Here’s a cool video about the state of education in the 21st century:
Monthly Archives: August 2013
A People’s History of the United States, Chapter 9: Slavery without Submission, Emancipation without Freedom (Group 4, Due 9/26)
Instructions: Let’s generate a list of key terms for this chapter. Using the “New Post” function, write a brief (1-3 paragraph) blog post that describes a specific person, event, organization, or institution mentioned in this chapter and how it fits into the larger narrative. Your group should aim to produce as diverse a list of terms as possible, so try to pay attention to what others have already posted and choose your term accordingly. A blog post should include:
(1) the name of a specific person, event, organization, or institution,
(2) a (brief) relevant quote from the text
(3) a short (no longer than one paragraph) summary of how the term fits into Zinn’s argument about the era. Why do you think he mentions it?
IMPORTANT: Be sure to categorize your post under “A People’s History, Chapter 9” (the Categories buttons should be on the lower right) so you can get credit for your post!
For the Record, Chapter 17: Reconstruction, North and South (Group 5, Due 9/19)
Instructions: Using the “New Post” function, write a blog post that discusses a specific quote from one of the primary source entries in Chapter 17 of For the Record (listed below). Your group should aim to produce evenly distributed posts on each of the entries, so try to pay attention to what others have already posted and choose your source accordingly. A blog post should include:
(1) The title, author, and year of the entry
(1) A specific, brief quote from the entry
(2) a brief description of how you think the quote reflects the social, political, and/or economic realities of the specific era in which it was produced. How might the author’s position in American society determine WHY they feel the way they do?
IMPORTANT: Be sure to categorize your post under “For the Record, Chapter 17” (the Categories buttons should be on the lower right) so you can get credit for your post!
Entries:
New York Times, from The Late Convention of Colored Men (1865)
Black Codes of Mississippi (1865)
Jourdon Anderson, Letter to My Old Master (1865)
Organization and Principles of the Ku Klux Klan (1868)
Lee Guidon, Klan Terrorism in South Carolina (1871)
Sojourner Truth, Address to the First Annual Meeting of the American Equal Rights Association (1867)
Django Unchained (Group 6, Due 9/12)
Instructions: Using the “New Post” function, choose a specific moment from the film Django Unchained and write a brief (1-3 paragraph) blog post explaining how the moment reflects how slavery functions in a specific character’s life. How is the institution of slavery depicted in this film? Remember to think divergently, and avoid repeating moments that have already been written about. Your group should aim to produce posts about each of the characters listed below, so try to pay attention to what others have posted and choose your moment accordingly.
IMPORTANT: Be sure to categorize your post under “Django Unchained” (the Categories buttons should be on the lower right) so you can get credit for your post!
Django Freeman:
Dr. King Schultz:
Calvin Candie:
Stephen:
Course Syllabus
HIS 1000: Modern American History
“American Society and the Individual”
Fall 2013
TTH 11:10am-12:25pm VC 5165
Instructor: Dr. David Parsons
e-mail: dparsons@gc.cuny.edu
Office Hours: Thursday 10:00am-11:00am (VC 5-250 C)
* * *
Welcome to History 1000! In this course, we’ll be examining a series of key eras in American history since the 1860s, focusing on the theme of “American Society and the Individual.” In each of our four units, we will investigate the particular role of the individual within the larger narrative of American history. Each unit will begin with a screening of a major, well-received Hollywood film that takes place in the era to be studied. Treating the film like any other academic text, we will explore cinema’s particular way of portraying history. We’ll continue by reading primary sources from the era, drawing greater distinctions and connections between Hollywood fiction and the lived realities of actual historical figures. Finally, we’ll read a chapter from a popular classic of American history, noticing how arguments about history are constructed and furthering our understanding of the period. By studying history from these many different angles, we will develop the following skills:
• Knowledge: This course aims to broaden and deepen your knowledge of some of the most important events, people, developments, and issues in U.S. history over the past 150 years.
• Critical Thinking: This course will help you sharpen fundamental skills of critical and historical thinking, such as reading for the main point, asking good questions, drawing connections, assessing the reliability of sources, constructing sound arguments, assessing change over time, and determining the limits of what can be known. In addition to learning how to “think like a historian,” you’ll also learn why it makes sense to want to do so.
• A Point of View on American History: As we debate what “story” best makes sense of the history of the United States, you will develop your own perspective on the nation’s past and learn to recognize, critique, and understand other perspectives.
• Communication Skills: This course will help you improve your ability to write persuasively in a variety of formats.
Grading Scheme
Online Contributions : 25%
Midterm Essay: 20%
Final Essay: 30%
Attendance: 25%
Course Blog:
An important component of the course will be your contributions to our collective online space, which can be found at:
blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/his1000fall2013
Detailed instructions on how (and when) to contribute will be shared in class. Since this is a “jumbo” course, the course blog is meant to provide a place for you to participate in the larger class discussion, to try out ideas in a low pressure environment, and to collaborate with your classmates in thinking about the course material.
Attendance and Participation:
In order to succeed in the course, you will need to show up, on time, to each scheduled class meeting, with the day’s required text. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of class; lateness and absences will adversely influence your grade. Any more than four absences throughout the semester (whether excused or unexcused) may result in a failing grade.
We will try to maintain a friendly, mindful, and all in all collegiate atmosphere in our time together. While in class, you will be expected to demonstrate respect for the learning environment. This means refraining from playing with your phone or other device, coming in late/leaving early/getting up to leave in the middle of class, or otherwise behaving in a distracting way. Although I will rarely publicly call you out for these kinds of things, I do notice them. If you are the type of student that engages in these types of behaviors, you can expect a negative impact on your overall grade.
Required Books:
• David E. Shi (Editor), Holly A. Mayer (Editor), For the Record: A Documentary History of America: From Reconstruction Through Contemporary Times (Vol. 2, Fifth Edition, W.W. Norton, 2012)
• Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005)
Academic Integrity:
Plagiarism and cheating are inimical to maintaining the bonds of trust necessary for academic freedom to flourish. Academic sanctions in this class can range from an F on the assignment to an F in this course. Additional information and definitions can be found at:
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/academic/academic_honesty.html
COURSE SCHEDULE
Unit One: Slavery and Reconstruction
Th 8/29
Course Introduction
T 9/3
Film: Django Unchained (Director: Quentin Tarantino, 2012)
Th 9/5
NO CLASS
T 9/10
Film: Django Unchained
Th 9/12
**Django online work due**
Primary Source Reading: For the Record
Chapter 17: Reconstruction, North and South
T 9/17
Primary Source Reading: For the Record, Ch. 17
Th 9/19
**Primary Source online work due**
Secondary Source Reading: A People’s History of the United States
Chapter 9: Slavery without Submission, Emancipation without Freedom
T 9/24
Secondary Source Reading: A People’s History, Ch. 9
Unit Two: Industrialization and Labor
Th 9/26
**Secondary Source online work due**
Film: There Will Be Blood (Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
T 10/1
Film: There Will Be Blood
Th 10/3
** There Will Be Blood online work due**
Primary Source Reading: For the Record
Chapter 21: Gilded Age Politics and Agrarian Revolt
T 10/8
Primary Source Reading: For the Record, Ch. 21
Th 10/10
**Primary Source online work due**
Secondary Source Reading: A People’s History of the United States
Chapter 11: Robber Barons and Rebels
T 10/15
NO CLASS
Th 10/17
Secondary Source Reading: A People’s History, Ch. 11
T 10/22
MIDTERM ESSAY, UNITS ONE AND TWO
Unit Three: America in the 1950s
Th 10/24
**Secondary Source online work due**
Film: Far from Heaven (Director: Todd Haynes, 2002)
T 10/29
Film: Far from Heaven
Th 10/31
**Far from Heaven online work due**
Primary Source Reading: For the Record
Chapter 30: The 1950s: Affluence and Anxiety in the Atomic Age
T 11/5
Primary Source Reading: For the Record, Ch. 30
Th 11/7
**Primary Source online work due**
Secondary Source Reading: A People’s History of the United States
Chapter 17: “Or Does it Explode?”
T 11/12
Secondary Source Reading: A People’s History, Ch. 17
Unit Four: America in the 1970s
Th 11/14
**Secondary Source online work due**
Film: Taxi Driver (Director: Martin Scorsese, 1976)
T 11/19
Film: Taxi Driver
Th 11/21
**Taxi Driver online work due**
Primary Source Reading: For the Record
Chapter 32: Rebellion and Reaction: The 1960s and 1970s
T 11/26
Primary Source Reading: For the Record, Ch. 32
Th 11/28
NO CLASS
T 12/3
**Primary Source online work due**
Secondary Source Reading: A People’s History of the United States
Chapter 20: The Seventies: Under Control?
Th 12/5
Secondary Source Reading: A People’s History, Ch. 20
T 12/10
Course Review
Th 12/12
Course Review
FINAL EXAM DATE TBA
Group List
Group 1
- Jessica Gianelli
- Patricia Florvil
- Kevin Ensuncho
- Joseph Dimicelli
- Ruben Davis
- Farah Daniels
- Oscar Cruz-Fong
- Christina Cirillo
- Jinwoo Choi
- Risham Chaudry
- Yoonsuk Cha
- Jade Caron
- Jie Cao
- Zaid Butt
- Jessica Bonilla
- Robert Aronov
- Emmanuel Arabit
- Mohammed Amla
- David Alabo
- Haroon Ahmed
Group 2
- Omar Zougari
- Mel Gili Zhu
- Qiao Zheng
- Huishan Zheng
- Paulina Zelman
- Iris Zelenko
- Victor Saidan
- Jacky Yung
- Liangliang You
- Neil Yasnogorodsky
- Jiaqi Xu
- Lulu Wu
- Delia Wu
- Trisha Wong
- Quibilah Williams
- Brian Waldron
- Valbona Vucetaj
- Aminah Vasco
Group 3
- Dhruv Kothari
- Constantine Kontopirakis
- Sarah Khoja
- Larab Khan
- Makiko Kamei
- Darrell Johnson III
- Jose Jimenez
- Juntao Jiang
- Soyeon Jeong
- Kyle Jean-Pierre
- Ali Javaid
- Felipe Jaramillo Aragon
- Raisa Iqbal
- Wiejiong Huang
- Stephanie Hou
- Alexandra Grady
- Vanessa Gomez
- Scott Godwin
Group 4
- Dmitriy Treyger
- Harmony To
- Noam Teleky
- Nicholas Tang
- Monica Tang
- Irene Tang
- Kevin Sung
- Alexander Sternberg
- Marlon Somwaru
- Julia Sinyavsky
- Roman Shelkov
- Nishant Shah
- Kristina Sarkissyan
- Marium Sarder
- Manpreet Sandhu
- Devona Samwaru
- Nora Salama
- William Sacerio
Group 5
- Ryan Marszalkiewicz
- Daniela Marquez
- Steven Longo
- Julia Lo
- Minxin Lin
- Helin Lin
- Juyoung Lim
- Jianjun Liang
- Kevin Li
- Anni Li
- Angelika Letowska
- Brian Lee
- Christina Law
- Yulia Lavrentieva
- Chrystelle Lanou
- Kevin Lam
- Ashika Kuruvilla
- Brandon Kuo
Group 6
- Patrick Ryniewski
- Gabrielle Ru
- Micah Reyes
- Autumn Razzi-Madden
- Mirzomuhsin Qodirov
- Marta Przybylowska
- Sebastian Perez
- Daniel Oron
- Anntia Olivacce
- Nikola Ognjanovic
- King Obamedo
- Wojciech Nieprzecki
- Ibrahima Niang
- Susan Ngo
- Kristina Naplatarski
- Felix Moronta
- Oscar Mendoza
- Serena Menaged