Sample Syllabus Since 1865

Derek Attig – Sample Syllabus (U.S. since 1865) – 1

UNITED STATES since 1865
COURSE DESCRIPTION This course will provide students with an introduction to the modern history of the United States, as well as to process of producing historical knowledge. Beginning in the bloody wake of the Civil War, the course follows the nation into the twenty-first century. Students will engage with a wide range of historical methods and emphases, including political and economic history, and the course will focus especially on the social and cultural dimensions of U.S. history. In the process, it will offer students the opportunity to closely track two key dynamics in the modern U.S. as they have developed since 1865. First, we will explore how intersections…show more content…
Roosevelt, “Greater Security for the Average Man” (1934), VoF --Frank H. Hill on the Indian New Deal (1935), VoF --W.E.B. DuBois, “A Negro Nation within a Nation” (1935), VoF --John Steinbeck, from The Harvest Gypsies (1936), VoF --Herbert Hoover on the New Deal and Liberty (1936), VoF --Letter to Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins (1937), VoF --Richard Wincor, “Strike,” The Magpie (1937)  Available at http://newdeal.feri.org/magpie/docs/3706p63.htm --Norman Cousins, “Will Women Lose Their Jobs?” (1939), VoF --“By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943”  Available at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaposters/wpahome.html  Spend at least 15 minutes browsing the collections. Choose one that particularly catches your eye and bring a copy to class prepared to analyze it. --OPTIONAL: “‘The New Deal, 1932-1940,” GML! TO WAR, AGAIN --James Baldwin, “Incident in London,” The Magpie (1941)  Available at http://newdeal.feri.org/magpie/docs/41sprp33.htm --Franklin D. Roosevelt on the Four Freedoms (1941), VoF --Henry R. Luce, “The American Century,” (1941), VoF --Henry A. Walace on “The Century of the Common Man” (1942) --OPTIONAL: “‘Fighting for the Four Freedoms: World War II, 1941-1945,” GML! EXCLUSION, ENCLOSURE, EXPLOSION: RACE & AMERICAN POLICY DURING WW2 --“Voyage of the St. Louis,” Holocaust Encyclopedia  Available at http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005267  Explore the photographs and…show more content…
(1980), VoF --Ronald Reagan, “Inaugural Address” (1981), VoF --OPTIONAL: “The Triumph of Conservatism, 1969-1988,” GML! ACT UP TO THE WTO: AIDS & GLOBALIZATION AT THE END OF THE COLD WAR --“ACT UP: Target City Hall, WCBS Channel 2 News” (1989)  Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8PmF3IwsoU --Bill Clinton, Speech on Signing of NAFTA (1993), VoF --“Turtle March/Union Rally” at 1999 WTO Protests in Seattle  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdrUAV5U0Z4 --Declaration for Global Democracy (1999), VoF --Gramm-Leach-Biley Act, Title I, Section 101 and Section 103 (Public Law 106-102, 1999).  Available at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-106publ102/pdf/PLAW-106publ102.pdf --Oral history interview with Emily Nahmanson (27 April 2003), ACT UP Oral History  Available at http://www.actuporalhistory.org/interviews/images/nahmanson.pdf --“ACT UP 25th Anniv Trailer” (2012)  Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdrUAV5U0Z4 --OPTIONAL: “‘Globalization and Its Discontents, 1989-2000,”