Schedule
Week 1: Getting Oriented
September 6: Introductions
Week 2: Getting Our Feet Wet
September 11: History, Memory, and Charlottesville
- How to Read a Primary Source handout
- John Daniel Davidson, “Why We Should Keep The Confederate Monuments Right Where They Are”, The Federalist, August 18 2017.
- Karen L. Cox, “The whole point of Confederate monuments is to celebrate white supremacy”, The Washington Post, August 16, 2017.
September 13: Sourcing, Historical and Contemporary
- Listen to Liz Covart interview with Zara Anlishanslin, “How Historians Read Historical Sources” Episode 084 of Ben Franklin’s World podcast.
- Perry Bacon Jr., “When To Trust A Story That Uses Unnamed Sources”, FiveThirtyEight, July 18, 2017.
- Come to class with at least three themes or topics that are relevant to the Trump Presidency that you are interested in learning more about.
Unit I. “Build the Wall”: Immigration in U.S. History
Week 3: Primary Sources I
September 18: Immigration (Nineteenth Century)
- Listen to first 14:30 of Episode #0184: “Border Patrols: Policing Immigration in America”, BackStory podcast, March 9, 2017.
- Primary source packet (distributed by the professor):
September 20: Library Scavenger Hunt (meet at Snell Library)
Due Friday, September 22 by 5PM: Selection of Research Track / Theme for the semester. Email me: a) the theme, b) one current event or contemporary incident related to it, c) why you chose this theme and what interests you about it, and d) 1-2 ideas for a more specific topic or historical question you might want to investigate within it.
Week 4: Primary Sources II
September 25: Twentieth-Century Immigration
- Listen to first 10:15 of Episode #212: “The Melting Pot: Americans and Assimilation”, BackStory podcast, September 15, 2017.
- Primary source packet (distributed by the professor)
September 27: Twentieth-Century Immigration, Workshop, and Archives
- Ronald Reagan, “Statement on United States Immigration and Refugee Policy,” July 30, 1981.
- Come to class with the primary source that you have chosen for your first paper
- Download and install Tropy software on your computer: https://tropy.org/.
Due Friday, September 29: Primary Source Analysis
Week 5: Secondary Sources and Interpretation
October 2: Interpretations (Contemporary)
- Michael Patrick Leahy, “Donald Trump Won 7.5 Million Popular Vote Landslide in Heartland”, Breitbart, November 15, 2016.
- Ben Casselman, “Stop Saying Trump’s Win Had Nothing To Do With Economics”, FiveThirtyEight, January 9, 2017.
- Emma Green, “It Was Cultural Anxiety That Drove White, Working-Class Voters to Trump” The Atlantic, May 9, 2017.
October 4: Interpretations (Historical)
- Article abstract for Richard Jensen, “‘No Irish Need Apply’: A Myth of Victimization,” Journal of Social History, 2002, Vol. 36 (2), pp. 405-429.
- Rebecca Fried, “No Irish Need Deny: Evidence for the Historicity of NINA Restrictions in Advertisements and Signs,” Journal of Social History, 2016, Vol. 49 (4), pp. 829-852.
Week 6: Historical Research
October 9: [Columbus Day, no class]
Due Tuesday, October 10 by 5PM: Archives Trip Assignment
October 11: Workshop on Data Management, Choosing a Topic, Formulating a Question
- Register for a Zotero account and download software at: https://www.zotero.org/.
- Po-Yi Hung and Abigail Popp, “Learning to Do Historical Research: A Primer How to Frame a Researchable Question”
- Brainstorm a list of three potential research questions you might want to pursue for your research project.
Due Sunday, October 15, by 5PM: Email me your final research topic and two specific research questions
Unit II. “This American Carnage Stops Right Here”: Law and Order
Week 7
October 16: Stories and Numbers
- Donald J. Trump Republican Nomination Acceptance Speech (as prepared for delivery), pp. 1-4, 12-18.
- Louis Jacobson, “Donald Trump wrong that murder rate is highest in 47 years” PolitiFact, February 8, 2017.
October 18: Reading Workshop
- Lisa McGirr, The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State (Preface)
Week 8
October 23: Documentary
- In-class viewing: Ava DuVernay, 13th
October 25: Monograph (I)
- Elizabeth Hinton, From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America (Introduction, Chapters 1-4)
Week 9
October 30: Monograph (II)
- Elizabeth Hinton, From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America (Chapters 5-9, Epilogue)
Due Tuesday, October 31: Précis of Book
November 1: Documentary (II)
- In-class viewing: Ava DuVernay, 13th
Week 10
November 6: Book Reviews
- Donna Murch, “Who’s to Blame for Mass Incarceration?”, Boston Review, October 16, 2015. Review of Michael Javen Fortner, Black Silent Majority: The Rockefeller Drug Laws and the Politics of Punishment (Harvard University Press, 2015).
- Michael Javen Fortner response to Donna Murch: “Historical Method and the Noble Lie: A Reply to Donna Murch”, Boston Review, October 23, 2015.
November 8: Punditry and Advocacy
- Josh Zeitz, “How Trump Is Recycling Nixon’s ‘Law and Order’ Playbook”, Politico, July 18, 2016.
- Moshik Temkin, “Historians Shouldn’t Be Pundits”, New York Times, June 26, 2017.
Unit III. Putting it All Together
Week 11
November 13: History in the 21st Century
- Emma Paling, Wikipedia’s Hostility to Women, The Atlantic, October 21, 2015.
- Listen to first 9:30 of “Truth and the World of Wikipedia Gatekeepers, NPR Talk of the Nation, February 22, 2012.
Due Tuesday November 14th by 5PM: Book Review related to your topic
November 15: Wikipedia
- Complete the three online student training modules: Wikipedia Essentials, Editing Basics, Evaluating Articles and Sources
Week 12
November 20: Public History
- Kenneth Foote, Shadowed Ground: America’s Landscapes of Violence and Tragedy (Chapter 1: A Landscape of Violence and Tragedy)
November 22: [No Class – Thanksgiving Break]
Week 13
November 27: Podcasting
- Listen to Episode 5: The Spin Uncivil podcast. Write a brief outline of the episode and its different components.
November 29: Workshop
- Come to class with your thesis statement written and a draft of your bibliography
Due Friday, December 1 by 11:59PM: Draft of Prospectus
Due Sunday, December 3 by 5:00PM: Podcast episode sent via email/Dropbox
Week 14
December 4: Feedback
- Read your partner’s draft prospectus and come to class with written comments and feedback
- Listen to one other group’s podcast and write a one-paragraph response.
December 6: Looking Backwards, Looking Forward
Due Sunday, December 10: Final Draft of Prospectus