US History II

1) Read the syllabus

2) Decide how you will access the AHUS textbook this semester

3) Read AHUS Table of Contents and Ch 1. Understand the multiple meanings for the word “RECONSTRUCTION”

4) Write your first SkillBuilder. The first assignment is a little simpler than the subsequent ones will be. Choose ONE primary source from one of the following sites, and DESCRIBE it in a short 2-page paper (exactly 2 pages – no more, no less). EXPLAIN how it is a useful piece of evidence about the era of Reconstruction (1865-1877). CITE the source using your best approximation of a correct Chicago Style footnote (see your copy of Hacker, A Writer’s Reference or use the sidebar link to Hacker’s guide to citing historical sources). TITLE your paper with something clever or relevant (not “SkillBuilder #1”). SUBMIT it as a printed paper on Friday or EMAIL it to me BEFORE CLASS BEGINS.

• Library of Congress Primary Documents, Civil War and Reconstruction 1860-1877 *Choose a document from 1865 or after*
• Freedmen & Southern Society Project *Scroll to the bottom of the page for post-1865 documents*
• African American Odyssey, Reconstruction and its Aftermath

5) Prepare to vote on the unit lenses & bring your ballot to class with each lens USED ONLY ONCE. If you need a new ballot, download the PDF here.

This website serves as the hub for Tona Hangen’s sections of US History II (HI 112), the US Since 1877. In Fall 2012 I will teach one section, on MWF at 8:30 am. The course number is HI 112-07 or HI 112-H1 if you’re taking it for honors credit.

Our textbook this term is David J. Trowbridge, A History of the United States, Vol II (Flat World Knowledge, 2012). The book is FREE (to read online) or you can purchase one of several different pricing options for mobile, downloadable or print versions. It will not be available for rent or sale in the bookstore; instead you should access the book online or purchase your preferred format directly from the publisher. Click on the title or the left sidebar link to learn more.

From this site, you can download the syllabus or access it online, stay up to date with course news and any changes, see the guidelines for the course papers and projects, and follow links to my recommended history and writing resources on the web. You can also add the course’s Google calendar to your own; just click on the “About & Course Calendar” tab above.

This site is a blog, meaning it updates frequently and you should bookmark it or subscribe to it using an RSS feed reader (such as Google Reader). Please check it often or make sure that you subscribe to its updates to stay on top of our coursework. I leave up the previous semesters’ information as an archive for my past students. You can safely ignore any post not tagged “Fall 12.”

If you have questions about the course before we meet in person on Wednesday, September 5th, please feel free to email me, at thangen (at) worcester.edu

Reminder, if you’re reading this on Friday – you have until just before midnight tonight to take the last online quiz (on Ch 31). Go to Blackboard under “Quizzes.”

Our last exam will cover both Units 5 and 6 (Vietnam and 9/11). It will be Wednesday, May 9th at 8:30 am in our regular classroom. Study EH Ch 30 and 32. To the exam, you may bring one single 8.5×11″ sheet of paper with anything you desire on it (front and back).

Here is a study guide for the exam (download as PDF). And here’s the map we looked at in Friday’s class –

Here’s an overview of this last unit, “History Now,” focusing on what it means to “think historically” and why that is an important skill in our complex world.

Mon 4/23 – What happens between the American pullout of Vietnam in 1975 and the terrorist attack on 9/11? Reading: CH p. 887-893 and 907-909. The last ONLINE QUIZ opens this morning and will remain open until Friday night, 4/27 – it covers Chapter 31. Please make sure you take the quiz. It is found on the course Blackboard under “Quizzes.” If you have technical problems let me know right away. As before, you have up to 3 tries.

Wed 4/25 – Workshop Day, “History Now.” It is VERY IMPORTANT that everyone be in class that day. You will receive a packet of sources and the instructions for your last project and will begin to work on the project in class.

Fri 4/27 – 9/11 and the War on Terror. Reading: EH Ch 32, pp. 917-927. How does your textbook portray these events? What’s explained well, and what is fuzzy or confusing to you?

Mon 4/30 – your History Now Projects are due in class; there is no electronic submission. We will be talking about historically significant events and trends in our current moment, and how Americans record and tell the stories of our own time. How will historians of the future study 2012?

The last exam will be Wed 5/9 at 8:30 am in L-168. It is not designed to be a 3-hour exam; it will be comparable to the other exams we have taken. If you are thrilled with your grade on all previous exams, you do not have to take the last one, since your lowest exam is dropped. But for most of you, taking the last exam is a VERY GOOD IDEA. You’ll receive your History Now project evaluations back when you submit your exam.

For our unit on the 1960s, we’re focusing on the Vietnam War and the political and cultural divisions it provoked in the US and around the world.

Here are the readings for Wed 4/11 and Fri 4/13. All of the supplemental readings for this unit come from William H. Chafe, et al., A History Of Our Time: Readings on Postwar America, 8th edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).

Fri 4/13 – Hawks and Soldiers (PDF) – bring this reading to class, either printed or on your laptop

Mon 4/16 – no class, Patriot’s Day

Wed 4/18 – Workshop Day. There is reading in preparation for class: EH Ch 29, 828-829 and Ch 30, 846-848 and 857 AND Doves (PDF) – bring this reading to class, either printed or on your laptop

Fri 4/20 – Legacies and Memories. Two readings: EH Ch 30, 868-871 and McNamara, “In Retrospect” (PDF) – bring this reading to class, either printed or on your laptop. Your Skill Builder #5 is due in class.

Remember that the online quiz for this unit has been cancelled; everyone will receive the full 20 points for it.

Hello all – I’m very sorry, but I have to miss class tomorrow morning, Wed 4/4, so class that day is cancelled. We will still have our exam on Friday 4/6 and it will be OPEN BOOK on Chapter 28, “The Suburban Era.” The review questions (in yellow) throughout the chapter, as well as the chart on p. 805 will help you as you prepare. You should also be able to write about a TV clip of your choice from the Workshop day – all the links to those are up on the course website still (see below).

See you Friday!

Prof. Hangen

Enjoy your spring break!

When we come back, we will have magically jumped over World War II and landed in the postwar period to talk about media and popular culture of the 1950s. The online quiz will cover EH Ch 27 on World War II, and that will be open from Monday 3/26 to Friday 3/30.

Here’s how the unit will look – it’s a relatively short one, and in class we’ll be working mainly from Chapters 26 and 28.

Mon 3/26 – From WW2 to the Cold War. Reading: EH Ch 26 p. 740-750 and Ch 27 p. 757-763

Wed 3/28 – McCarthyism. Reading: EH Ch 27 p. 769-772 and 776

Fri 3/30 – Workshop Day. We will be screening clips of 1950s TV shows. Reading: “Television in the Family Circle” (PDF). Due in class: SkillBuilder #4

Mon 4/2 – Suburbia and its Critics. Reading: EH Ch 28 p. 781-792

Wed 4/4 – Rebellion and Space Racing. Reading: EH Ch 28 p. 793-805

Fri 4/6 – Exam #4 in class

Lots of clips for today!

First, some pictures
A kid and his TV https://secure.flickr.com/photos/gbaku/2513320483/
Vintage TV sets on exhibit at San Francisco Airport http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/sfo_museum/exhibitions/terminal3_exhibitions/north_connect/tv/12.html

Commercials
Two Ford Freedom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gkxC5rnbi8
See the USA with Dinah Shore https://www.myspace.com/video/cybotron/dinah-shore-quot-see-the-usa-in-your-chevrolet-quot/5888049
Brylcreem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6F4GtyRfto
Lucky Strike https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUYsAgcPtqU
Twinkies on Howdy Doody https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyfCxrKW3XY
Spic & Span https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrOeRAPJazY

Programs
Lone Ranger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5xpQ84B30Q
Queen for a Day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggV8Uwhnmq8
Bishop Sheen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVBXzf4eUJg
Elvis on Milton Berle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x0uKy5GfMw
I Led Three Lives https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTaPCSG1-_I
Donna Reed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-uh3XbUMfY
Abbot and Costello do “Who’s on First” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nti08LWtxJI
CBS “See It Now” (this one from 23 Dec 1951) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8rSxsDwjoQ

We’ve talked about the economics and culture of the Depression era (1929-1932). Here’s how the rest of this unit on the 1930s will look.

Wed 3/7 – The New Deal. Reading EH Ch 25 697-706

Fri 3/9 – a peer review day for drafts of your primary source paper. Bring a printed draft of your paper to class, whatever you have, at whatever stage it’s in. For the full guidelines on this project, see the PS Paper tab above.

Mon 3/12 – Popular Culture in the 1930s. Reading EH Ch 25 706-714

Helpful Links:
1939 at the Smithsonian Museum of American History
The New Deal (Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute)
America in the 1930s (University of Virginia)
Popular Music of the 1930s (Songbook blog)
A 1936 episode of Li’l Orphan Annie (and memories of this from A Christmas Story)
WPA Posters from the Library of Congress
FSA-OWI Photograph collection, Library of Congress
Frances Perkins Center, honoring Worcester’s own, the first woman named to a Presidential cabinet (she was FDR’s Secretary of Labor for 12 years)
War of the Worlds on radio (30 October 1938)
Two versions of the 1936 popular song “Pennies from Heaven” – Bing Crosby and Billie Holliday

Wed 3/14 – Exam #3, in class. This one will be closed book/closed notebook. Use the unit’s pretest as a study guide.

Fri 3/16 – Primary Source Project is due in class. We will be screening scenes from an iconic film of the 1930s, The Grapes of Wrath.

Unit 3 will be all about the Depression and the New Deal – EH Chapter 25.

There will be an online quiz open from Monday, 2/27 to Friday 3/2 on Chapter 26. Don’t forget to take it! I had a couple of people who’ve let these slip a little. Please make sure to take the quiz online in Blackboard.

Mon 2/27 our class will combine the culture and economics of the Depression. Reading is EH Ch 25, pp. 687-697. The syllabus had “reading TBA” for Wednesday but we’ll drop that reading because…

There will be no class on Wednesday, Feb 29th. I am taking another class to visit a US Citizenship Naturalization ceremony in Worcester and we have to leave early to get there, so I won’t be in class.

Friday, March 2 will also be a special day: instead of our usual class, we will attend a lecture by a guest professor of Political Science, Alexandra Filindra, at 10:30 am in the Student Center Blue Lounge. She will be speaking about the eugenics movement, a timely topic since we just finished the unit on that. Attendance will be taken, same as if it were a regular class day, and I will collect the SkillBuilder #3 papers due that day at the event.

Because of the lecture, we will push our “Primary Source Workshop” day to Monday the 5th; we’ll meet in our classroom as usual. If you want to get started on that paper before the workshop day, please do so; the guidelines are posted under the “PS Paper” tab above, and the books are all on 2-hour course reserve at the circulation desk in the library.