History 4950: Industrializing America, 1800-1920
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Instructor:
Dr. Lynne Curry email: cflc2@eiu.edu
Office: 2532 Coleman Hall my office 581-7988
Office hours: TR 11:00 - 12:30; and by appointment department: 581-3310
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Description: This course surveys the social, political, economic,
and cultural development of the United States from approximately 1800 to
1930. The reading load is
substantial. Class lectures and
discussions are heavily based on our course readings, so it is essential that
students complete reading assignments and keep pace with the course
agenda.
Required texts:
L. Fink, ed. Major Problems in
the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
D. Leviatin,
ed., How the Other Half Lives
J. Barrett, Work and Community in the
Jungle
M. Pernick, The Black Stork
A. Yezierska, Breadgivers
Course requirements:
1. I expect your attendance, thorough preparation, and active participation
at each class meeting
2. One mid-term and one final examination. The mid-term date is Tuesday October 19th. The final is Tuesday, December 14th,
12:30 pm to 2:30 pm. Note: I
will not change the final date unless you have three finals scheduled for the
same day. Graduate students do not take
the final exam.
3. Undergrads: Primary source analysis paper, approximately 8-10 pages in length.
Grads: Research paper, approximately 18-20 pages in length.
4. Check our course website on WebCT daily. Important information, announcements, weekly
assignments, emails from me, and
additional readings will be posted there. You are responsible for keeping up to date with all
information posted on our course website.
Grading:
Undergrads: Grads:
Mid-term exam 30% Mid-term exam 30%
Final exam 30% Research
paper 70%
Primary
source analysis 40%
Accommodations: If you have a
documented physical or learning disability, please contact me as soon as
possible regarding any required arrangements
Things that annoy me, so
don’t do them: Consistently coming in
late. Getting up in the middle of class
to use the restroom. Cell phones
ringing. Loud gum chewing. Private conversations in class. Treating fellow students rudely. Packing up your books before I say class is
over. Dull, boring, glassy-eyed,
unprepared students who just sit there like rocks.
Course agenda
Note: Bring
assigned texts to class
08/24 Introductions, requirements, expectations.
08/26 Legacies of the Civil War and
Reconstruction.
08/31 The South after Reconstruction. Read:
Fink chapter 4.
09/02 Continued.
09/07 The North after the Civil War. Read: Fink, Cashman essay in chapter 1; all
of chapter 2.
09/09 Continued.
09/14 Native Americans and the West. Read: Fink chapter 3.
09/16 The Myth of the West.
09/21 The Rise of the Industrial City. Read: Fink chapter 5, essays only.
09/23 Continued.
09/28 Gilded Age Politics: The Good, the Bad,
and the Ugly. Read: Fink chapter 6
09/30 Populism. Read: Fink chapter 7 documents only; begin reading Barrett, Work
and Community
10/05 Jim Crow Politics. Read: Fink chapter 10 essays; continue
reading Barrett, Work and Community
10/07 The Rise of Big Labor. Finish reading
Barrett, Work and Community in the Jungle
10/12 The “New Immigration”. Begin reading
Leviatin, ed., How the Other Half Lives
10/14 Jacob Riis and the Other Half. Finish reading Leviatin, How the Other
Half Lives
10/19 Mid-term exam. Bring exam books.
10/21 Progressivism.
10/26 Continued. Read: Fink chapter 8.
10/28 Frederick Jackson Turner’s Frontier
Thesis. Read: Turner essay posted on
our course website.
11/02 Preservation versus Conservation. Read: Fink chapter 14
11/04 Women and Progressivism. Read: Fink chapter 8, Muncy essay only
11/09 Consumer culture and commercialized
leisure. Read: Fink chapter 11 essays
only; begin Pernick
11/11 From Darwinism to Eugenics. Read: Finish Pernick, The Black Stork
11/16 State-building. Read: Fink chapter 13; Fink chapter 1 Cooper
essay.
11/18 Empire-building. Read: Fink chapter 9, essays only
11/23-25 Thanksgiving
break
11/30 The U.S. in World War I. Read: Fink chapter 15
12/02 Continued. Begin reading Yezierska, Bread Givers
12/07 Promises filled, promises broken. Finish reading Yezierska, Bread Givers
12/09
America and modernity.
Papers due in class. Late
papers, including those placed in my mailbox or under my office door, will be docked one grade level.
12/14 Final exam, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm. Bring exam books.