American History, 1877-Present
Dr. Patrick D. Reagan

          History 202-004 (#00494)                                 Dr. Reagan1:00-1:50 MWF                                            Spring 1998HH 108                                                   HH109

Instructor Information

Office: Henderson Hall 109
Office Hours: 10-11 a.m. MWF and by appointment
Telephone: 372-3342 (office), 372-3332 (message), 528-3998 (home)
E-mail: preagan@tntech.edu
Professional Experience of Dr. Reagan

Course Requirements

Log into your computer account in a computer lab, click on Netscape icon to get to the TTU home page of the World Wide Web. Click on Departments under Academics and Research, then click on History under College of Arts and Sciences, then click on Studying and Teaching History, then click on History 201-202. Read the information carefully, then be sure to review the materials in the Studying and Teaching History section for excellent, practical study tips. As you become more familiar with using Netscape, come back to the History web site and look around while developing Internet skills required for future employment.

• Class attendance (up to 5 bonus points)
• Two e-mail messages and use of Internet tutorial
  e-mail about yourself due by January 23, twelve noon
  e-mail about study habits due by one week after return of midterm
  practice with Internet tutorial throughout the term
  
• In-class quiz-- January 28 (Sat.+, Sat., Unsat.)
• Midterm examination-- February 16 (50 points)
• Midterm examination-- March 27 (50 points)
• Final essay examination-- May 4 (100 points)
• Final Grade based on points earned:
  A=180-200 points
  B=160-179
  C=140-159
  D=120-139
  F=below 120
• To pass course, all requirements must be met on time and all exams taken

Study Tips for History Classes

• CampusMCI Internet access offer
• A Tour Through the Internet for History Students
• A Student's Guide to the Study of History (S. Kreis)
• TTU Student Handbook
• How to Succeed as a Student (Griffith Univ., Australia)
• Study Tips (Keene State College)
• Tips for History Students (Ohio State Univ.)
• History Department Writing Center (Univ. of Washington)
• Study Guides for History Classes
• How to Prepare for and Take Essay Examinations

Required Books

• George Brown Tindall and David E. Shi. America: A Narrative History, Volume Two (New York: W.W. Norton, 1996), fourth edition. (Text below)
• America:A Narrative History by Tindall and Shi web site (W.W. Norton)
• Stephen B. Oates, editor. Portrait of America, Volume II: From 1865. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995), sixth edition. (Oates below)

Course Themes

• Changes in political values and party dominance over time
• Economic changes and impact on people (Society and Culture)
• Changing place of minorities in United States
  (Indians, immigrants, dissenters, women, and blacks)
• Foreign polciy changes, wars, and U.S. role in the world

Reading Assignments with
Lecture and Discussion Schedule

Readings should be completed before/during the week assigned.

Changes in Postwar America

Assignment: e-mail message and begin Internet Tutorial and
Text, Preface and pp. 751-811; Oates, Preface
Internet Resources:
The African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture
Freedmen and Southern Society Project (Univ. of Maryland, College Park)
African-American History and Studies
January 8--Course Syllabus and Responsibilities
January 9--America in 1877

Assignment: Text, pp. 812-834; Oates, pp. 32-57 and Text, pp. 838-845
Internet Resources:
WestWeb: Western History Resource (C. Lavender, College of Staten Island, CUNY)
Western History Collections: Photo Archives [focus on 1870-1940 period]
(University of Oklahoma Libraries)
New Perspectives on the West (WETA/PBS)
The West and the Frontier in American Culture (American Library Association)
Native American History and Studies
January 12--Transformation of the Old West
January 14--Discussion based on Oates, pp. 32-57
January 16--Industrialization and the Railroads

Industrialization, 1870's-1900

Assignment: Text, pp. 845-874 and Oates, pp. 60-84
Internet Resources:
The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie (The American Experience/PBS)
Edison National Historic Site (National Park Service)
January 19--Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, no classes
January 21--The Rise of Big Business
January 23--Workers' Response to Industrialization

Assignment: Study for Quiz; Text, pp. 926-963, 877-922 after quiz
Internet Resources:
World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago, 1893)
Inside an American Factory: The Westinghouse Works, 1904
(American Memory Project, Lib. of Congress)
1896 Presidential Election (R. Edwards, Vassar College)
January 26--Discussion based on Oates, pp. 60-84
January 28--In-class Quiz
January 30--Farm Protest, 1870's-1890's

Progressive Reform, 1901-1917

Assignment: Text, pp. 877-922; Oates, pp. 100-110, 85-97; Text, pp. 1004-1044
Internet Resources:
Ellis Island: Through America's Gateway (International Channel)
Ellis Island (Statue of Liberty--Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.)
Immigration History Research Center (University of Minnesota)
Gilded Age and Progressive Era U.S. History Internet Resources
February 2--The Rise of Urban America
February 4--Snowstorm
February 6--Discussion based on Oates, pp. 100-110, 85-97

Assignment: Text, 1014-1044, 917-920, 1105-1108, 807-811, 1108-1111 and
Oates, pp. 126-139, 150-180
Internet Resources:
POTUS: Presidents of the United States (Internet Public Library)
Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present
(American Memory Project, Library of Congress)
Theodore Roosevelt Papers at the Libary of Congress, 1759-1919
The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920 (Library of Congress)
Susan B. Anthony University Center (Univ. of Rochester)
Women's Rights National Historical Park (Seneca Falls, NY)
Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment
(class materials from National Archives and Records Administration)
"Votes for Women" Suffrage Pictures, 1850-1920 (American Memory, Library of Congress)
National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection, 1860-1920
(Library of Congress)
95/75, 75th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage in America (U. of Rochester)
W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research (Harvard Univ.)
African-American History
Black History Month
February 9--Progressive Reform, I: Urban and State
February 11--Progressive Reform, II: National
February 13--Discussion based on Oates, pp. 150-180

Assignment:Study for Midterm Examination
Text, pp. 968-1002, 1046-1050 and Oates, pp. 111-124 after midterm
February 16--Review for midterm examination
February 18--Midterm Examination

America's Rise to World Power and
World War, 1898-1920

Assignment: Text, pp. 1050-1137 and Oates, pp. 140-148, 182-209 and
send 2nd e-mail message within one week of return of midterm in class
Internet Resources:
World War I: Trenches on the Web
World War I Document Archive (Brigham Young Univ.)
The 1920s (K.P. Rayburn, University of Louisville)
Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village
History of Country Music (Roughstock Productions)
Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro
[March 1925 Survey Graphic Harlem number] (Library of Virginia)
The History of Jazz (D. Morgenstern)
Club Kaycee [Kansas City Jazz of the 1920's, 1930's, and 1940's] (Univ. of Missouri, Kansas City)
Swinging Through Time: The Graystone Museum and the Story of Detroit Jazz (Internet Public Library)
February 23--The Great War, 1914-1918
February 25--Wartime Mobilization and Postwar Red Scare, 1917-1919

From Prosperity to Depression, 1920-1941

February 27--The New Era: Prosperity and Cultural Tensions

Assignment: Text, 1137-1172 and Oates, pp. 182-209, 212-228
Internet Resources:
Life History Manuscripts from the Folklore Project, WPA Federal Writer's Project, 1936-1940
Southern Folklife Collection (Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
A Rendezvous with Destiny: The FDR Memorial
FDR Cartoon Archive (Niskayuna High School, New York)
March 2--Discussion based on Oates, pp. 182-209
March 4--The Underside of Prosperity
March 6--The Great Depression and the Early New Deal

March 6-13--Spring break, no classes

Assignment: Text, pp. 1172-1237, 1249-1281 and Oates, pp. 229-265, 279-296
Internet Resources:
The New Deal Network (Columbia University)
TVA: Electricity for All (New Deal Network)
History Page (Social Security Administration)
New Deal Cultures: National and Local Resources (Center for History and the New Media)
World War II Resources: Primary source materials on the Web (L.W. Jewell)
The Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings (L.W. Jewell)
World War II Resources on the Internet (Miami University)
Trinity Atomic Test Site and High Energy Weapons Archive
Enola Gay Exhibit (National Air and Space Museum)
A-Bomb WWW Museum (Hiroshima, Japan)
Enola Gay Controversy Home Page
Remembering Nagasaki
Doomsday Clock (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)
March 16--The New Deal, 1934-1938

The Legacy of the "Good War," 1939-1955

March 18--Interwar American Diplomacy
March 20--World War II Abroad

Assignment: Text pp. 1238-1249 and Oates, pp. 266-278 and
Study for Midterm Examination
Internet Resources:
What did you do in the war, Grandma? An Oral History of Rhode Island Women during World War II (South Kingston High School)
Jill and Al: World War II's Biggest and Best Letter Archive (Grazian Archive)
World War II Propaganda Posters
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington, D.C.)
Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies (Yale University)
Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation
United Nations 50th Anniversary page
March 23--World War II: The Home Front
March 25--Discussion and review for Midterm examination
March 27--Midterm Examination

Assignment: Text, pp. 1284-1324 and Oates, pp. 313-330
Internet Resources:
White House Offices and Agencies (Official site)
U.S. Department of State (official site)
National Security Council (Official site)
The National Security Archive (George Washington University)
Center for the Study of the American South (Univ. of N. Carolina)
Center for the Study of Southern Culture (U. of Mississippi)
Elvis Presley Web Sites
Jackie Robinson: Breaking Barriers (1947-1997)
Beyond the Playing Field: Jackie Robinson, Civil Rights Advocate
(National Archives and Records Administration)
Literary Kicks (Beat Generation) site
March 30--Origins of The Cold War
April 1--The Cold War at Home: McCarthyism
April 3--Film

Abundance, Liberal Reform, and
Troubled Times, 1945-1974

Assignment: Text, pp. 1326-1425 and Oates, pp. 332-342, 362-388, 343-359
Internet Resources:
The Sixties: A Bibliography (Kent H. Manno)
The Peace Corps
National Aeronautics and Space Administration History Office (NASA)
National Space Agency Historical Archive (NASA)
The Sixties Project & Viet Nam Generation, Inc. (University of Virginia)
Voices of the Civil Rights Era
Martin Luther King, Jr. (Seattle Times)
Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project (Stanford University)
Ebenezer Baptist Church (Atlanta, GA)
Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr. (San Diego County Democratic Party)
National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis, Tennessee)
Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee
(B. L. Lovett and L. T. Wynn, Tennessee State University)
April 6--Discussion based on Oates, pp. pp. 332-342 and Text, pp. 1326-1392
April 8--From Camelot to the Great Society: 1961-1968
April 10--The Civil Rights Movement

Assignment: Text, pp. 1371-75, 1409-12, 1425-34, 1458-86; Oates, pp. 343-359 and
Text, 1351-1354, 1437-1458 and Oates, pp. 390-424
Internet Resources:
The Wars for Vietnam, 1945-1975 (Vassar College)
Vietnam War Related Internet Sites (University of Houston)
The Vietnam War Newsgroup (Soc.History.War.Vietnam)
Vietnam Veterans Home Page
Vietnam Veterans Against the War
Vietnam POW/MIA Database (Library of Congress) [Searchable]
Vietnam: Stories Since the War (P.O.V./PBS)
Documents from the Women's Liberation Movement (Special Collections Library, Duke Univ.)
Gender History and Studies
The Sixties (MetroNews and SC Foundation)
Counterculture of The Sixties
The Village Voice Worldwide
The Diggers Archives: The San Francisco Diggers (1966-1968)
The Farm (Summertown, Tennessee)
The Fillmore (San Francisco, California)
Woodstock Festival & Concert (1969)
Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (Cleveland, Ohio)
The Sierra Club--A Proud History (official site)
April 13--America and the War in Vietnam
April 15--Women in Modern America
April 17--Discussion based on Oates, pp. 362-424

Our Times: Whither Goest Thou, America?

Assignment: Text, pp. 1431-1434, 1458-1489 and Oates, pp. 426-448
Internet Resources:
Watergate 25 (Washington Post)
April 20--The Road to Watergate: Richard Nixon and Postwar America
April 22--A Crisis in Confidence, 1974-?
April 24--Discussion based on Oates, pp. 438-448

Assignment: Text, pp. 1493-1565; Oates, pp. 450-470 and
Study for Final Examination
Internet Resources:
The Gulf War (Frontline, PBS)
Electronic Field Trip to the United Nations (PBS)
Bosnia
Statistical Abstracts of the U.S. (U.S. Census Bureau)
Statistical Abstract of the United States 1997 (U.S. Census Bureau)
Money Income in the United States: 1996 (U.S. Census Bureau)
Poverty in the United States: 1996 (U.S. Census Bureau)
Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 1996 (U.S. Census Bureau)
Assessing the New Federalism (The Urban Institute)
U.S. Census Bureau WWW Site
Gallup Opinion Polls online
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (Univ. of Conn.)
The Jefferson Project
The Freedom Forum
Almanac of American Politics
April 27--Discussion based on Oates, pp. 450-470
April 29--Some Thoughts on Contemporary America
May 1--Final review and questions in class

Assignment: Study Thematically for Final Essay Examination
Internet Resources:Studying and Teaching History
May 4--Monday, Final Examination, 3:30-5:30 p.m