History/Women’s Studies
386: Women in the United States
Fall 2003, MWF 1:50-2:50
Dr. Helen M. Bannan,
Director and Associate Professor, Women’s Studies
Email:
bannan@uwosh.edu Office
Phone: 920-424-0892
Office: A/C 314 Hours: WF 10-11:30, or call for appointment
Course Website: WS386BAN on Blackboard: http://www.uwosh.edu/blackboard
The purpose of this course is to explore change and continuity in the lives of women of different races, classes, ethnic backgrounds and regions in the US, from before European contact to the present, emphasizing their family and work roles. We also will highlight the achievements of our foremothers in politics, especially in reform movements, such as the continuing struggle for women’s rights.
Required Texts:
Sara Evans, Born for Liberty
Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland
Ruth Rosen, The World Split Open
3 short papers on documents/individuals, 25 points each 75 points
2 reading response essays, 20 points each, 40 points
2 synthesis essays, 50 points each 100 points
Final Paper, including synthesis, archives work, interview: 75 points + 10 presentation
Attendance and participation: 60 points (lose one point per absence; up to 18 bonus points for positive, active participation, including Blackboard discussion. More than 6 absences will affect your final grade by at least ½ step (A=AB, etc.).
A = 338-360 AB = 317-337 B = 298-316 BC =
280-297 C = 262-279 CD = 245-261
D = 216-244 F = 215 AND BELOW
Plagiarism: Any failure to use quotation marks for a direct quote, or failure to cite quoted or paraphrased material, will result in a ZERO for that assignment, which usually results in a lower course grade. Do NOT risk it. Always cite the source of any idea or wording that you did not yourself create, whether it is from a textbook, other print material, or a website.
Please do not hesitate to come see me if you have any questions or problems with this class. My office hours are listed above, but we can make an appointment if these are not convenient. Students with disabilities needing reasonable accommodation should inform me this week. I usually respond quickly to email on weekdays, but not on weekends.
Sept. 3 W Introduction
Sept. 5 F Women’s History and Non-traditional Sources: Native Women:
Read: Evans, Introduction and 1-11
Sept. 8 M Native Women and The Encounter: Cultural Changes and Continuities
Read: Evans, 12-19
.
Sept. 10 W Women in Colonial America
Read: Evans, 21-43
Sept. 12 F Salem Witchcraft: documents and interpretations http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM
Sept. 15 M Did the Revolution Liberate Women? Did they “Remember the Ladies?”
Read: Evans, 45-66
Sept.
17 W Many
Revolutions: Individual reports on people and documents:
2-3 page paper analyzing web/print primary source OR biographical materials on colonial/revolutionary era women (list to be distributed)
Sept. 19 F Video: “A Midwife’s Tale,” F29.H15 M52 1998 Martha Ballard’s life, as reconstructed by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich from her diary and dramatized
Sept. 22 M “True Womanhood”: 19th Century Domesticity and Reform
Read: Evans, 67-81
Sept. 24 W From Home to Factory: Technological Change and Women’s Work
Read: Evans, 81-87
Sept. 26 F Pioneer Women in Wisconsin
Document Report: select one woman’s ms. and analyze in 2-3 pgs
http://libtext.library.wisc.edu/wipionexp/
Video: “Her Own Words: Pioneer Women’s Diaries F584 .H45 1986
Sept 29 M Women in the Slavery System
Read: Evans, 87-92; 107-112; Jacobs to page 45 (through chapter 7)
Oct. 1 W Abolition and the Rise of Women’s Rights
Read: Evans 93-107; keep reading Jacobs
Video: “Sojourner Truth: Antislavery Activist” E185.97.T8 S6 1992
Oct. 3 F Harriet
Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
1-3 page response to one of the questions distributed in class
Oct. 6 M Quilts as Records of 19th Century Women’s Issues
Video: “Hearts and Hands” 63 min. HQ1418 .H4 1988
Oct. 8 W The Civil War: Women and the Home Front and Battlefield
Read: Evans; 107-118 Website: Wisconsin Goes to War: Women
http://www.uwosh.edu/archives/civilwar/women/womenhome.htm
video: Clara Barton, 30 min. HV569.B3 C55 1995
Oct. 10 F “The Negro’s Hour?” Reconstruction, Reform and Women’s Rights
Read: Evans, 119-124
Oct. 15 W Temperance Movement: why a women’s issue?
Prohibition Website: http://prohibition.history.ohio-state.edu/Contents.htm
Evans, 124-130
Oct. 17 F Working Class Women: Immigration and Industrialization
Evans, 130-138, 156-162; Triangle Fire website: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire/narrative1.html
Oct. 20 M Cross-Class Activism and Reform
Read: Evans 138-156
Video: “Women of Hull House” HV4196.C4 W6 1992
Oct. 22 W 19th Century and “First Wave”
Document reports due, 2-3 pgs, discuss in class
Oct. 24 F Video: “How We Got the Vote” JF848 .H8 1986
Oct. 27 M Suffrage Discussion: Why So Important? Why So Slow?
Read: Evans, 152-156; 164-173
Oct. 29 W The 1920s: Welcome to “Modern Times”
Read: Evans 175-181
Oct. 31 F Feminism Beyond Suffrage: Charlotte
Perkins Gilman, Herland
1-3
page response paper due on Herland questions
Nov. 3 M The 1920s: Women in Politics: Jessie Jack Hooper, Oshkosh Feminist
Read: Evans 186-196
Nov 5 W Women at Work, Good Times and Bad
Read: Evans 182-86, 197-204
Nov. 7 F A “New Deal” for Women?
Read: Evans 105-218
Nov. 10 M Women in World War II: The Home Front and Beyond
Read: Evans 219-241 (preview Rosie)
Nov. 12 W Women in War Work:
Video: “Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter” D810.W7 L5 1987
Nov. 14 CLASS MEETS IN POLK for Archives Tour with
Joshua Ranger
Nov. 17 M The 1950s: Beyond June Cleaver
Read: Evans 243-262; Rosen 3-58
Nov. 19 W The Feminine Mystique and the Re-Emergence of Feminism
Read: Evans 263-270, 273-280; Rosen 63-93
Video: “Step by Step”
Nov. 21 F Women in the Civil Rights Movement
Read: Evans 259-60, 270-73, 280-85; Rosen 94-130
Nov. 24 M “The Pill,” the Sexual Revolution, and New Feminist Issues
Read: Rosen 143-195
Video: “The Pill” RG137.5 .P55 1999
Dec. 1 M “Women’s Lib” and the ERA: 1970s Feminism
Read: Rosen 195-260
Video: “The Equal Rights Amendment” JK1896 .E78 1998
Dec 3 W “Cooptation” and Cultural Change
Read: Rosen 263-330; Evans 287-307
Dec. 5 F “Backlash” and Beyond
Read: Rosen 331-344; Evans 309-332
Dec. 8 M Student Presentations of Final Papers:
Late 20th Century Women’s Activism in the Archives and in My Family
Dec. 10 W Student Presentations of Final Papers:
Late 20th Century Women’s Activism in the Archives and in My Family
Final Papers: 6-8 page
interpretation of an issue important to women in the US after World War II,
synthesizing information from at least 3 different types of sources:
a) textbook: major
issues in context: cite BOTH Evans & Rosen
b) archival sources:
manuscript “raw materials,” letters, records, etc.
c) oral history: ask
family members: What was YOUR take on
this issue then?
Other sources (books, journal articles, newspaper and magazine articles)
may also be used. All sources must be
properly noted, and included in a Selected Bibliography.