions'''
Students are expected to attend all weekly class discussions having read the material and having prepared 2-3 questions, comments, or topic suggestions for class debates.  The questions or comments should be posted on the appropriate week of the class wiki with your name at least two hours before class on discussion days (http://mcclurken.umwhistory.org/wiki/index.php?title=Spring_2008_--_328_Reading_Discussion ).  They should be aimed at provoking class discussions on the reading, and should focus on the primary sources.  [Comments on the reading might include (but are not limited to) parallels, problems, factual questions, reminders of past readings, and relevant connections to ideas from other classes or from your own life.]  Weekly discussions will take place on Thursday unless otherwise indicated.  [Since these are intended to help prepare you for class discussion, late questions will not be accepted.]  Class participation includes completion of these questions and actively participating in class discussions.  

'''Final Grades'''
Final grades will be determined based on class participation (20%), performance on a paper (15%), an interview-based assignment (25%), and on the midterm and final exams (20% each).

'''Required Texts'''
Ellen Carol Dubois and Vicky L. Ruiz, eds., ''Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women’s History'', '''3rd''' edition.  [US]
Susan Ware, ''Modern American Women: A Documentary History''. [MAW]
Mary Beth Norton and Ruth Alexander, ''Major Problems in American Women’s History'', '''4th''' edition. [MP]
Other readings will be posted online (see the wiki (http://mcclurken.umwhistory.org/wiki/index.php?title=HIST_328) for links) or will be available at various scholarly websites.

 
'''Accommodations'''
If you receive services through the Office of Disability Services and require accommodations for this class, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible to discuss your approved accommodation needs.  Bring your accommodation letter with you to the appointment.  I will hold any information you share with me in the strictest confidence unless you give me permission to do otherwise.  If you need accommodations, (note taking assistance, extended time for tests, etc.), please consult with the Office of Disability Services (x1266) about the appropriate documentation of a disability.

'''Honor Code'''
I believe in the Honor Code as an essential, positive component of the Mary Washington experience.  You should know that if you cheat or plagiarize in this class, you will almost certainly fail, and I will take you to the Honor Council, so do not do it.  On the other hand, I also believe that having friends or family read and comment on your writing can be extremely helpful and falls within the bounds of the Honor Code (assuming the writing itself remains yours).  If you have questions about these issues, then you should talk to me sooner rather than later.

'''Paper Assignment''' 
The paper, due Tuesday, February 19, requires you to do a close analysis of the views of black female citizenship presented in three speeches given by African American women at the Congress of Representative Women at Chicago World's Fair of 1893.  Read the speeches of Hallie Q. Brown, Anna Julia Cooper, and Frances E.W. Harper and analyze their concerns, goals, and priorities.  How did they define citizenship?  What roles did they seem to think race and gender played in shaping people’s lives?  What solutions or pathways did they offer?

World's Congress of Representative Women. ''The World's Congress of Representative Women''. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1894.  Also available online at http://pds.harvard.edu:8080/pdx/servlet/pds?op=f&id=2574452&. 

1) Frances E. W. Harper, “Woman's Political Future,” 433-437.  Start at http://pds.harvard.edu:8080/pdx/servlet/pds?id=2574452&n=504&s=4.

2) Mrs. A. J. Cooper, “Discussion [The Intellectual Progress of the Colored Women of the United States Since the Emancipation Proclamation],” 711-715.  Start at http://pds.harvard.edu:8080/pdx/servlet/pds?id=2574452&n=806&s=4&OCR=f.

3) Hallie Q. Brown, “Discussion [The Organized Efforts of the Colored Women of the South to 
Improve their Condition],” 724-729.  Start at http://pds.harvard.edu:8080/pdx/servlet/pds?id=2574452&n=819&s=4.

This paper must be 2-3 pages in length (with standard 1 inch margins, 12 point font and double spaced) and must have a title page and bibliography.  [Your name should only be on your title page.] All ideas, phrases, and quotes must be cited using footnote citations done using the Chicago Manual of Style (15th Edition) or Turabian's newest Guide (7th Edition).  [For more details. on citations, see also http://www.umw.edu/cas/history/history_department_resourc/quotations_footnotes__endn/citation_guide.php]  

'''Interview-based Assignment'''
This assignment, due Tuesday, April 15, will be partly based on an interview you do with a women over 55.  It will include a brief writing assignment, an online component, and class discussion.  We will discuss this assignment more in the next couple of weeks.  Be thinking about who you might interview.

You will be able to earn up to '''seven''' additional points added onto your paper (interview) grade if, by Thursday, April 24, you also turn in both a printed and electronic transcript of your interview to be posted on a web site of 20th-century women’s lives (http://people.umw.edu/~jmcclurk/women/index.html).  [You will need to get your interviewee to sign a form giving their permission.  Talk to me for more details if you are interested.]
 
== Class Schedule and Reading Assignments ==


Week 1 – Starting Jan. 15
— Introduction 
— Defining Women’s History 
—	Discussion of reading
— MP, 1-23

Week 2 – Starting Jan. 22
— Women in the 1st half of the 19th Century
— The Impact of the Civil War and Its Aftermath
—	Discussion of reading
— US, 124-146

Week 3 – Starting Jan. 29
— The Failure of the 14th and 15th Amendments for Women’s Rights
— Women in the Multiracial West
	— Discussion of reading
	— US, 58-79, 183-196; MP, 231-245, 252-258

Week 4 – Starting Feb. 5
— The “New Woman” in Public Life, 1880s-1930s
— Discussion of reading
	— US, 214-241; MAW, 4-27, 30-46, 76-92

Week 5 – Starting Feb. 12
— Working Women in the late 19th and early 20th Century
— Discussion of reading
	— US, 257-267; MAW, 49-73; MP, 261-274

FIRST PAPER DUE TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS

Week 6 – Starting Feb. 19
— The “New Woman” – The Fight for the 19th Amendment
— Discussion of reading
	— US, 242-256; MAW, 95-114; MP, 304-306

Week 7 – Starting Feb. 26
— The 1920s & the Roots of Modern Feminism
	— Tuesday Discussion of reading
—	MAW, 121-142
— MIDTERM EXAM –Thursday, Feb. 28 
		— Bring blue books for test

SPRING BREAK! – While I grade your tests, work on your interview assignment.

Week 8 – Starting Mar. 11
— American Women, Sexuality, and Marriage in the late 19th and early 20th Century
	— Discussion of reading
—	US, 409-425; Online reading – see wiki

Week 9 – Starting Mar. 18
— The Great Depression and the New Deal
	— Discussion of reading
—	MAW, 145-178; US, 376-393; MP, 337-350

Week 10 – Starting Mar. 25
— World War II: A War Fought on Multiple Fronts
	— Discussion of reading
—	MAW, 179-180, 185-205; US, 478-491; MP, 371-378; photos at http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/wcf/wcf0012.html 

Week 11 – Starting Apr. 1
— Postwar Idealized Femininity: A Modernized Domesticity in the American Suburbs?
	— Online Discussion of reading
	— MAW, 208-220, 226-229; US, 346-361; MP, 410-426, 435-444

Week 12 – Starting Apr. 8
— Confronting Oppression, Part 1:  Women and the Civil Rights Movement
	— Discussion of reading
—	MAW, 220-226; US, 542-553; MP, 455-457; Rev. Naomi Craig interview, http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/1968/narrators/N.CRAIG.html 
o	[Also just skim the full transcript of the interview at  http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/1968/narrators/transcripts/N.CRAIG.trans.html]

INTERVIEW PAPER DUE TUESDAY, APRIL 15, AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS  

Week 13 – Starting Apr. 15
— Confronting Oppression, Part 2:  Second-Wave Feminism
— Discussion of reading and interviews
—US, 554-564; MAW, 237-267, 300-307

Week 14 – Starting Apr. 22
— Women and Politics in the era of ERA and Roe v. Wade
— Women in Contemporary America
	— Discussion of reading
—	US, 565-586; MAW, 270-297, 307-358; MP, 459-469, 506-524
—	LOTS OF READING THIS WEEK – START EARLY