HISTORY 202:
Office Phone:
Email: john.riedl@montgomerycollege.edu
Office Hours: MW 11-11:50, TR 5:30-6:20, or by appointment.
Course Objectives:
This
course begins from the premise that history is made not only by the powerful,
but by ordinary people in their everyday lives.
In this course we will try to make sense of American history by using
primary and secondary readings, films, lectures, discussions and internet
resources to study the people who made the contradictions of our past and
present.
By
the end of the course the student will be able to:
**Analyze
the roles of race, class, gender, religion, and ethnicity in American society
**Assess
the major political figures and movements since the Civil War
** Identify
the main themes in
**Explicate
the relationship between industrial expansion, the evolution of the labor
movement, and the role of government
**Describe
the key developments in American culture since the Civil War
*Larry
McMurtry, Crazy Horse (1999)
*Gary Gerstle, American Crucible: Race and Nation in the
Twentieth Century (2001)
*Sara Evans, Born for
*Priscilla Murolo & A. B.
Chitty, From the Folks Who Brought You
the Weekend (2001)
*Robert Abzug, Inside the Vicious Heart (1987)
*David
Howard-Pitney, Martin Luther King Jr.,
Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s (2004)
*Michael Harrington, The Other
*Lynn Peril, Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in
Many Uneasy Lessons (2002)
*You
may also watch as many as three movies. These films are available on reserve
in the library, and at a video store near you if you choose to watch them in
the comfort of your own home. Details
will be distributed in class.
Assignments and Evaluation:
Your course grade will be
determined by the following criteria, on a 100 point scale (900=A, 800=B,
etc.).
--Assignments:
If you want to read a little
less, you can choose to watch up to three movies related to this period of
American history (a list will be provided in class) and turn in a 2-3 page paper
analyzing the film. Details will be
distributed in class. Each movie
assignment is worth as much as 40 points.
There will also be other ways to accumulate points, announced throughout
the semester. You can earn extra credit
in this section, but your total assignments grade cannot exceed 430.
--Class Participation (11%--110 Points): This grade will be determined by in-class
participation—which includes punctuality and engagement as well as answering
and asking questions.
--Map Quizzes (Total 7%--70 Points): These will cover the basic geography important for
understanding the African-American history.
--Two Tests (Total 33%—330 Points): Tests will be
short answer and essay and will cover the lecture material.
--Final Paper (11%--110 Points): The final
paper will be your opportunity to sum up what you have learned in the
course. It will be due during exam week.
An Invitation:
I encourage all of you to
contact me by phone, email or in my office with any questions or comments in
the course of the semester. My office
hours especially are there for you, so please come by. We can even talk about things other than
history!
Disability Support
Services (
Ways to Succeed in the Course:
1) Come to class regularly
and punctually. You have three (3)
absences to use at your own discretion.
Each absence over three will lower your final grade by 50 points, or
half a letter grade. TWO TARDIES EQUALS
2) Turn assignments in on
time. (A deadline was a line drawn
around prisoner of war camps and those crossing it were shot.) This means you should start the assignments
early. In most cases late assignments
will not be accepted and when they are the grade will be severely and arbitrarily penalized.
3) Take regular and thorough
notes during lectures. You will need
them to do well on the tests.
4) Review your notes from the
previous lecture just before class—this will increase participation and
comprehension. If no one can remember
the previous lecture, there may be pop quizzes.
5) Plan on spending at
least two hours of preparation for every hour spent in class.
6) All cell phones and other
electronic devices should be turned off and
put away during class. Your cell
phone ringing equals an absence. Also,
don’t disrupt class if coming in late.
7) If you decide to drop a
course, be sure to complete the withdrawal paperwork, or you will fail.
8) Academic dishonesty of
any kind will not be tolerated, so don’t do it. If you turn in work that is not your own, you
will FAIL THE COURSE. See the
Student Code of Conduct (42001CP, VIII A-E).
9) If you have problems, make sure you talk to me right away—don’t wait until the end of the semester. Communication is the key to success.
Course Schedule:
Week # 1 (1/27-1/29): War and
Reconstruction, 1861-1877
Week # 2 (2/3-2/5):
American Imperialism, 1865-1916
R 2/5: Assignments Grade Plan Due
Week # 3 (2/10-2/12):
Progress and Poverty, 1865-1913
R 2/12: First Five Questions Due
Week # 4 (2/17-2/19): Struggles for
Equality, 1866-1910
R 2/19: Map Quiz #1
Week # 5 (2/24-2/26): Wars for
Democracy, 1914-1920
Week # 6 (3/3-3/5):
The Roar and the Crash, 1920-1929
Week # 7 (3/10-3/12):
The First Great Depression, 1929-1937
R 3/12: Assignments Deadline # 1
Week # 8 (3/24-3/26):
Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire, 1937-1941
R 3/26: Midterm
Week # 9 (3/31-4/2):
Total War, 1941-1945
Week # 10 (4/7-4/9):
Making a Mass Movement, 1945-1964
Week # 11 (4/14-4/16):
War, Death, and Backlash, 1964-1988
Week # 12 (4/21-4/23):
The Cold War, 1945-1961
Week # 13 (4/28-4/30):
The Cold War, 1961-1991
T 4/28: Map Quiz #2
R 4/30: Assignments Deadline # 2
Week
# 14 (5/5-5/7): The Age of Plenty, 1950-2008
Final Paper due by
Final Exam (Test Two) R 5/14, 2:45-4:45