American Social History

37. Mon 4/27 – Asian-Americans

Reading topics: the “Golden Door,” the “yellow peril,” the Chinese Exclusion Act, Supreme Court case of Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886), Rock Springs Wyoming race riot (1885), Chinatown(s), Japanese immigration, Isei and Nisei, 1924 Oriental Exclusion Law. Try the Digital History website for resources on this topic.

38. Wed 4/29 – Discussion Day on Japanese Internment – Esperanza Rising Lesson Plan due in class

Reading: explore the JARDA (Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive). Be prepared to discuss:

What happened during World War II to Japanese Americans and why?
What customs, cultural practices, or worldviews clashed during the internment process?
Were interned Americans able to maintain some of their cultural practices?
How is the story of Japanese internment/relocation similar to, and different from, the trajectory of other immigrant groups or minority communities of color in the American West?
What sorts of sources are available to historians, researchers, and the public on this site?

39. Fri 5/1 – Final Presentation Day

This day will be a makeup presentation day if you missed an earlier one. Also if you are not presenting and need a third response paper, this is your week. Presenters this week (St. Francis, McQuoid, and Knight) can focus either on the experience of Mexican-Americans in the American West using resources from last week, or on Asians in the American West, or can compare/contrast the two in their presentations.

Some ideas for presenters from previous weeks that weren’t used yet –

• Listen to the recent NPR “Morning Edition” 5-part series, by reporter Jason Bobien, traveling the entire US-Mexican border. What is so important about this region? What are some of the current issues, problems, and stories from the border?
• Explore some of the experiences of Vietnamese Boat People. How do their stories intersect with changes in US immigration policy in the 20th century?

New ideas:

• Peruse some of the images, photographs and other resources in the Library of Congress American Memory archive “The Chinese in California, 1850-1925.” How is this website different from JARDA, and what use might social historians make of the items within it?
• Use the online Bracero Archive to understand the bracero program and how it fits into immigration history in the 20th century.

40. Mon 5/4 – “Black America”

In our final week, we’ll be discussing whether “Black America” is a useful term, and whether that describes a distinctive community/culture that can be understood using the same conceptual and methodological tools as those used to explore immigrant experiences. We’ll also consider whether, as some argue (or wish), America is a “post-racial” society.

Reading for today and Wednesday:

PDF of 2 speeches from the 1963 March on Washington – compare Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech (with which you are undoubtedly familiar) with John L. Lewis’s speech from the same day.

We’ll also explore the concept of “post-racial” America – some links are below: start with the top one, and proceed as time and interest allow, taking note of the core questions and issues in this ongoing cultural discussion in America today:

• “Is America Really Post-Racial?” by Adrienne Christina Miles
• Commentary on CNN.com, “Post-Racial America Isn’t Here Yet” by Leonard Pitts Jr.
• “Not in my Neighborhood” author Lawrence Bobo also says no – a view from black America, posted on The Root blog
• NPR radio clip (20 minutes) on “Are We Living in a Post-Racial America?“
• “What is Post-Racial America?” – a conservative viewpoint posted on “View From the Right” blog
• “Edging (At Times Clumsily) Toward a Post-Racial America,” Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 16 March 2008
• “Post-Racial America?” by University of California professor John Iceland
• “Post-Racial,” by Michael Crowley, in New Republic, March 2008

41. Wed 5/6 – Last Discussion Day and Research Paper is due in class


Our last test, covering Unit 3, will be on May 11 at 12:30 pm.