Race and Class in American History: 1877-1914

History 338-9321, Fall 1996
Tuesday 6:30-10:00, 1P-109
Professor Catherine Lavender


Course Description:

This course will provide an in-depth immersion in the historical development of the US from the end of Reconstruction to the onset of World War I. The course will examine significant political, social, economic, and intellectual developments of the period, including industrial and urban growth, immigration, Populism, Progressivism, and imperialism. The course will also emphasize the literature and other cultural products (such as advertising and fine arts) as artifacts of the time. A portion of this course will emphasize the use of online historical resources available via the World Wide Web, and training in basic uses of educational technologies will be included in course materials.

The course will also aim to familiarize the student with historical method and historiography, emphasizing the construction of historical arguments (thesis, methodology, historiography, evidence, sources, research, and narrative), as well as identifying areas for further research.

Getting In Touch with The Professor:

My office is 2N 203, and my office phone is 718-982-2869; I have office hours 4:30 to 6:30 Tuesdays, 1:00 to 3:30 Thursdays, and by appointment. You may also reach me via email at lavender@mail.csi.cuny.edu. You can also visit my homepage, or see additional optional materials for this course.
Course Requirements:

All students are required to attend class meetings and take part in discussions. Papers will require students to synthesize discussion materials as well as readings. Students must also read and assimilate required readings, and be prepared to discuss readings on the schedule given below. Students will submit papers and assignments on time; late papers will not be accepted without prior arrangement with the professor. As this is a discussion- and participation-intensive course, attendance and participation will be extraordinarily important for student success. As per College of Staten Island policy stated in hte Catalog of Courses, any student with more than three unexcused absences will not receive a passing grade in this course.

Assignments:

Each week you will be asked to write in response to discussion questions about the readings and lectures; this will constitute a large percentage of the written work for this course and will take the place of examinations. These papers must be submitted at the beginning of the class session at which they are due; they will not be accepted late, even in the case of an excused absence, except at the discretion of the professor. Your grades for these essays will be averaged, and the average will account for 35% of your course grade.

In addition, your semester-long assignment will be to choose one historical artifact of the period from 1880-1914 (such as a novel, artwork, building, political speech or essay, etc.), and analyze it in an essay. This essay will rely on primary sources and will be documented and footnoted according to the Chicago Manual of Style. This will account for 35% of your course grade.

Finally, you will be required to attend class and take part in discussions. This will account for 30% of your course grade.

Required Texts:

Nell Irvin Painter, Standing at Armageddon: The United States, 1877-1919
Michael Kazin, Barons of Labor: The San Francisco Building Trades and Union Power in the Progressive Era
Lawrence Goodwyn, The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America
Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Neil McMillen, Dark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow
Peggy Pascoe, Relations of Rescue: The Search for Female Moral Authority in the American West, 1874-1939
Glenda G. Gilmore, Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1896-1920
William Riordan, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall
Jacob Riis, How The Other Half Lives
Ellen F. Fitzpatrick, ed., Muckraking: Three Landmark Articles
Course Schedule:

Week One: Introduction to the Course/History and Historiography (Tuesday, 3 February)

Week Two: The Ends of Reconstruction (Tuesday, 10 February)
No Meeting--Classes follow a Thursday Schedule

Week Three: Growing Unrest (Tuesday, 17 February)
Reading for this week: Painter, "Introduction," Chapters 1 and 2

Week Four: Corporations and Economic Consolidation in Agriculture and Industry (Tuesday, 24 February)
Reading for this Week: Painter, Chapter 3; Kazin, Barons of Labor

Week Five: Labor, Immigration and the Industrial City (Tuesday, 3 March)
Reading for this Week: Kazin, Barons of Labor; Discussion of Barons of Labor

Week Six: Machine Politics (Tuesday, 10 March)
Reading for this Week: Painter, Chapter 4; Riordan, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall.

Week Seven: Populism and the West (Tuesday, 17 March)
Reading for this Week: Painter, Chapter 4; Goodwyn, The Populist Moment.

Week Eight: The Gilded Age (Tuesday, 24 March)
Reading for this Week: Painter, Chapter 5; Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

Week Nine: The Origins of Progressivism (Tuesday, 31 March)
Reading for this Week: Painter, Chapter 6; View (in class) Battle for Wilderness.

Week Ten: The Origins of Progressivism (Tuesday, 7 April)
Reading for this Week: Painter, Chapter 6; Fitzpatrick, ed., Muckraking; View (in class) Battle for Wilderness.

SPRING BREAK--Friday 10 April-Saturday 18 April

Week Eleven: Progressive Reform (Tuesday, 21 April)
Reading for this Week: Painter, Chapter 7; Riis, How The Other Half Lives.

Week Twelve: Progressive Reform and Female Moral Authority (Tuesday, 28 April)
Reading for this Week: Painter, Chapter 8; Pascoe, Relations of Rescue

Week Thirteen: Progressive Reform and the Reconstruction Legacy (Tuesday, 5 May)
Reading for this Week: Painter, Chapter 9; McMillen, Dark Journey.

Week Fourteen: Politics of Race, Class and Gender in Progressive Era America (Tuesday, 12 May)
Reading for this Week: Painter, Chapters 10 and 11; Gilmore, Gender and Jim Crow.

Week Fifteen: The Ends of Progressivism (Tuesday, 19 May)
Reading for this Week: Painter, Chapter 12. Final Project Essay Due.

Prepared by Professor Catherine Lavender for History 338 (Themes in US History, 1877-1914), The Department of History, The College of Staten Island of The City University of New York, Spring Semester 1998.
Last modified: Monday 19 January 1998