syllabus

History/Women?s Studies 453: U.S. Women?s History Fall 2008 M,W,F 10:10-11:00 (Section 003) HSS 111 Dr. Nancy Schurr Office Hours: M,W,F 8-9:30 2645 Dunford Hall and by appointment (865) 974-5406 (office) (423) 987-6448 (mobile) nschurr@utk.edu Course Description This course is a survey of American women?s history from the point of contact between Native Americans and Europeans through the present. Using various primary and secondary sources, we will learn about the changes and continuities in women?s lives over time and space. Also, we will move beyond the traditional (white, middle-class) focus of women?s history and explore the experiences of various racial and ethnic groups with a particular focus on the lives of African-American women. Lectures and readings are organized thematically within a roughly chronological framework. Please note that this is a very work-intensive, yet hopefully rewarding, upper-division history course. Students should expect to spend approximately six to seven hours each week, outside of class, reviewing notes and preparing for discussions, papers, and the two exams. Required Texts James West Davidson, ?They Say?: Ida B. Wells and the Reconstruction of Race (2007) Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors Don?t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock?s Central High (1994) Note: the ?course readings? on Blackboard are also required. Grades Both the mid-term and the final are essay exams that require you to draw on both lecture materials and course readings. Students will receive a review sheet approximately 2 weeks before each exam. Additionally, students will complete two papers (each consisting of 5-7 typed pages) outside of class. Grades will be determined as follows: 20% = Mid-term exam (taken in HSS 111 on October 1) 20% = Final exam (taken in HSS 111 on Friday, December 5, 10:15-12:15) 20% = Paper #1 on Ida B. Wells (due on October 8) 20% = Paper #2 on Melba Pattillo Beals (due on November 14) 20% = Class participation (please see description below) This course will use the following grading scale: 93-100 = A; 90-92 = A- 87-89 = B+; 83-86 = B; 80-82 = B- 77-79 = C+; 73-76 = C; 70-72 = C- 67-69 = D+; 63-66 = D; 60-62 = D- 0-59 = F Class Participation This course will combine elements of lecture-based learning with a more student-centered approach. I believe that student participation forms an integral part of the classroom experience; thus, it is a significant proportion (20%) of your final grade. The course schedule (see below) has the dates for each class period devoted to discussion. On these days, please bring the assigned readings with you (either in paper or electronic form) and be prepared to contribute to our class conversation. You will be graded each session on both the level and sophistication of your participation, which means that to earn a satisfactory grade in class participation, each student must engage with his or her peers in class. I expect each student to analyze the material, draw their own well-informed conclusions, and be willing to share their opinions with their classmates. Please heed this warning: those who fail to participate on a regular basis will earn unsatisfactory marks in class participation?no exceptions and no whining. As you read the assigned material, please consider the following: who is the author, and does s/he have any potential biases? What is the overall tone and point/argument? What details does the author provide to support his/her main point? Who is the intended audience? Does the document link to?either support or refute?other course readings and/or lectures? Finally, you should assess the overall strength and/or weakness of the source?is it compelling? Why or why not? It might be helpful to jot down some notes as you read each document. That way, you will have your thoughts handy for our classroom discussions. If you have questions or concerns about this course requirement, please speak with me sooner rather than later. Writing Assignments Paper #1 (on Ida B. Wells)?due on October 8 at the beginning of class Paper #2 (on Melba Pattillo Beals)?due on November 14 at the beginning of class Each of these papers should be 5-7 pages in length. Please see the ?Guidelines and Policies for Paper Assignments? below for more information. Both Paper #1 and Paper #2 should address the following themes and questions. Although in different ways, both Ida B. Wells and Melba Pattillo Beals refused to accept the status quo or conform to societal expectations. Describe the ways in which each woman was a rebel/outsider in terms of the racial and gender politics of her era. To what degree did each woman choose her outsider status, and to what degree was it thrust upon her? If we accept that both women lived outside the mainstream of American society, then what does this tell us about the mainstream?particularly in terms of what is expected of and valued in women? Guidelines and Policies for Paper Assignments Each paper should fall within the required page length and conform to standard font and margin size (a 12-point font with uniform 1-inch margins). In Microsoft Word, go to File, Page Setup to make sure that your margin settings match these guidelines. (Please note that a title page does not count as a ?page?). Please number your pages. Each assignment should contain the following: a compelling title, a thesis, and evidence drawn from the reading to ?prove? your argument. Papers turned in without rigorous proofreading and/or without a title, thesis, and supporting evidence will, at the very least, be average (i.e. C-level) work. Please do not use any contractions or slang in your formal writing. Please limit the use of quotations in your paper; I am interested in your thoughts and analysis. A bibliography or works cited page is not necessary. A citation (footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical) is required when quoting directly from a course document. Please staple your paper together before turning it in. (No, I do not carry a stapler to class). Please do not plagiarize. Plagiarism is the use of another?s words or ideas as your own; I will not tolerate plagiarism in this course. The minimum penalty for academic dishonesty is failure of the course. Students are prohibited from using sources outside those assigned in this course to complete the paper assignments. This includes non-course related sites on the internet. Your papers will be evaluated using the following criteria: the effectiveness of your analysis and the strength and clarity of your presentation?grammar, spelling, punctuation, style, and organization. Papers are due at the beginning of class. Late papers will be penalized in the following manner: under 24 hours = 10 points; under 48 hours = 20 points; 3-5 days late = 35 points. I will not accept papers more than 5 calendar days after the due date. (And remember, you must complete all assignments in order to pass the course). If your paper is late, you must email me the final version (nschurr@utk.edu) as a Word attachment and then, without making any changes, turn in a hard copy at our next class meeting. I will not accept papers that are placed in my departmental mailbox, shoved under my office door, or deposited under my car?s windshield wipers. Most importantly, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. Class Policies and Etiquette There is no attendance policy in this class; however, regular attendance is a good foundation for success in this course. Cheating and/or plagiarism will not be tolerated. The minimum penalty for cheating or plagiarism is an F in the course. For more about plagiarism, please see page 38 of the undergraduate catalog. Extra-credit work is not available. Make-up work is possible only in extreme circumstances (severe illness, family death, official University business, etc.) and requires written documentation. Failure to complete all components of the course (i.e., the papers and the tests) will result in an F for the semester. All communications devices (cell phones, blackberries, instant messages, etc.) must be turned off during class. I reserve the right to answer your phone if it rings. Newspaper reading, talking, listening to music, surfing the Web, and other rude behavior will not be tolerated during class. This is your class. Engage the ideas, question the readings and lectures, and, after careful reading and critical thinking, develop and express your own opinions. If you have questions, please ask. I am here to help you. Final Exam Policy ?Students are not required to take more than two final exams on any day. The instructor of the last non-departmental exam on that day must reschedule the student?s exam during the final examination period. It is the obligation of students with such conflicts to make appropriate arrangements with the instructor at least two weeks prior to the end of classes.? (page 45, undergraduate catalog) Accommodations Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the Office of Disability Services via phone (974-6087) or by visiting the office (2227 Dunford Hall). Course Schedule 08/20: Course Introduction 08/22: The History of Women?s History Reading (on Blackboard): Joan W. Scott, ?Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis,? American Historical Review 91 (December 1986): 1053-1075. 08/25: Native American Women to 1750 Reading (on Blackboard): ?The Origin of Summer and Winter,? Acoma Myth; Helen C. Rountree, ?Powhatan Indian Women: The People Captain John Smith Barely Saw,? Ethnohistory 45 (Winter 1998): 1-29. 08/27: Southern Colonial Women Reading (on Blackboard): Lyrics, ?The Trappan?d Maiden: or, The Distressed Damsel?; Lois Green Carr and Lorena S. Walsh, ?The Planter?s Wife: The Experience of White Women in Seventeenth-Century Maryland,? William and Mary Quarterly 34 (October 1977): 542-71. 08/29: Northern Colonial Women Reading (on Blackboard): Anne Bradstreet, ?Before the Birth of One of Her Children?; Trial and Interrogation of Anne Hutchinson. 09/01: NO CLASS?HAPPY LABOR DAY 09/03: Discussion: Readings from 08/22 to 08/29 09/05: Women and the American Revolution Reading (on Blackboard): Judith Sargent Murray, ?On the Equality of the Sexes,? 1790; ?Phillis Wheatley: A Life of Triumph Over Obstacles,? by Omofolabo Ajayi. 09/08: The Domestic Ideal Reading (on Blackboard): Catharine Beecher, ?Peculiar Responsibilities of American Women,? 1841; Barbara Welter, ?The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860,? American Quarterly 18 (Summer 1966): 151-74. 09/10: Discussion: Readings from 09/05 and 09/08 09/12: Antebellum Women and Work Reading (on Blackboard): The Lowell Offering; Janet Lecompte, ?The Independent Women of Hispanic New Mexico, 1821-1846,? Western Historical Quarterly 12 (January 1981): 17-35. 09/15: The Old South and Slavery Reading (on Blackboard): Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), pp. 44-57; Jacqueline Jones, ??My Mother Was Much of a Woman?: Black Women, Work, and the Family Under Slavery,? Feminist Studies 8 (Summer 1982): 235-69. 09/17: Women and the West Reading (on Blackboard): Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins, Life among the Piutes, Chapter One (1883); Julie Dunfey, ??Living the Principle? of Plural Marriage: Mormon Women, Utopia, and Female Sexuality in the Nineteenth Century,? Feminist Studies 10 (Autumn 1984): 523-36. 09/19: Discussion: Readings from 09/12 to 09/17 09/22: Antebellum Social Reform Reading (on Blackboard): Excerpt from Angelina Grimke, Appeal to the Christian Women of the South (1836). 09/24: Antebellum Political Reform Reading (on Blackboard): The Seneca Falls Declaration (1848). 09/26: Women and the Civil War Reading (on Blackboard): Letter, Sue Carter to Mary A. Heirs, September 15, 1861; Stacey Jean Klein, ?Wielding the Pen: Margaret Preston, Confederate Nationalistic Literature, and the Expansion of a Woman?s Place in the South,? Civil War History 49 (2003): 221-34. 09/29: Discussion: Readings from 09/22 to 09/26 10/01: Mid-term Exam. Please bring a blank (do not write your name on the front) bluebook to class. 10/03: African-American Women, 1865-1920 (Part I) Reading (on Blackboard): Ida B. Wells, ?Lynch Law in America,? 1900; Shirley J. Carlson, ?Black Ideals of Womanhood in the Late Victorian Era,? Journal of Negro History 77 (Spring 1992): 61-73. 10/06: African-American Women, 1865-1920 (Part II) 10/08: Discussion: ?They Say? and readings from 10/03 Paper on Ida B. Wells due at the beginning of class. 10/10: NO CLASS?HAPPY FALL BREAK! 10/13: Immigrant Women, 1880-1920 Reading (on Blackboard): Jacob Riis, Selected Photographs; Elizabeth Ewen, ?City Lights: Immigrant Women and the Rise of the Movies,? Signs 5 (Spring 1980): S45-S66. 10/15: Native American and ?Westward? Women, 1865-1920 Reading (on Blackboard): Sylvia D. Hoffert, ?Childbearing on the Trans-Mississippi Frontier, 1830-1900,? Western Historical Quarterly 22 (1991): 272-88. 10/17: Working-Class White Women, 1880-1920 Reading (on Blackboard): Sadie Frowne, ?Days and Dreams,? 1902; Clara Lemlich, ?Life in the Shop,? 1909; New York Times Article, 1911. 10/20: Discussion: Readings from 10/13 to 10/17 10/22: Protesters and Reformers (Part I) Reading (on Blackboard): Remarks by Susan B. Anthony, June 19, 1873; Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States, July 4, 1876; Mrs. A.J. Cooper, ?The Intellectual Progress of the Colored Women of the United States,? 1893. 10/24: Protesters and Reformers (Part II) Reading (on Blackboard): Kathryn Kish Sklar, ?Hull House in the 1890s: A Community of Women Reformers,? Signs 10 (Summer 1985): 658-77. 10/27: Discussion: Readings from 10/22 and 10/24 10/29: Women in the 1920s Reading (on Blackboard): Select Images from McClure?s Magazine, 1920s; Estelle B. Freedman, ?The New Woman: Changing Views of Women in the 1920s,? Journal of American History 61 (September 1974): 372-93. 10/31: Women in the 1930s Reading (on Blackboard): Eleanor Roosevelt, ?What Ten Million Women Want,? 1932; Annelise Orleck, ??We Are That Mythical Thing Called the Public?: Militant Housewives during the Great Depression,? Feminist Studies 19 (Spring 1993): 147-72. 11/03: Women and World War II Reading (on Blackboard): Cornelia Fort, ?At the Twilight?s Last Gleaming,? 1942; Karen Tucker Anderson, ?Last Hired, First Fired: Black Women Workers during World War II,? Journal of American History 69 (June 1982): 82-97 11/05: Discussion: Readings from 10/29 to 11/03 11/07: The Feminine Mystique (Please complete the reading before class today) Reading (on Blackboard): Excerpt from Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, 1963. 11/10: Women in the Civil Rights Movement (Part I) Reading (on Blackboard): Ella Baker, ?Bigger Than a Hamburger,? 1960; SNCC Position Paper: Women in the Movement, 1964. 11/12: Women in the Civil Rights Movement (Part II) Reading (on Blackboard): Margaret Rose, ?From the Fields to the Picket Line: Huelga Women and the Boycott, 1965-1975,? Labor History 31 (Summer 1990): 271-93. 11/14: Discussion: Warriors Don?t Cry and readings from 11/10 and 11/12 Paper on Melba Pattillo Beals due at the beginning of class. 11/17: The Women?s Liberation Movement (Part I) Reading (on Blackboard): Roe v. Wade, (Official Summary), 1973; Phyllis Schlafly, Excerpt from ?The Power of the Positive Woman,? 1977. 11/19: The Women?s Liberation Movement (Part II) Reading (on Blackboard): Alma M. Garcia, ?The Development of Chicana Feminist Discourse, 1970-1980,? Gender and Society 3 (June 1989): 217-38. 11/21: Women at Work and in the Family Reading (on Blackboard): Nazli Kibria, ?Power, Patriarchy, and Gender Conflict in the Vietnamese Immigrant Community,? Gender and Society 4 (March 1990): 9-24. 11/24: Discussion: Readings from 11/17 to 11/21 11/26: Exam Review and Instructor Evaluations 11/28: NO CLASS?HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 12/01: Study Day (no class) 12/05: Final Exam, 10:15-12:15 in HSS 111. Please bring at least one blank bluebook to class. PAGE PAGE 1