Winter Term 1999, History 309 Professor Elizabeth Reis

History of Women in the US (II)

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09:30-10:50 UH / 302 GER Download Text-Only
CRN:25817 Office Hours

COURSE DESCRIPTION

HIST 309 is the second part of a two quarter sequence on the history of women in the United States of America.  We will study the diverse experiences and social roles of women from the period of Reconstruction to the present day.  The following topics and themes will be discussed as we build our chronological framework: immigration; industrialization; female sexuality; women and the Depression; women, work, and the war; women and religion; the "feminine mystique"; civil rights; personal politics.  The course will emphasize diversity and change among various social classes and races that comprise our history.

COURSE POLICIES

Class attendance in lectures and weekly discussion sections is mandatory. Requirements include: midterm exam (20%), one short paper (20%), one oral history project (30%), and a final exam (20%). Participation in your section will also be graded; it is 10% of your grade.  You must complete all assignments to pass this class.

The final exam is on Monday, March 15 at 10:15 a.m.  There will be no alternate final dates. 

The papers are due on the dates assigned.  Acceptance of late papers is at the instructor's discretion; such papers may be severely penalized.

 

REQUIRED READINGS

THE BOOKS ARE AT MOTHER KALI'S ON 13TH ST.

Mary Beth Norton, ed. Major Problems in American Women's History: Documents and Essays

Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America (New York, 1991)

Lillian Smith, Strange Fruit (New York, 1944)

Wilma Mankiller, Mankiller (New York, 1995)

small packet at The Copy Shop on 13th St.

 

COURSE SCHEDULE

Week 1 - January 4 - 6

African American Women in Post Civil-War America Film - "Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice"

Read for discussion: 

Harriet Jacobs document, Major Problems, page 229-30

Martha Hodes, "A Brief Dialogue on Illicit Sex Between White Women and Black Men in the Slave South," Major Problems, 246-252

Week 2 - January 12 - 14

Victorian Sexuality

Birth Control and Abortion at the Turn of the Century

Read for discussion: 

Major Problems, chapter 9 documents and essays:

Carol Groneman, "Nymphomania: Physicians and Female Sexuality in Victorian America"

Christine Stansell, "Working Women and Prostitution in Nineteenth-Century New York"

Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, chapters 1 and 2

Week 3 - January 19 - 21

Women, Sweatshops, and Tenements in the East

Women Workers and Ambivalent Unions

Read for discussion: 

Leona Tamarkin, "Dear Lizzie" (course packet)

Documents for Major Problems, chapter 11, pp. 285-297

Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, chapter 3

Paper due - Friday, January 22

Week 4 - January 26 - 28

Asian Immigration in the West

Library presentation for oral history projects and lecture:

Hispanics and Anglos in the Southwest

 Read for discussion:

Lillian Smith, Strange Fruit (half of the novel)

Writing Workshop in section

 Week 5 - February 2 - 4

Reformers, Boarding Schools,  and Native American Women

Midterm: February 4

Read for discussion:

Lillian Smith, Strange Fruit (rest of the novel)

 Week 6 - February 9 - 11

Women's Suffrage and Social Housekeeping

Women, Radicalism, and Emma Goldman

 Read for discussion:

Major Problems, chapter 12 documents and essay:

Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, "Discontented Black Feminists"

Week 7  - February 16 - 18

Women and the Great Depression

Film - "With Babies and Banners"

 Read for discussion: Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, chapter 4

Major Problems, chapter 13 documents and 1 essay:

Alice Kessler-Harris, "Gender Ideology and Family Survival During the Depression"

 Week 8 - February 23 - 25     PAPERS DUE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25

WWII: Race Relations, Rosie the Riveter, and Harriet the Homemaker Film - "Rosie the Riveter"

 Read for discussion:

Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, chapter 5

Karen Tucker Anderson, "Persistent Discrimination Against Black Women During World War II," Major Problems

Valerie Matsumoto, "Japanese American Women During World War II," Major Problems

Start reading Wilma Mankiller, Mankiller

 Week 9 - March 2 - 4

1950s - From Rosy to Lucy and Lena 

Women and the "Great Awakening" of the 1960s and 1970s

Read for Discussion: 

Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, chapters 6 and 8

Major Problems documents, pp. 439-456 and essay:

Elaine Tyler May, "The Reproductive Consensus in the Postwar Era" continue reading Mankiller

 Week 10 - March 9 - 11

Reproductive Politics/ Film: "When Abortion Was Illegal"

Women and Religion/Spirituality

Read for Discussion

Major Problems documents, 412-415; 483-492

Finish Reading: Mankiller

Final Exam:  Monday, March 15, 10:15 a.m.