History 1302
History of the United States since 1865
Professor Patrick Iber
Spring 2016 / MWF 11:30-12:20 / Quinn 212
Course description and objectives:
The purpose of this class is to teach students the techniques of historical thinking and writing through the study of the history of the United States since 1865. The course readings are primary documents in U.S. history, and the two major goals are 1) to make students more informed citizens, with a deeper understanding of the culture, politics, and society of the United States; and 2) to help students gain the skills of historical interpretation and writing, in order to make them more astute observers of the world around them. This will involve learning to think about evidence from multiple perspectives.
Course requirements:
Workshops: In-class workshops: rather than simply listening to lectures, in this class students will be expected to be involved in constructing their own knowledge through activities and discussion. Each day, we will be engaged a variety of activities that will help you to analyze and think about the past by using primary documents. To make this possible in a large class, we are going to be using Top Hat software. The course’s only expense is a membership with Top Hat, which you can find at http://tophat.com/signup, for $24. Regular class meetings will combine approximately 25 minutes of lecture with Top Hat-based activities. Each course meeting will be worth 10 points. There are 33 meetings, and you can earn a maximum of 300 points, representing 30% of the total grade. When registering, please follow the instructions closely and make sure to sing up using your full name as it appears in Blackboard and your UTEP student ID number. Because of its structure, regular attendance and on-time arrival are essential to doing well in this class.
Essays: Each student will submit two essays, of 750-1000 words. You will submit them online through Blackboard by 5 p.m. on the due dates listed on the syllabus. The first paper is worth 150 points (15% of the total grade), and the second is worth 200 points (20%).
Plagiarism: A student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, words, or statements of another person without attribution. The words and ideas of others must be cited. It is official UTEP policy that any suspected cases of plagiarism will be referred to the Office of Student Life for investigation.
Exams: There will be a midterm and a final exam, worth 150 points (15%) and 200 points (20%), respectively. Each will require a Blue Book purchased from the UTEP bookstore. Answers should be based on lectures and readings, and demonstrate mastery of the writing skills developed in class.
Course readings: there are no readings to purchase. Everything you need to read is linked to as a part of the syllabus. You must do the readings before class on the day they are listed, as readings will be a part of our daily workshops. The chapters from The American Yawp are optional. You should use them if you feel you are struggling to understand the material.
Accommodations: If you have a need for classroom accommodations, please contact The Center for Accommodations and Support Services (CASS) at 747-5148, or by email to cass@utep.edu, or visit their office located in UTEP Union East, Room 106.
Grades: Paper 1
Paper 1: 15%
Paper 2: 20%
Midterm Exam: 15%
Final Exam: 20%
Class workshops: 30%
Course schedule:
Week 1: Introduction
W, Jan 20: Introduction to the class, syllabus
F, Jan 22: The weight of history
Readings:
Excerpt from “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/220290/between-the-world-and-me-by-ta-nehisi-coates/9780812993547/ (click the “Read an Excerpt” button)
David Brooks on Ta-Nehisi Coates
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/opinion/listening-to-ta-nehisi-coates-while-white.html?_r=0
Week 2: Reconstruction
General reading: American Yawp, Chapter 15, “Reconstruction,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/15-reconstruction/
M, Jan 25: The Civil War and its Aftermath
Readings:
Alexander Stephens on the Confederate constitution: http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/the-civil-war/alexander-stephens-on-slavery-and-the-confederate-constitution-1861/
Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural address, http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/the-civil-war/abraham-lincolns-second-inaugural-address-1865/
W, Jan 27: Radical Reconstruction
Readings:
Charlotte Forten’s memories of teaching in South Carolina:
Jourdon Anderson’s letter to his old master:
http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/reconstruction/jourdon-anderson-writes-his-former-master-1865/
Mississippi Black Code, 1865:
http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/reconstruction/mississippi-black-code-1865/
F, Jan 29: The Failure of Reconstruction
Readings:
Lawlessness in Texas,
Frederick Douglass speech, 1878,
Week 3: The Gilded Age
General readings:
American Yawp, Chapter 16, “Capital and Labor,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/16-capital-and-labor/
American Yawp, Chapter 17, “Conquering the West,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/17-conquering-the-west/
American Yawp, Chapter 18, “Life in Industrial America,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/18-industrial-america/
M, Feb 1: Capital and labor in industrial America
Readings:
Henry George, Progress and Poverty,
Andrew Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth,
http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/16-capital-and-labor/andrew-carnegies-gospel-of-wealth-june-1889/
W, Feb 3: The closing of the frontier
Chief Joseph on Indian Affairs, http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/17-conquering-the-west/chief-joseph-on-indian-affairs-1877-1879/
Frederick Jackson Turner, “Significance of the Frontier in American History,”
F, Feb 5: Boundaries of Americanness and Whiteness
Readings:
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=47&page=transcript
Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision and dissent (1896)
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/plessy-v-ferguson-excerpts/
Week 4: The Progressive Era
General readings: American Yawp, Chapter 20, “The Progressive Era,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/20-the-progressive-era/
M, Feb. 15: Social Reform
Jacob Riis, “How the Other Half Lives,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/18-industrial-america/jacob-riis-how-the-other-half-lives-1890/
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle [excerpt], http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5727/
Jane Addams, “The Subjective Necessity for Social Reform,”
Thorstein Veblen on Conspicuous Consumption, excerpt from The Theory of the Leisure Class http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/107/110141/ch19_a4_d1.pdf
W, Feb. 17: Feminism
Readings:
Alice Stone Blackwell answering objections to Women’s Suffrage,
Browse the images at:
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/womens-suffrage/
F, Feb. 19: Jim Crow
Readings:
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois debate black progress,
Ida B. Wells, “Lynch Law in America,”
Jim Crow: http://www.loc.gov/resource/amss.as106690.0
Week 5: American Imperialism
General readings:
American Yawp, Chapter 19, “American Empire,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/19-american-empire/
M, Feb. 8: The Spanish-American War
Readings:
William McKinley, “American Exceptionalism,” http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/19-american-empire/william-mckinley-on-american-expanionism-1903/
Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden,” http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/19-american-empire/rudyard-kipling-the-white-mans-burden-1899/
Arthur MacOwen, “Remember the Maine,”
W, Feb. 10: Occupations under the New Imperialism
Readings:
William James, “The Philippine Question,” http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/19-american-empire/william-james-on-the-philippine-question-1903/
Mark Twain, “The War Prayer,” http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/19-american-empire/mark-twain-the-war-prayer-ca-1904-5/
The Platt Amendment, http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=55&page=transcript
F, Feb. 12: From Dollar Diplomacy to Wilsonian Idealism
Readings:
President Taft, “Dollar Diplomacy,”
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/william-howard-taft-dollar-diplomacy/
Woodrow Wilson on the “New Freedom,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/20-the-progressive-era/woodrow-wilson-on-the-new-freedom-1912/
Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler on foreign intervention, http://fas.org/man/smedley.htm
Week 6:
M, Feb. 22: Paper workshop
W, Feb. 24: El Paso and the Mexican Revolution [no readings]
F, Feb. 26: 1st Paper Due
Week 7: World War I & the 1920s
General readings:
American Yawp, Chapter 21, “World War I & Its Aftermath”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/21-world-war-i/
American Yawp, Chapter 22, “The Twenties,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/22-the-twenties/
M, Feb 29: World War I
Primary documents:
Woodrow Wilson requests war,
http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/21-world-war-i/woodrow-wilson-requests-war-april-2-1917/
Alan Seeger on WWI,
http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/21-world-war-i/alan-seeger-on-world-war-i-1914-1916/
Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points,
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/wilson14.asp
W, Mar 2: Consumption and Social Change in the 1920s
Primary documents:
“She Learned to Drive a Car” from Your Car: A Magazine of Romance, Fact, and Fiction: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collID=cool&itemLink=r?ammem/coolbib:@field(NUMBER+@band(amrlgs+yc1))&hdl=amrlgs:yc1:115
and continued
- Philip Randolph, “The Negro and Economic Radicalism,” starting at http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=amrlgs&fileName=op2page.db&recNum=31&itemLink=r?ammem/coolbib:@field(NUMBER+@band(amrlgs+op2))
F, Mar. 4: The Great Depression
Watch:
Caroline Henderson, “Letters from the Dust Bowl,” http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1936/05/letters-from-the-dust-bowl/308897/
SPRING BREAK, March 7-11
Week 8: The Great Depression
General reading: American Yawp, Chapter 23, “The Great Depression,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/23-the-new-deal/
M, Mar 14: The New Deal
Read:
FDR’s inaugural speech:
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/fdr-inaugural/
FDR Unveiling Second Half of the New Deal
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=69&page=transcript
W, Mar. 16: Culture and labor
Watch:
Charlie Chaplain’s “Modern Times,” [Watch the first 18 minutes]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJTVtXK92Fc
F, Mar. 18: Midterm exam
Week 9: World War II
General reading:
American Yawp, Chapter 24, “World War II,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/24-world-war-ii/
M, Mar. 21: Fighting World War II
Cord Meyer, “Waves of Darkness,” The Atlantic Monthly, January 1946, pp. 74-80
Harry Truman’s diary entries about the atomic bomb:
http://www.doug-long.com/hst.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/truman-hiroshima/
W, Mar. 23: Social changes in WWII
Watch: Manpower, a 1943 propaganda film about the U.S. labor market
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKrHfTGWxQ4
Read:
Letters from interned Japanese (read all 12 letters in “Life in Camp” section and the 1 letter in “Returning Home”) http://www.janm.org/exhibits/breed/title.htm
F, Mar. 25: César Chávez day: no classes
Week 10: Cold War America
General readings:
American Yawp, Chapter 25, “The Cold War”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/25-the-cold-war/
American Yawp, Chapter 26, “The Affluent Society,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/26-the-affluent-society/
M, Mar. 28: Origins of the Cold War
NSC 68 [excerpts],
http://users.clas.ufl.edu/mjacobs/Amh2020Fall02/NSC-68.html
Nixon and Khrushchev’s Kitchen Debate
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/the-kitchen-debate/
W, March 30: Affluence and Exclusion
Readings: Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations,”
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
F, Apr. 1: In-class paper workshop
Week 11: The 1960s
General Readings:
American Yawp, Chapter 27, “The Sixties,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/27-the-sixties/
M, Apr. 4: From Kennedy to Johnson
Readings:
Kennedy’s Inaugural Address
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=91&page=transcript
LBJ on Affirmative Action
http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/speeches.hom/650604.asp
W, Apr. 6: The Civil Rights Movements
Readings:
Martin Luther King, Jr. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,”
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/letter-from-birmingham-city-jail-excerpts/
César Chávez, “The Organizer’s Tale,”
https://libraries.ucsd.edu/farmworkermovement/essays/essays/The%20Organizers%20Tale.pdf
The Port Huron Statement [excerpts],
http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111hur.html
F, Apr. 8: 2nd essay due
Week 12: The 1970s
General reading:
American Yawp, Chapter 28, “The Unraveling,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/28-the-unraveling/
M, Apr. 11: The Vietnam War and its Repercussions
Watch:
“Winter Soldier Investigation” [Watch from 1:01:30 – 1:27:30]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psBkRDYKJ7o
W, Apr. 13: The Nixon Presidency and its End
Read and listen:
Jordan Moran, “The First Domino: Nixon and the Pentagon Papers,” http://millercenter.org/presidentialclassroom/exhibits/first-domino-nixon-and-pentagon-papers
“Cancer on the Presidency,” http://millercenter.org/presidentialclassroom/exhibits/cancer-presidency
F, Apr. 15: Carter and the post-Nixon presidency
Reading:
Jimmy Carter, “Human Rights and Foreign Policy,”
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/human-rights-and-foreign-policy/
Jimmy Carter, “Crisis of Confidence,” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/carter-crisis/
Week 13: 1980s and 1990s
General reading:
American Yawp, Chapter 29, “The Triumph of the Right,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/29-the-rise-of-the-right/
M, Apr. 18: Ending the Cold War
Readings:
Ronald Reagan’s “Evil Empire” speech,
http://millercenter.org/president/reagan/speeches/speech-3409
George H.W. Bush’s joint press conference with Mikhail Gorbachev,
http://millercenter.org/president/bush/speeches/speech-5605
W, Apr. 20: The Unending Culture Wars
Read:
Phyllis Schlafly, “What’s wrong with ‘equal rights’ for women?” (1972),
http://genius.com/Phyllis-schlafly-whats-wrong-with-equal-rights-for-women-annotated
Watch:
Pat Buchanan “Culture Wars” speech
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC7628CDAE9DCABF0
F, Apr. 22: Neoliberalism and Globalization in the Post-Cold War Era
Readings:
Bill Clinton’s announcement on welfare legislation
Peter Edelman, “The Worst Thing Clinton Has Done,” http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/03/the-worst-thing-bill-clinton-has-done/376797/
Matt Taibbi, “Flathead,” http://www.nypress.com/flathead/
Week 14: The Bush Era
General readings:
American Yawp, Chapter 30, “The Recent Past,”
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/30-the-recent-past/
M, Apr. 25: September 11 and its Consequences
Read:
“9/11 around the world,”
http://fusion.net/story/17323/what-did-911-look-like-around-the-world-reddit-answers/
Watch: George W. Bush’s “Axis of Evil” remarks during 2002 SOTU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btkJhAM7hZw
Read:
Seymour Hirsh, “The General’s Report,” http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/06/25/the-generals-report
W, Apr. 27: Politics from Bush to Obama
Watch:
Obama’s 2004 DNC speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5V2U6IJSYc
Interviews at Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht8PmEjxUfg
Read:
Elbert Ventura, “The Tea Party Paradox,”
http://www.cjr.org/review/the_tea_party_paradox.php
F, Apr 29: The New Gilded Age
Readings:
“Revolution number 99: an oral history of Occupy Wall Street,”
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2012/02/occupy-wall-street-201202
An oral history of #BlackLivesMatter
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/09/oral-history-civil-rights-movement-ferguson
Week 15: The present moment
M, May 2: The Past in the Present
W, May 4: Review
F, May 6: Dead day
patrick iber 
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