us since the civil war, fall 2021 @ suny brockport.
Overview
Modern America provides an in-depth exploration of the history of America since the Civil War. Through interactive multimedia lectures, readings, discussion, and writing, students analyze the struggles of diverse communities over wealth, rights, and authority in the United States. How did the historical experiences of a wide range of Americans shape systems of power, patterns of resistance, and socio-political identities during a period that saw the nation’s emergence as a global power? The course develops skills in critical close reading, historical thinking and contextualization, oral communication, project management, and effective writing.
Course Material
- Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty! An American History Volume 2 Brief Sixth Edition. New York: WW Norton & Company, 2020.
- Eric Foner, Voices of Freedom: A Documentary History Volume 2 Sixth Edition. WW Norton & Company, 2020.
Learning Goals
The study of history is essential. By exploring how our world came to be, the study of history fosters the critical knowledge, breadth of perspective, intellectual growth, and communication and problem-solving skills that will help you lead purposeful lives, exercise responsible citizenship, and achieve career success.
History Department Learning Goals
- Articulate a thesis (a response to a historical problem)
- Advance in logical sequence principal arguments in defense of a historical thesis
- Provide relevant evidence drawn from the evaluation of primary and/or secondary sources that supports the primary arguments in defense of a historical thesis
- Evaluate the significance of a historical thesis by relating it to a broader field of historical knowledge
- Express themselves clearly in writing that forwards a historical analysis.
- Use disciplinary standards (Chicago Style) of documentation when referencing historical sources
- Students will identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments as they appear in their own and others’ work
- Students will write and reflect on the writing conventions of the disciplinary area, with multiple opportunities for feedback and revision or multiple opportunities for feedback
- Students will demonstrate understanding of the methods social scientists use to explore social phenomena, including observation, hypothesis development, measurement and data collection, experimentation, evaluation of evidence, and employment of interpretive analysis
- Students will demonstrate knowledge of major concepts, models and issues of history
- Students will develop proficiency in oral discourse and evaluate an oral presentation according to established criteria
General Education Learning Goals
Social Science (S)
- Students will demonstrate understanding of the methods social scientists use to explore social phenomena, including observation, hypothesis development, measurement and data collection, experimentation, evaluation of evidence, and employment of mathematical and interpretive analysis. Students will develop their understanding of methods and their skill in using them through daily class discussions that connect information from primary sources to the larger events of which they formed a part, and through writing of four interpretive papers which address the same goals in a more formal, written form
- Students will demonstrate knowledge of major concepts, models and issues of at least one discipline in the Social Sciences. Students will be introduced to these through direct encounter with secondary sources and through classroom presentation and discussion of same
- Students will identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments as they appear in their own and others’ work. Each of the four written essay assignments requires this
- Students will write a short paper or report reflecting the writing conventions of the disciplinary area, with at least one opportunity for feedback and revision or multiple opportunities for feedback. All of the assigned papers reflect the writing conventions of the discipline. At least one paper will be presented for student feedback prior to submission of the final draft
Diversity (D)
Students will demonstrate an understanding of:
- how systems of power and privilege and histories of oppression and activism have informed current social identities
- how identity categories and systems of power intersect
- how bias impacts political, economic and social practices
Evaluation
- Assignment 01—Student Info Card and Course Contract = 5%
- Assignment 02—Primary Source Analysis: Closely Reading, Contextualizing, and Interpreting Historical Evidence = 5%
- Assignment 03—Primary Source Analysis and the Art of the Topic Sentence = 5%
- Assignment 04—Citation: Hey, Who Said That? = 5%
- Assignment 05—Secondary Source Analysis, or “Historiography”: The Art of Paraphrasing = 5%
- Assignment 06—Secondary Source Analysis and the Art of the Introduction, Thesis Statement, and Conclusion = 5%
- Assignment 07—Final Essay Proposal = 5%
- Assignment 08—History Art Response = 5%
- Final Essay—Bringing It All Together = 15%
- InQuizitives 2%×15 = 30%
- Attendance and Participation (at least one constructive comment per class = full credit; occasional constructive comments = most credit; attentive presence = some credit) = 15%
- Extra credit:
- Monthly history encounters (3 total) = B+ and above on one assignment gives you a half-step improvement on one short writing assignment from semester; B+ and above on two assignments give you half-step improvement on final essay; B+ and above on all three assignments raises final grade half step (B+ to A- for instance). These cannot be completed after due dates.
- –OR–
- Brockport Faculty Historians Essay = B+ and above will raise final grade two steps (B+ to A for instance)
Schedule
Week 01 — Planting A Flag in Modern America
- 08/30: Planting a Flag in Modern America
- 09/01: Is Reconstruction Unfinished? America After the Civil War, 1865-1877
- Readings due by class:
- Give Me Liberty!, Table of Contents,Preface, xix-xxviii
- Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 15, “What Is Freedom?”: Reconstruction, 1865-1877, 437-468
- Readings due by class:
- 09/03: Discussing Frederick Douglass, “The Composite Nation”
- Readings due by class:
- Frederick Douglass, “Composite Nation” (1869), Voices of Freedom, Ch. 15, No. 100
- Readings due by class:
Week 02 — Is Reconstruction Unfinished? America After the Civil War, 1865-1877
- 09/06: No class, Labor Day
- Due 09/07: Assignment 01—Student Info and Course Contract
- Due 09/07: Inquizitive—How To Use Inquizitive
- Due 09/07: Inquizitive—Chapter 15 (https://digital.wwnorton.com/givemeliberty6brv2. Then, be sure to log in to our student set (487752)
- 09/08: Is Reconstruction Unfinished? America After the Civil War, 1865-1877
- Readings due by class:
- Review Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 15, “What Is Freedom?”: Reconstruction, 1865-1877, 437-468
- Readings due by class:
- 09/10: Reconstruction discussion
- Readings due by class:
- Voices of Freedom, Chapter 15
- Martin Pengelly, “A disputed election, a constitutional crisis, polarisation…welcome to 1876” (interview with Eric Foner), The Guardian, 23 August 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/23/1876-election-constitutional-crisis-republicans-democrats
- Optional Brockport Faculty Reading: John Daly, “The Southern Civil War 1865-1877: When Did the Civil War End?” (on Canvas)
- Readings due by class:
Week 03 — America’s Gilded Age, 1877-1890
- Due 09/13: Inquizitive—Chapter 16
- 09/13: The Hog Squeal of the Universe: Industrialization, Commodification, and Urbanization
- Readings due by class:
- Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 16, “‘America’s Gilded Age, 1870-1890,” 447-505
- Readings due by class:
- 09/15: Where Does the Weekend Come From? Americans Respond to Industrialization
- Readings due by class:
- Review Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 16, “‘America’s Gilded Age, 1870-1890,” 447-505
- Readings due by class:
- 09/17: Gilded Age discussion
- Readings due by class:
- Voices of Freedom, Chapter 16, 28-52, pay particular attention to Carnegie (104), Second Declaration of Independence (106), George (107), and Saum Song Bo (109, especially in relation to Douglass, “The Composite Nation”)
- Readings due by class:
Week 04 — Freedom’s Boundaries, At Home and Abroad, 1865-1900
- Due 09/20: Assignment 02—Primary Source Analysis: Closely Reading, Contextualizing, and Interpreting Historical Evidence
- Due 09/20: Inquizitive—Chapter 17
- 09/20: From US Settler Colonialism to Formal Empire
- Readings due by class:
- Review Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 16, “America’s Gilded Age, 1870-1890,” The Subjugation of the Plains Indians-Myth, Reality, and the Wild West, pp. 493-501
- Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 17, “Freedom’s Boundaries, at Home and Abroad, 1890-1900,” 508-539
- Readings due by class:
- 09/22: The Nadir: Jim Crow
- 09/24: Freedom’s Boundaries discussion
- Readings due by class:
- Voices of Freedom, Chapter 17, 53-74, pay particular attention to Du Bois (113), Wells (114), and Aquinaldo (117)
- Hopi Petition Asking for Title to Their Lands (1894), scroll down to read the transcription, especially p. 7, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/hopi-petition
- Elk v. Wilkins, 112 U.S. 94 (1884), Syllabus (full case optional if you are interested), https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/112/94/
- Readings due by class:
Week 05 — The Progressive Era, 1900-1916
- Due 09/27: Inquizitive—Chapter 18
- 09/27: Did the Progressive Era Make Progress? Part 1
- Readings due by class:
- Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 18, “Chapter 18: The Progressive Era, 1900-1916,” 540-571
- Readings due by class:
- 09/29: Did the Progressive Era Make Progress? Part 2
- 10/01: Progressive Era discussion
- Readings due by class:
- Voices of Freedom, Chapter 18, 75-103, pay particular attention to Ryan (120), Sanger (122), and Wilson (124)
- Optional: Various Authors, “Suffrage at 100,” New York Times, 2019-2020, https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/women-suffrage-100
- Optional Brockport Faculty Listening: Elizabeth Garner Masarik, “100 Years of Woman Suffrage,” Dig! A History Podcast, 5 January 2020, https://digpodcast.org/2020/01/05/woman-suffrage/
- Readings due by class:
Week 06 — Safe for Democracy? The Great War and Its Aftermath, 1916-1920
- Due 10/04: Extra credit monthly history encounters (inspired by Dr. Chelsea Gibbon, optional)
- Due 10/04: Inquizitive—Chapter 19
- 10/04: The Wartime State and Its Aftermath: Making the World Safe for Democracy?
- Readings due by class:
- Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 19: Safe for Democracy: The United States and World War I, 1916-1920, 572-605
- Readings due by class:
- 10/06: Safe for Democracy discussion
- Readings due by class:
- Voices of Freedom, Chapter 19, 104-133, pay particular attention to Bourne (106, in relation to Douglass, “The Composite Nation)
- Readings due by class:
- 10/08: Open (possible meeting at Drake Library about citation and Drake Library resources)
Week 07 — From Business Culture to Great Depression in the “Roaring” Twenties, 1920-1932
- Due 10/11: Assignment 03—Primary Source Analysis and the Art of the Topic Sentence
- Due 10/11: Inquizitive—Chapter 20
- 10/11: What Made the “Roaring” Twenties Roaring?
- Readings due by class:
- Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 20, 1920-1932: From Business Culture to Great Depression in the “Roaring” Twenties, 606-636
- Readings due by class:
- 10/13: From Roaring Twenties to Great Depression
- 10/15: “Roaring” Twenties discussion — Citation discussion
- Readings due by class:
- Voices of Freedom, Chapter 20, 134-159, pay particular attention to Congress Debates Immigration (138) and Hill and Kelley Debate the ERA (1922)
- Readings due by class:
Week 08 — The New Deal, 1932-1940
- 10/18: No class, fall break
- Due 10/20: Inquizitive—Chapter 21
- 10/20: FDR’s New Deal and the Making of Modern Liberalism
- Readings due by class:
- Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 21: The New Deal, 1932-1940, 637-669
- Readings due by class:
- 10/22: New Deal discussion — Citation discussion
- Readings due by class:
- Foner, ed., Voices of Freedom, Chapter 21, 160-186, pay particular attention to FDR (145), Hoover (146), Hill on Indian New Deal (148)
- Optional Brockport Faculty Reading: Anne S. Macpherson, “Birth of the U.S. Colonial Minimum Wage: The Struggle over the Fair Labor Standards Act in Puerto Rico, 1938– 1941,” Journal of American History 104, 3 (December 2017), 656-680 (on Canvas)
- Readings due by class:
Week 09 — Fighting for the Four Freedoms: World War II, 1941-1945
- Due 10/25: Assignment 04—Citation: Hey, Who Said That?
- Due 10/25: Inquizitive—Chapter 22
- 10/25: Was World War II the Actual New Deal?
- Readings due by class:
- Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 22: Fighting for the Four Freedoms: World War II, 1941-1945, 670-704
- Readings due by class:
- 10/27: The American Century? The USA at Midcentury
- Readings due by class:
- Foner, ed., Voices of Freedom, Chapter 22, 187-207, pay particular attention to Luce, American Century (152) and Wallace, Century of the Common Man (153)
- Readings due by class:
- 10/29: WWII discussion
- Readings due by class:
- Foner, ed., Voices of Freedom, Chapter 22, 187-207, pay particular attention to FDR on the Four Freedoms (150), WWII and Mexican Americans (155), and Jackson, Dissent in Korematsu (157)
- Readings due by class:
Week 10 — The Cold War at Abroad and at Home, 1945-1960
- Due 11/01: Extra credit monthly history encounters (optional)
- Due 11/01: Inquizitive—Chapter 23
- 11/01: Cold War Containments
- Readings due by class:
- Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 23: The United States and the Cold War, 1945-1953, 705-733
- Readings due by class:
- Due 11/03: Inquizitive—Chapter 24
- 11/03: Cold War Rebellions
- Readings due by class:
- Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 24: An Affluent Society, 1953-1960, 734-765
- Readings due by class:
- 11/05: Cold War discussion
- Readings due by class:
- Voices of Freedom, Chapter 23, 208-239, pay particular attention to The Truman Doctrine (159) and Lippmann, A Critique of Containment (161)
- Voices of Freedom, Chapter 24, 240-263, pay particular attention to Mills (171)
- Optional Brockport Faculty Reading: Bruce Leslie (and John Halsey), “A College Upon a Hill: Exceptionalism & American Higher Education,” in Marks of Distinction: American Exceptionalism Revisited, ed. Dale Carter (Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press, 2001), 197-228 (on Canvas)
- Readings due by class:
Week 11 — Abundance and Its Discontents, 1960-1969
- Due 11/08: Inquizitive—Chapter 25
- 11/08: A Second Reconstruction? The Modern African-American Civil Rights Movement
- Readings due by class:
- Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 25: The Sixties, 1960-1968, 766-802
- Optional: Keisha N. Blain, “Fannie Lou Hamer’s Dauntless Fight for Black Americans’ Right to Vote,” Smithsonian Magazine, 20 August 2020, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fannie-lou-hamers-dauntless-fight-for-black-americans-right-vote-180975610/
- Readings due by class:
- 11/10: The Great Society and the Quagmire of the Vietnam War: The “Sixties”
- Readings due by class:
- Review Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 25: The Sixties, 1960-1968, 766-802
- Readings due by class:
- 11/12: Civil Rights and the “Sixties” discussion
- Readings due by class:
- Voices of Freedom, Chapter 25, 264-297, pay particular attention to Goldwater (1964), Port Huron Statement (178)
- Optional Brockport Faculty Reading: Meredith Roman, “The Black Panther Party and the Struggle for Human Rights,” Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men 5, 1, The Black Panther Party (Fall 2016), 7-32 (on Canvas)
- Readings due by class:
Week 12 — Disco Demolitions and the Rise of the New Right, 1970-1989
- Due 11/15: Assignment 05—Secondary Source Analysis, or “Historiography”: The Art of Paraphrasing
- Due 11/15: Inquizitive—Chapter 26
- 11/15: Disco Demolition: The 1970s From Watergate to the Malaise Speech
- Readings due by class:
- Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 26: The Conservative Turn, 1969-1988, 803-839
- Readings due by class:
- 11/17: The Reagan Revolution: Modern Conservatism as Revolution—The Rise of the New Right
- Readings due by class:
- Review Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 26: The Conservative Turn, 1969-1988, 803-839
- Readings due by class:
- 11/19: 1970s/1980s discussion
- Readings due by class:
- Voices of Freedom, Chapter 26, 298-322, pay particular attention to Commoner (184), Blakemore (185), Carter (186), Reagan (190)
- Optional Brockport Faculty Reading: Michael J. Kramer, “The Woodstock Transnational: Rock Music & Global Countercultural Citizenship After the Vietnam War,” Talk Delivered at Music and Nations III: Music in Postwar Transitions (19th-21st Centuries), Université de Montréal, 21 October 2018, based on material in the book The Republic of Rock: Music and Citizenship in the Sixties Counterculture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), https://www.michaeljkramer.net/the-woodstock-transnational-rock-music-global-countercultural-citizenship-after-the-vietnam-war/
- Readings due by class:
Week 13 – Thanksgiving – No Meetings
Week 14 — Between Two Falls: From the End of the Cold War to the Great Recession, 1989-2008
- Due 11/29: Assignment 06—Secondary Source Analysis and the Art of the Introduction, Thesis Statement, and Conclusion
- Due 11/29: Inquizitive—Chapter 27
- 11/29: The 1990s: An Era of Uncertainty
- Readings due by class:
- Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 27: From Triumph to Tragedy, 1989-2004, 840-879
- Readings due by class:
- 12/01: The End of the American Century? The 2000 Election, 9/11, the War on Terror, and the 2008 Great Recession
- Readings due by class:
- Review Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 27: From Triumph to Tragedy, 1989-2004, 840-879
- Readings due by class:
- 12/03: 1990s/2000s discussion
- Readings due by class:
- Voices of Freedom, Chapter 27, 323-340, pay particular attention to Clinton on NAFTA (192), Oro and Los Tigres del Norte (195)
- Optional Brockport Faculty Reading: James Spiller, “Nostalgia for the Right Stuff: Astronauts and Public Anxiety about a Changing Nation,” in Michael Neufeld ed., Spacefarers: Images of Astronauts and Cosmonauts in the Heroic Era of Spaceflight (Smithsonian Scholarly Press, 2013), 57-76
- Readings due by class:
Week 15 — Is America “Post” Modern Now?, 2008-2020
- Due 12/06: Assignment 07— Final Essay Proposal
- Due 12/06: Extra credit monthly history encounters (optional)
- Due 12/06: Inquizitive—Chapter 28
- 12/06: From the Great Recession to Make America Great Again, 2008-2020
- Readings due by class:
- Give Me Liberty!, Chapter 28: A Divided Nation, 2001-2020, 880-921
- Readings due by class:
- 12/08: 2010s Discussion
- Voices of Freedom, Chapter 28, 341-358, pay particular attention to Kennedy, Obergefell v. Hodges (199), Obama, Eulogy (201)
- Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations,” The Atlantic, June 2014, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
- Due 12/10: Assignment 08—History Art Response
- 12/10: Is America Modern Yet? A Concluding Discussion
Final – 12/17
- Final essay due
- Extra credit Brockport Faculty Historians Essay (optional)