American History, 1877-Present (Honors Section)
Dr. Patrick D. Reagan

          
History 202H-001 (#00300)                                Dr. Reagan
11-11:50 MWF                                             Spring 2000
HH 108                                                   HH 109

Instructor Information

Office: Henderson Hall 109
Office Hours: 9-10 a.m. MWF and by appointment
Telephone: 372-3342 (office), 372-3332 (message), 528-3998 (home)
E-mail: preagan@tntech.edu
Professional Experience of Dr. Reagan

Course Requirements

Read sections on History 201-202 and Study Tips first week and before writing papers.

The objective of the course is to obtain a working knowledge of major interpretive approaches to U.S. History since 1877 through class attendance, lectures, readings, active participation in class discussions, a series of short papers, and a take-home final essay applying historical analysis to an important book.

• E-mail about yourself due at latest by noon, Friday, January 28 and use of this course web site.
• Class attendance and active class participation, including in-class presentations (50 points worth 25% of final grade).
• Everyone will write a trial first paper on the rise of big business (due January 31) to get you used to writing. Then you choose which of five out of a total of ten topics you will write 4-6 page, double-spaced typed papers:
  1. worker response to industrialization (due February 7)
  2. populism or the rise of urban America (due February 14)
  3. Progressive reform (due February 23)
  4. economy and culture in the 1920s (due March 10)
  5. the use of film in understanding history (due March 20)
  6. New Deal reform (due April 3)
  7. impact of the Cold War (due April 12)
  8. significance of the social movements of the 1960s (due April 24)
  9. America in Vietnam ((due May 1)
  Each paper should incluce a title page with your name, a title, and the class that has been revised and proofread before class (includng spell checking with word processing). Any papers that are not handed in at the start of class time on the due date will be penalized by one full letter grade for each class period they are late. You must write at least six papers (one ungraded and five graded), but can write as many as eight papers if you choose. The highest five grades of the graded papers will be counted toward the final grade. (20 points @ = 100 points worth 50% of the final grade).
• Final 10-14 page take-home essay analyzing Derek Bok, The State of the Nation due no later than twelve noon, Thursday, May 11. (50 points for 25% of the final grade).
• Use of e-mail, active class participation, writing of at least six papers, and completion of the final essay take-home examination are required to pass the course.
• Final Grade scale based on total points earned:
  A = 180-200 points
  B = 160-179 points
  C = 140-159 points
  D = 120-139 points
  F = below 120 points
• Cheating/plagiarism will result in failure for the course.

Disability Accommodations

Students with a disability requiring accommodations should contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS). An Accommodation Request (AR) should be completed as soon as possible, preferably by the end of the first week of classes. The ODS is located in the Roaden University Center, Room 112, telephone 372-6119.

Study Tips for History Classes

• Understanding University Success (Center for Educational Policy Research)
• David Bollier, "Reclaiming the Commons: why we need to protect our public resources from private encroachment," Boston Review 27 (Summer 2002)
• Facing History and Ourselves: Examining History and Human Behavior
• Quality, Affordability, and Access: Americans Speak on Higher Education, June 2003 (ETS)
• The Big Payoff: Educational Attainment and Synthetic Estimates of Work-Life Earnings
  July 2002, U.S. Census Bureau Special Report
• Textbook Information on the Internet
• History 201-202 at Tennessee Tech
• Connecting Information [TTU Computer center]
• History and the Internet: A Guide by Patrick D. Reagan (McGraw-Hill)
• Especially for Researchers (Library of Congress)
• Locating Information on the Internet (Library of Congress)
• Tennessee Tech Bookstore (Barnes & Noble)
• FTX Bookstore
• The Learning Strategies Database (Muskingum College)
• Content-Specific Learning Strategies for History
  (The Learning Strategies Database, Muskingum College)
• How to Succeed as a Student (K. Bucknall)
• TTU Student Handbook
• How to Succeed as a Student (K. Bucknall)
• Counseling Center (Tennessee Technological University)
• Counseling Center Workshops, TTU
• Study Guides and Strategies (University of St. Thomas)
• How to Prepare for and Take Essay Examinations
  
• A Student's Guide to the Study of History (S. Kreis)
• Tips for History Students (Ohio State University)
• How to Read a Book (P.N. Edwards, University of Michigan)
• Critical Reading (D. Kurland)
• Guides to Historical Research (University of Washington Library)
• Study Guides for History Classes
• How to Prepare for and Take Essay Examinations
• Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. (Bartleby.com)
• The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing (M. Harvey, Washington College)
• Online Student Writing Labs
• Reading, Writing, and Researching for History: A Guide for College Students (P. Rael, Bowdoin College)
• A Student's Guide to Research with the WWW (C. Branham, St. Louis University)

Required Books

• James A. Henretta, David Brody, and Lynn Dumenil. America: A Concise History, Volume 2: Since 1865 (New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999). (Referred to as Text below)
• Web site for text
• Allen F. Davis and Harodl D. Woodman, eds. Conflict and Consensus in American History, Volume 2. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997. Ninth Edition. ( below).
• Derek Bok. The State of the Nation: Government and the Quest for a Better Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996.

Reading Assignments with
Lecture and Discussion Schedule

Readings should be completed prior to and/or during the week assigned.

Prologue: Changes in Postwar America

Assignment: Davis/Woodman, pp. 1-15; Text, Preface; e-mail about yourself
January 13--Course syllabus and responsibilities
January 14--Discussion based on Davis/Woodman, pp. 1-15

Assignment: Text, pp. 419-473 and begin reading Davis/Woodman, pp. 67-112
Internet Resources:

• "The Last Battle: Confederate Veterans, Confederate Daughters, History Textbooks, and the Lost Cause" (University of Virginia)
• The African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture
  
• In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience
  (Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library)
  
• African-American History and Studies
  
• Freedmen and Southern Society Project (University of Maryland, College Park)
• The Fisk Jubilee Singers
• The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson (HarpWeek)
• Impeachment 1868/1999 (Eric Foner/History Matters)Native American History and Culture
• Lakota Wowapi Oti Kin (Lakota Information Home Page)
• Academic Info The American West Page
• New Perspectives on the West (WETA/PBS)
• WestWeb (C. Lavender, College of Staten Island, CUNY)
• The West and the Frontier in American Culture (American Library Association)
• History of the American West (Denver Public Library)
• Western History Collections: Photo Archives [focus on 1870-1940 period]
  (University of Oklahoma Libraries)
• American Heritage Center (University of Wyoming)
• Center of the American West (University of Colorado at Boulder)
• Chisholm Trail (1867-1997)
• Exploring the Life and History of the "Buffalo Soldiers" (W. Hill, National Archives)
• The Buffalo Soldiers on the Western Frontier
  (International Museum of the Horse)
• Texas Buffalo Soldiers

Industrialization, 1870's-1900

Assignment: Text, pp. 474-483, 505-508 and Davis/Woodman, pp. 67-112
Internet Resources:

• The Walt Whitman Hypertext Archive (University of Virginia)
• Poet at Work: Recovered Notebooks of the Thomas Biggs Harned Walt Whitman Collection (American Memory, Library of Congress)
• Picturing Business in America: Hedcuts from the Wall Street Journal (Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery)
• Horatio Alger, Jr. Resources (Washburn University)
• Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
• The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie (The American Experience/PBS)
• About Andrew Carnegie (Carnegie Moscow Center)
• Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum
• Cartoons of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (Ohio State University)
• Cartoon of John D. Rockefeller (Horace Taylor, The Verdict, January 22, 1900)
• Ida Tarbell, The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904)
• Edison National Historic Site (National Park Service)