US History II

WSU is closed due to the snowstorm. That raises 2 issues: what to do about the Document Duel due today, and what to do about the material we were to have covered in class.

Document Duel: submit by uploading it to Digital Dropbox. If you upload it, I’ll bounce back a quick “I got it” email so you know it was received. I will also accept hard copy (printed) in class on Monday.

Reconstruction: Our discussion today would have re-capped the Reconstruction era, a quick overview that would prepare us to understand what the economic, political and social conditions were in the late 1870s.

Since we can’t conduct that discussion in person, I still would like to give you the opportunity to reflect and synthesize. I created a Word document worksheet for you to complete. Upload it to Digital Dropbox when you are done, and that will count as attending class today even though we are officially closed (i.e. bonus). The Word doc has detailed instructions for how to complete and submit the assignment. This assignment is not required, since the university is closed and not everyone will have a functional internet connection. But I do recommend doing it if you’d done the preparation for today, so that you stay up to schedule with the course material.

We will keep to the syllabus as it’s written, so that means your reading for Monday is the first part of Chapter 18 (up to p. 480), “The New South” (Ask yourself: What was new about it? What wasn’t new?).

One last note: I heard from at least one student that the Experience History textbook is sold out in the University bookstore. While it’s not nearly as complete as the textbook, there is a free online American History textbook created by DigitalHistory.uh.edu at the University of Houston. You could substitute it for the printed textbook while you’re waiting for the order to arrive. It would also be fine to use a statement from that online textbook as the basis for your Document Duel in place of the EH text.

Digital History: Reconstruction
Digital History: The New South