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)
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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