Course Description:

History 164 is the second part of a two-semester sequence of courses on the history of the United States. This class provides students with an introductory survey of the chief cultural, political, economic, and diplomatic developments in America between the Civil War and the present.

Thematically, the course covers four topics: 1) the evolution of American cultural and social patterns; 2) the role of government in society; 3) the rights of individuals within a multicultural society; and 4) the role of America in the world.

Course Objectives:

1) Students will gain factual knowledge.
Students will gain a basic understanding of the periodization and themes in American history from the Civil War to the present.

2) Students will learn fundamental principles, generalizations, and theories.
Students will be taught the fundamental principles of historical scholarship as they encounter traditional and more recent interpretations of the American past.

3) Students will learn to analyze and critically evaluate ideas, arguments, and points of view.
Students will learn to evaluate primary documents and secondary sources as they consider conflicting historical interpretations.

Required Book:

* Harold Evans, The American Century (Knopf, 2000). Also available in audio format from Amazon.

Attendance:

Regular attendance and punctuality are indicative of serious scholarship. You should be in class, awake and aware, and prepared for discussion. Students missing more than six classes may receive a grade reduction at the end of the term. Students who are regularly tardy will be denied entrance to class.

Attendance and Religious Holy Days:

Section 51.911(b) of the Texas Education Code requires that an institution of higher education excuse a student from attending classes or other required activities, including examinations, for the observance of a religious holy day, including travel for that purpose. A student whose absence is excused under this subsection may not be penalized for that absence and shall be allowed to take an examination or complete an assignment from which the student is excused within a reasonable time after the absence.

SHSU policy 861001 provides the procedure to be followed by the student and instructor.  A student desiring to absent himself/herself from a scheduled class in order to observe (a) religious holy day(s) shall present to the instructor involved a written statement concerning the religious holy day(s). This request must be made in the first fifteen days of the semester in which the absence(s) will occur. The instructor will complete a form notifying the student of a reasonable timeframe in which the missed assignments and/or examinations are to be completed.

Assignments and Grading:

In this course, final grades will be based on the following calculations:

* 5 exams each worth 100 points
* Participation worth 150 points

The following grading scale -- based on 650 points -- will be used to calculate final grades:
A = 650-585 | B = 584-520 | C = 519-455 | D = 454-390 | F = 389-0 points.

Examinations:

Students will complete 5 multiple-choice exams during the term. Each of the exams will cover the section of the course immediately preceding it. The exams will be based on class notes and assigned readings. Review sheets will be distributed before each exam.

Participation:

Students should complete reading assignments, attend class, and participate in discussions. Periodically, a short pop-quiz, writing assignment, or movie review may be given to determine how well each member of the class has prepared. These participation assignments should be easy, but they will require that you be in class and be prepared.

Classroom Demeanor:

HIS 164 is primarily a lecture course. Students are encouraged, however, to ask questions and initiate discussion. The more you engage the material, the better you will learn it. To facilitate an open classroom dialogue, students should not: 1) have cell phones turned on; 2) be reading the school paper or doing other homework; 3) leave early or disturb their fellows.

Visitors in the Classroom:

Unannounced visitors to class must present a current, official SHSU identification card to be permitted in the classroom. They must not present a disruption to the class by their attendance. If the visitor is not a registered student, it is at the instructor's discretion whether or not the visitor will be allowed to remain in the classroom.

Study Tips:

I encourage you to contact me if you are feeling confused or out-of-step with the material we are covering. If you would like additional support, you may also contact the SAM Center ( Student Advising & Mentoring Center ), which helps students improve their note-taking, time management, and study skills. The SAM Center is located in room 210 of AB4. You may make an appointment at the Center by email ( SAMCenter@shsu.edu ) or phone (294-4444).  

Academic Dishonesty:

All students are expected to engage in all academic pursuits in a manner that is above reproach. Students are expected to maintain complete honesty and integrity in the academic experiences both in and out of the classroom. Any student found guilty of dishonesty in any phase of academic work will be subject to disciplinary action. The University and its official representatives may initiate disciplinary proceedings against a student accused of any form of academic dishonesty including, but not limited to, cheating on an examination or other academic work which is to be submitted, plagiarism, collusion and the abuse of resource materials.

Any violation of the University's Academic Honesty standard will result in a failing grade for the course and a recommendation for University discipline.

Americans with Disabilities Act:

It is the policy of Sam Houston State University that individuals otherwise qualified shall not be excluded, solely by reason of their disability, from participation in any academic program of the university. Further, they shall not be denied the benefits of these programs nor shall they be subjected to discrimination. Students with disabilities that might affect their academic performance are expected to visit with the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities located next to the Counseling Center . They should then make arrangements with the instructor in order that accommodations can be made to assure that participation and achievement opportunities are not impaired.

SHSU adheres to all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and guidelines with respect to providing reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. If you have a disability that may affect adversely your work in this class, then I encourage you to register with the SHSU Counseling Center and to talk with me about how I can best help you. All disclosures of disabilities will be kept strictly confidential. NOTE: no accommodation can be made until you register with the Counseling Center.

Instructor's Right to Update Course Schedule

This syllabus is your contract for the course. The instructor will not change the nature of the course, the number of assignments, or the grading system. However, the instructor reserves the right to update the course schedule and reading assignments throughout the term.

Course Schedule

August 21: Introduction to Course

August 23: What Historians Do: The Case of Hal Bonney Jr.

Hal Bonney, Jr: newspaper biography | articles and editorials | video

August 28: The Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877 | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

Eric Foner, "The New View of Reconstruction," American Heritage, 1983 | online

Primary Sources for Class

Source A: "The Freedmen's Bureau" (FB) from Rise and Fall of Jim Crow [ online ]

Source B: FB Inspection of the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville [ online ]

Source C: Freed people Confined in Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville [ online ]

Source D: "Miscellaneous Records Relating to Murders and Other Criminal Offenses Committed in Texas 1865 - 1868" [ Search page for Huntsville ] [ online ]

Available Resources

Website: Reconstruction: The Second Civil War [ online ]

August 30: The New South, 1877-1900 | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

Barbara Young Welke, “The Railway Journey: The Spatial Transformation” from
Recasting American Liberty [ online pdf ]

Available Resources

Barbara Young Welke, Recasting American Liberty, [ Race and the Railroads ]

Without Sanctuary: Photographs and Postcards of Lynching in America [ online ]

The History of Jim Crow [ online ]

Civil Rights Cases (1883) [ online 1 ] [ online 2 ]

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) [ online 1 ] [ online 2 ]

September 4: African American Leaders at the Turn of the Century

Reading -- Group 1

Booker T. Washington and his " Atlanta Compromise Address" (1895)
Reading: [ biography ] [ image ] [ speech ] [ audio ] [ analysis1 ] [ analysis 2 ]

Reading -- Group 2

W.E.B. Du Bois and His Vision for the Negro Rights Movement
Reading : [ biography ] [ image ] [ Souls of Black Folk ] [ Harper's Ferry Address ]

Available Resources

Film Excerpt in Class: Rise and Fall of Jim Crow , Vol. 1 [ video web site ]

September 6:The Gilded Age: Northern Society, 1877-1900 | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, “The Rise of Big Business in America, 1862-1913” from The Company [ online ]

Available Resources

Website: The Corporation [ online ]

September 11:The Corporation and Gilded Age Business |ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, “The Rise of Big Business in America, 1862-1913” from The Company [ online ]

Available Resources

Corporation: What is a Corporation [ online ]

Corporation Video: Birth of the Corporation [ online ]

Corporation Video: A Legal Person [ online ]

September 13:The Response to Industrialization | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

Sources of Worker Unrest [ online ]

Reading -- Group 1: Knights of Labor

Reading: Knights of Labor in Texas [ online ]

Reading: Drawing the Line on Black-White Equality -- Knights of Labor [ online ]

Reading: Haymarket Square [ brief ] [ brief 2 ] [ Chicago ] [ LOC ]

Reading -- Group 2: American Federation of Labor

Reading: Samuel Gompers and the AFL [ online ]

Reading: American Federation of Labor [ online ]

Reading: Samuel Gompers [ online ]

Group -- Group 3: The Homestead Strike

Reading: Homestead Strike Introduction [ online ]

Reading: Andrew Carnegie: Making Money the Old Fashioned Way [ online ]
Read the brief entries under each of the headings.

Reading -- Group 4: Eugene Debs, the American Railway Union, and the Pullman Strike

Reading: Eugene Debs [ online ]

Reading: Pullman Strike [ brief ] [ brief 2 ] [ online ]

September 18: What a Funny Little Government: Politics and Empire, 1877-1900 | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

Thomas G. Paterson, "U.S. Intervention in Cuba, 1898: Interpreting the Spanish American Cuban-Filipino War" [ online ]

Available Resources

Website: The World of 1898 [ online ]

September 20: EXAM ONE


September 25: The Four Themes of the Progressive Era | ppt slides

Reading -- Greater Democracy

1) Feminist in the Vanguard - American Century, pages 92-93
Susan Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Florence Kelley, Emma Goldman

2) 16th Amendment (1913) [ online ]

3) 17th Amendment (1913) [ online ]

3) 19th Amendment (1920) [ online ]

Reading -- Greater Efficiency

1) Henry Ford and Frederick W. Taylor -- American Century pages 112-113

2) Theodore Roosevelt and Conservation -- American Century pages 96-97

Reading -- Greater Government Regulation

1) Muckrakers - American Century, page 94
Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, Ray Stannard Baker, David Graham Phillips

2) The Jungle - American Century, page 95
Upton Sinclair and FDA Reform

3) 18th Amendment [ online ]

Reading -- Greater Social Justice

1) African American Leaders, pages 34-35
Booker T. Washington, Ida Wells, W.E.B. Du Bois

2) Female Crusaders - American Century, pages 122-123
Jane Addams, Alice Paul, Jeannette Rankin, Margaret Sanger

3) Crusade against Child Labor
historical photographs [ online ]
Keating-Owen Child Labor Act (1916) [ online ]
Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918) [ online ]
Revenue Act of 1919, also called the Child Labor Tax Law
Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co. (1922) [ online ]

September 27: Presidential Progressivism | ppt slides

Reading -- Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt - American Century, pages 70-73
Roosevelt Anti-Trust enforcement - American Century, page 80

Reading -- William Howard Taft

Wiliam Howard Taft - American Century 114-117

Reading -- Election of 1912

The Bull Moose Runs Amok - American Century 129

Reading -- Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson, 130-133

October 2: The Origins of World War I | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

American Century, 140-156

October 4: The War to Make the World Safe for Democracy | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

American Century, 159-171

October 9: The Aftermath of War | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

American Century, 172-179

October 11 : EXAM TWO

October 16: The 1920s | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

Warren Susman, "Culture Heroes: Barton, Ford, Ruth" [ online ]

October 18: The Politics of the 1920s and the Stock Market Crash | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

American Century, Read carefully 180-203; 210-213

October 23: Hoover and the Great Depression | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

American Century, 216-239

October 25: FDR and the New Deal | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

American Century, 240-249; 260-261; 268-269

October 30: The Constitutional Revolution of 1937

Reading -- All Students

American Century, 270-281

November 1: EXAM THREE | review sheet

November 6: Why We Fight: The U.S. and World War II | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

American Century, 282-293

The Good War: World War II Website [ online ]

November 8: Fighting the Second World War | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

American Century, 314-327

World War II: Domestic Affairs [ link ]

World War II: Foreign and Military Policy [ link ]

November 13: The Three Shocks that Ended World War II | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

American Century, 372-385

November 15: Harry Truman and the Origins of the Cold War, 1945-1950 | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

American Century, 386-419

November 20: The Cold War at Home and Abroad, 1950-1954 | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

American Century, 420-451

November 22: Thanksgiving Holiday

EXAM FOUR -- ONLINE ESSAY EXAM FIND IT HERE due November 28

November 27: The Civil Rights Movement, 1941-1968 | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

American Century, 452-489

November 29: The Civil Rights Movement, 1941-1968 | ppt slides

Reading -- All Students

American Century, 490-521

December 4: Vietnam: From Kennedy to Nixon | Vietnam Handout

Reading -- All Students

American Century, Chapter 13

December 6: The Recent Era, 1973-Present

Reading -- All Students

American Century, Chapter 14

EXAM FIVE: DURING SCHEDULED FINAL EXAM PERIOD