American Social History

Mon 4/11 – Immigration and Migration

On Monday we’ll discuss differing views about American multiculturalism, including defining terms like nativism, assimilation, pluralism, the “melting pot,” and we’ll discuss the history of immigration history. Reading: “Huddled Masses” on the Digital History site (and Chapter 11 in Zinn if you have that book). You don’t have to read every essay online, but click on those which are least familiar to you or where you feel your background knowledge may be weak.

Wed 4/13 – Discussion Day: “Undistinguished Americans”

This remarkable book, first published in 1906, records oral histories with “ordinary Americans,” many of them immigrants. Much of the book has also been published at the Digital History site. We’ll divide up the stories; you’ll read 2 of them. Not everyone will be reading the same ones. Our class discussion will focus on these immigrant voices:

Who are they?
Why did they come?
What were the pushes and pulls?
What were their experiences after arriving in America?
What does it mean to be an immigrant?
Is America a pluralistic society or a melting pot (the title of Israel Zangwill’s popular 1908 stage play)?

In addition, EVERYONE will read Horace Kallen’s 1915 essay, “Democracy Versus the Melting Pot,” [pdf here], which articulates many of the ideas in the early 20th century about these immigrants and their place in America.

Fri 4/17 – Presentation Day #7 AND Research Paper Topic/Bibliography Due for Everyone (Research paper guidelines posted here)

Everyone else who still has a response paper to do should write one this week, we only have one more presentation day after this.

Presentation ideas:

• Explore the website for Ellis Island. If you have an ancestor you know came through this port, search for her or him. Check out the photographs, essays, and other materials on the website. Give us a “tour” of the site and your evaluation of its scope and usability.
• Research the story of young Cuban immigrant Elian Gonzalez. Why do you think his case set off such a firestorm of controversy? What were some of the divergent views about his situation? What has happened to him?
• 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?
• Read the 1908 play “The Melting Pot” by Israel Zangwill. This is the source of the famous image of America as a melting pot… what is the play about? Who are the characters? How is “the melting pot” portrayed in the drama?
• What does it take to become a citizen? Has that changed over time? Research and report on naturalization laws, perhaps by starting at the Immigration and Naturalization Service website. Do you get different information here than you do from an immigrant advocacy website, such as Immihelp.com? Why or why not?
• President Barack Obama’s aunt is currently living in the United States as an illegal alien (at least this was true in 2009, maybe it still is?). Explore and report on this story for us. What does this tell us about current policy, the state of the debate about citizenship and immigration, or the experiences of recent immigrants from her part of Africa? Obviously her story is unique because of her relationship to the President; is that the only reason her story got so much press?
• Watch and write a review of a film that deals with issues of immigration, citizenship, or border-crossing. If possible, show and discuss a short clip from the film in class. This list is one place to start, but the film you choose does not have to be on this list.
• Explore the online resources of the Library of Congress about immigration, and share some of your findings. What is there for social historians or for educators looking to include more immigrant stories into their classrooms?
• Research about the Statue of Liberty and the poem engraved on its base. How and when did the two (statue + poem) become linked? Why has the statue become such a symbol of American immigration?
• Explore some of the experiences of Vietnamese Boat People. How do their stories intersect with changes in US immigration policy in the 20th century?

Looking ahead to next week –

No class Monday April 18

Wed 4/22 – Hispanic America

Topics for lecture & reading: Mexican-American War, Texicans, Hispanic vs. Latino/a, LULAC, Cesar Chavez, Chicano/a, Bracero Program

Fri 4/24 – Discussion Day, of Pam Munoz Ryan’s youth novel Esperanza Rising (entire)

We’ll discuss this award-winning novel for young people.

What do you learn from this text about the Mexican-American migrant worker experience?
How does Esperanza’s experience compare with the “undistinguished Americans” we discussed last week?
Does the fact that this book is based on the author’s own family story give this work of fiction special authority or power?
What are some of the themes and symbols explored in this book?
What makes Esperanza “American”?
How might this book be used in a public school classroom?

20. Mon 3/7 – Separate Spheres and Didactic Literature

Reading: Joan Wolloch Scott, “Gender: An Important Category of Historical Analysis”

21. Wed 3/9 – Separate Spheres and the “Canon” or “Cult” of Domesticity

Reading: Caroll Smith-Rosenberg, “The Female World of Love and Ritual: Relations Between Women in 19th Century America” and John S. Abbot, “The Mother At Home” (1833) – focus on Chapter I and II (either read in page image view or as a transcript – pp. 1 through 40).

Discussion questions:

Our reading this week introduces you to feminist analysis of early 19th century prescriptive literature (or “didactic literature”) aimed at women. This genre of literature, including sermons, tracts, instruction manuals, instructed middle-class white women how to behave, how to run their homes, and helps us understand how women’s roles were defined in antebellum America (1800-1860). For more on the genre, see here. The Abbot tract “The Mother at Home” is an example of this kind of literature. Both Smith-Rosenberg’s and Scott’s articles are examples of how late 20th-century feminist historians have approached these kinds of sources as a window into women’s lives in the 19th century.

What ideas about gender were prevalent in antebellum America?
Can you identify some of these ideas in Abbot’s tract?

To whom did these definitions apply? And who was excluded from them? Who was defined as “not woman” or “unwomanly”?

One of the major themes in scholarship on separate spheres is the difference between what women were told to do and what they actually did. How does Smith-Rosenberg go about investigating whether women followed this literature’s prescriptions in their own lives?

Can you think of contemporary examples of prescriptive literature in our own time?

22. Fri 3/11 – Presentation Day #4
(don’t forget: if you’re not presenting this week, it is a perfect opportunity to write a response paper!)

For the presenters this week:

Please read and use the PDF of Barbara Welter’s groundbreaking article “The Cult of True Womanhood, 1820-1860” (American Quarterly, 1966). Use it to investigate additional examples of prescriptive literature such as:

• The rest of Abbot’s tract, i.e. Chapters 3-8.
• Catharine Beecher, “Treatise on Domestic Economy” (1856)
• The New England Primer, one of the most popular and widely-used schoolbooks in America. The 1807 edition is online here.
• The Young Lady’s Book: A Manual of Elegant Recreations, Exercises and Pursuits (this
  1830 work is cited on Welter, p. 152) – full text online at Assumption College’s Women’s History Workshop
• Or choose another tract, besides the Abbot, written prior to 1865 from the Michigan State University digital database “Shaping the Values of Youth: Sunday School Books in 19th Century America” (This database can be searched by category, such as “advice books,” “moral tales,” “immigrants” or “hymnals”). A text with a date of 18–? is okay.