Florida Since 1845 (1860)
University of Florida
Spring 2012
AMH 3423-4480 Professor Jack E. Davis/ Adrienne Denoyelles, Grader
MWF, 1:55-2:45 PM, Flint 105 Flint 235/273-3398
Ofc hrs: M,W,F 12:55-1:55PM davisjac@ufl.edu
One of Florida’s most prolific writers, Majory Stoneman Douglas, wrote in 1924, “Suppose there were times when you could hear from far off the clump-clump of the advancing footsteps of your fates. Wouldn’t you shiver a little, wondering?”* If the inhabitants of Florida in 1845 could have foreseen Florida’s fates over the next century and a half, they likely would have shivered, each for a different reason. One’s race, ethnicity, class, sex, age, and place of origins would have determined whether one responded with excitement or distress. Opportunity, oppression, wealth, poverty, progress, regress, development, destruction, expansion, and congestion all formed the footsteps of fates. The history that unfolded following Florida’s statehood ranks as among the most dynamic and complex of all the American states. In the context of U.S. history, Florida has been both microcosm and aberration. Its political and social patterns to a large extent made it the consummate representative of a national culture. In some instances, Florida was the trend setter. Yet its migration and immigration patterns, economy, population growth, and natural environment set it off from many of the rest.
This course is a survey of Florida history from the beginning of statehood to the contemporary modern era. By exploring the social, political, economic, cultural, and ecological developments of this period, students will discover a place rich in historical change, which defined not just Florida but the American experience. The readings for the course were chosen with the intent of introducing students to both Florida history and to a broad community of scholars working within the field. Their works represent the many sub-narratives that constitute the larger narrative of Florida history. We will explore in these works and in class--which will include both lecture and discussion--the common themes that weave together the larger narrative. The course readings also spotlight the historical agency of many of the cultural and social groups who have been a part of the Florida experience. Critically analyzing Florida’s past from the perspective of these groups is of utmost importance to us.
Course Objectives:
C Expanding one’s knowledge of Florida history and its place in the larger American experience.
C Introducing the student to scholarship in Florida history.
C Promoting critical thinking about the dynamics of race, gender, and class in American society.
C Illuminating the links between public policy and social and environmental developments.
C Advancing the student’s experience in the reading, researching, and writing tasks of the historian.
C Improving the student’s cognitive and communication skills.
Course Requirements:
C Class participation 10%
C Take-home essays (2 X 20%) 40%
C Archive research and paper 25%
$ Internet research and paper 25%
$ Writing Mechanics exercise (factored into writing assignments)
(Please see last section of syllabus for a description of course requirements.)
Course Grading Scale (see UF grading scale at end of syllabus):
A+ =100
A =95
A- =90
B+ =88
B =85
B- =80
C+ =77
C =75
C- =70
D =65
Assignments not completed earn a 0
Plagiarized assignment (see plagiarism section below) earn a 0
Assignments not turned in before or by stated due date will not be accepted. All assignments must be made available in hard copy. Emailed assignments cannot be accepted.
Assigned Texts:
Jack E. Davis and Kari Frederickson, eds., Making Waves: Female Activists in Twentieth-Century Florida (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003).
Mark Derr, Some Kind of Paradise: A Chronicle of Man and the Land in Florida (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1998).
Michael Gannon, Florida: A Short History (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003).
Gary R. Mormino and George E. Pozetta, The Immigrant World of Ybor City: Italians and their Latin Neighbors in Tampa, 1885-1985 (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1998).
Patrick D. Smith, A Land Remembered (Sarasota, Fla.: Pineapple Press, 1996).
For the assigned articles from the Florida Historical Quarterly go to the Florida Heritage Collection at http://susdl.fcla.edu/fh/ and search for the article by title or to Jstor and do the same kind of search.
Colburn and Landers, African American Heritage of Florida, and Gannon, New History of Florida, are on reserve at Library West. Braukman, “Nothing Else Matters but Sex,” Feminist Studies is available as an E-journal.
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Week I (Jan 9-): Civil War and Reconstruction
Lecture & Discussion: Surveying Florida History
Lecture & Discussion: Reconstruction and Florida’s Black Codes
Readings:
Gannon, Florida, 40-53.
Tracy J. Revels, “Grander in Her Daughters: Florida’s Women During the Civil War,” Florida Historical Society 77 (Winter 1999): 261-84.
Patricia L. Kenney, “La Villa, Florida, 1866-1887: Reconstruction Dreams and the Formation of a Black Community,” in The African American Heritage of Florida (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1995) David R. Colburn and Jane L. Landers, eds., 185-203.
Week II (Jan 16-): Florida Landscape and People
(Jan 16 Martin Luther King Holiday, Monday)
(Writing Mechanics Exercise Due–Wednesday)
Lecture & Discussion: settling Florida at mid-century and Florida crackers
Reading:
Smith, A Land Remembered
Week III (Jan 23-): Coastal Railroads and Yankee Passengers: The Arrival of Modern Florida
Lecture & Discussion: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Flagler, Henry Plant, and the transformation of Florida
Lecture & Discussion: The Agrarian Revolt
Readings:
Gannon, Florida, 53-67.
Derr, Some Kind of Paradise, chapters 1,2, 4, 5.
Mormino and Pozzetta, The Immigrant World of Ybor City, chapter 2.
Week IV (Jan 30-): Immigration and Urbanization
(Trip to the P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History)
Lecture & Discussion: The First Cuban diaspora
Lecture & Discussion: Social dynamics in early ethnic Florida
Readings:
Mormino & Pozzetta, The Immigrant World of Ybor City, chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 8.
Raymond A. Mohl and George E. Pozzetta, “From Migration to Multiculturalism: A History of Florida Immigration,” in The New History of Florida, 391-402 .
Week V (Feb 6-): The Darker Side of Sunshine: Jim Crow Florida
Lecture & Discussion: Before the Mississippi Plan: Florida’s 1885 disfranchising constitution
Lecture & Discussion: Race, violence, and discrimination
Readings:
David R. Colburn, “Rosewood and America in the Early Twentieth Century,” Florida Historical Quarterly 76 (Fall 1997):175-92.
Maxine D. Jones, “No Longer Denied: Black Women in Florida, 1920-1950,” in The African American Heritage of Florida, 240-67.
Week VI (Feb 13-): Progressive Exploiters and Progressive Conservationists
Lecture & Discussion: Florida’s land boom and the ecological consequences
Lecture & Discussion: The many sides of American progressivism
Readings:
Gannon, Florida, 67-86.
Derr, Some Kind of Paradise, chapters 3, 6, 7, 8.
Jack E. Davis, “Up From the Sawgrass: Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the Influence of Female Activism in Florida Conservation,” in Making Waves, chapter 6.
Week VII (Feb 20-): Florida’s First Activists
(no class Friday, February 24)
Lecture & Discussion: The organized black response, before the civil rights “movement”
Lecture & Discussion: Women’s organizations, woman’s suffrage, and social reform
Readings:
Nancy A. Hewitt, “In Pursuit of Power: The Political Economy of Women’s Activism in Twentieth-Century Tampa, in Making Waves, chapter 3.
Tracey E. Danese, “Disfranchisement, Women’s Suffrage and the Failure of Florida’s Grandfather Clause,” Florida Historical Quarterly 74 (Fall 1995): 117-31.
Sally Vickers, “Ruth Bryan Owen: Florida’s First Congresswoman and Lifetime Activist,” in Making Waves, chapter 1.
( 1st Take-Home Essay Due Wednesday)
Week VIII (Feb 27-): Hurricanes, Florida’s Land Bust, and the Great Depression
.
Lecture & Discussion: Florida anticipates the economic crisis
Lecture & Discussion: The New Deal in Florida
Readings:
Gannon, Florida, 88-100.
Derr, Some Kind of Paradise, chapter 14.
Lynne A. Rieff, “Improving Rural Life in Florida: Home Demonstration Work and Rural reform, 1912-1940,” in Making Waves, chapter 4.
Weekl IX (March 5-):
Spring Break
Week X (March 12-): World War II Comes to Florida
(Archive Exercise Due Wednesday)
Lecture & Discussion: Mobilizing for war; the Florida home front
Lecture & Discussion: How the war changed Florida forever
Readings:
Gannon, Florida, 100-09.
Gary R. Mormino, “GI Joe Meets Jim Crow: Racial Violence and Reform in World War II Florida,” Florida Historical Quarterly 73 (July 1994): 23-42.
Ellen Babb, “Women and War: St. Petersburg Women during World War II,” Florida Historical Quarterly 73 (July 1994): 43-61.
Week XI (March 19-): Florida’s Cold War Society
Lecture & Discussion: HUAC and the Johns Committee in Florida, and the South’s first chapter of the ACLU
Readings:
Gannon, Florida, 109-30.
James A. Schnur, “Cold Warriors in the Hot Sunshine: USF and the Johns Committee,” Journal of the Tampa Historical Society, 18 (November 1992): 9-15.
Stacy Braukman, “‘Nothing Else Matters But Sex’: Cold War Narratives of Deviance and the Search for Lesbian Teachers in Florida, 1959-1963,” Feminist Studies 27 (Fall 2001): 553-76 (available through e-journals).
Judith Poucher, “One Woman’s Courage: Ruth Perry and the Johns Committee,” in Making Waves, chapter 9.
Film: “Behind Closed Doors: The Dark Legacy of the Johns Committee.”
Week XII (March 26-): Reforming Modern America
(no class Wednesday and Friday, March 28 and
30)
Lecture & Discussion: The civil rights struggle in Florida
Lecture & Discussion: The modern women’s movement in Florida
Readings:
Gannon, Florida, 130-38.
Raymond A. Mohl, “The Pattern of Race Relations in Miami Since the 1920s,” in The African American Heritage of Florida, 326-56.
Carol Giardina, “Origins and Impact of Gainesville Women’s Liberation, the First Women’s Liberation Organization in the South,” in Making Waves, chapter 13.
Week XIII (April 2-): Air Conditioning, Tourism, and the Population Onslaught
Lecture & Discussion: Push and pull factors in Florida’s migration and immigration experience
Lecture & Discussion: The Caribbean comes to South Florida
Readings:
Raymond A. Mohl and George E. Pozzetta, “From Migration to Multiculturalism: A History of Florida Immigration,” in The New History of Florida, 402-415.
Raymond A. Mohl and Gary R. Mormino, “The Big Change in the Sunshine State: A Social History of Modern Florida,” in The New History of Florida, 416-45.
Derr, Some Kind of Paradise, chapters 14, 17.
Film: St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce promotional television films, circa 1950s.
(Internet Exercise Due Wednesday)
Week XIV (April 9-): Politics, Economy, and Ecology in Contemporary Florida
(no class Friday, April 13)
Lecture & Discussion: The state of state politics
Lecture & Discussion: Unfettered growth and the Florida environment
Readings:
Derr, Some Kind of Paradise, chapters 15, 16.
Lee Irby, “A Passion for Wild Things: Marjorie Harris Carr and the Fight to Free a River,” in Making Waves, chapter 7.
Week XV (April 16-): The Florida Environment and New Challenges
Discussion: Where from Here
Reading: Scott Hamilton Dewey, “‘Is That What We Came to Florida For?’ Florida Women and the Fight Against Air Pollution in the 1960s,” in Making Waves,197-225.
Film: Sunshine State (John Sayles)
Week XVI (April 23-: The Last Hurrah
(Last class April 25)
Discussion: Meaning and Identity in Florida history
Film: Sunshine State
(2nd Take-Home Essay Due April 25)
Pick up graded assignment on Friday, May 4, between 12:30-2:30
Course Requirements Descriptions:
All written work for the course must be typed or computer generated and in 12-point double-spaced print with default or one-inch margins. Your work must also be presented in third-person language.
Class participation means that students must come to class prepared to participate in discussions. Classes will be conducted in both a lecture and seminar format. Attendance is required. Beyond two absences, each additional absence occurring without a written medical excuse will result in one point deducted from your final grade. If the class is particularly lethargic when it should be animated and eager to discuss the reading assignment, the frustrated professor deserves the right to give a pop (i.e., surprise) quiz. Your experience in the course will largely depend on how prepared you come to class.
Class Rules are relatively minimal. You may take notes with a computer. But if I catch you emailing or texting, I reserve the right to post your maleficence on Facebook. Cell phones should be turned off as if you are traveling on a commercial airliner. If your phone rings, I reserve the right to answer it.
Writing Mechanics exercise can be found on my web site. Download and answer the questions by circling that which you believe to be the correct response. You will be required to follow the rules of writing mechanics in all writing assignments for the course. Up to five points will be deducted from your assignment grade if you violate these rules.
Take-home essays will represent responses to a list of essay questions posted on my web site. The questions will be drawn from the assigned readings and the course lectures, and you will be expected to use the course readings and your class notes as sources to answer the questions (do not consult any other sources). Each answer must be presented in essay format, using formal, academic language and style (i.e., complete sentences, tightly constructed paragraphs, no colloquialisms). Do not, in other words, provide answers in lists or bullets. Those exams that address each question in a rigorous and organized manner are more likely to earn a decent grade. These grades, too, will be dependent in part on your compliance with the rules in the “Writing Mechanics” exercise.
Archive exercise (TO BE ANNOUNCED AND POSTED). The essentials are the same as those with the Internet exercise below. You will be using, however, archival sources, which will be set aside for you by the staff at the P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History.
Internet exercise requires that you write a five-page paper using original-source materials–such as letters, a memoir, promotional pamphlets, advertisements, government documents–from an Internet site. The primary-source materials must not have been published in a book, such as Travels of William Bartram, and they must be related to Florida during the time period that we are studying (1860 to the present). Materials can be related to a place or event or related to a particular individual or of several individuals writing about the same place, experience, or event. One excellent site for sources that meet the stated criteria is the Florida Heritage Collection at http://susdl.fcla.edu/fh/ (consult my faculty web site for links to additional databases). Once you have found your primary source, you will need to consult secondary sources–such as academic books and articles or published local histories–to place your subject in historical context. Upon gathering your primary and secondary sources, write a paper analyzing a theme or themes that emerge from the original (primary-source) material. For example, you might find collections of advertisements and promotional pamphlets circulated by Florida developers and real estate brokers in the 1910s and 1920s, or you might find a diary of a south Florida settler of the early twentieth century. For the first, you can discuss the images of Florida projected in the promotional literature; for the second, you can discuss the experiences–work, family, weather, hardships–conveyed in the diary. Ensure that you identify the individual or individuals who left behind the written observations and that you place their observations within the proper historical context (THIS IS IMPORTANT TO EARNING A GOOD GRADE). In other words, do not write about a person’s experience without giving the reader a sense of whether that person’s experiences were common or unusual and without exploring the larger historical forces that shaped that experience. This is when you should draw on secondary sources. But keep in mind, the primary sources should serve as the principal materials driving your paper.
Again, following the rules of the “Writing Mechanics” exercise is imperative to doing work of full potential.
Plagiarism:
Keep in mind that your written assignments must represent original work. You cannot copy the work of anyone else or text from the Internet or any other source. Do not cobble together paragraphs or passages of separate texts and then try to claim that you have done original and legitimate work. You must write with your own ideas and in your own words. If you copy the words of someone else without putting those words in quotation marks, REGARDLESS OF CITING THE SOURCE, you are plagiarizing. Plagiarism is theft, and it is academic dishonesty. Plagiarism is grounds for an automatic failing grade in the course, a grade that is final and that cannot be made up. Please, if you have any questions about how you are citing or using sources, come to me for the answers.
EVERY SEMESTER, I CATCH A PLAGIARIST.
Classroom Assistance:
Please do not hesitate to contact the instructor during the semester if you have any individual concerns or issues that need to be discussed. Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office {http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drp/}. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide that documentation to the instructor when requesting accommodation.
UF Grading Scale
Please note UF’s new grading scale with the addition of minuses.
A = 4.0
A- = 3.67
B+ = 3.33
B = 3.0
B- = 2.67
C+ = 2.33
C = 2.0
C- = 1.67
D+ = 1.33
D = 1.0
D- = 0.67
E = 0.0
E1 = 0.0 Stopped attending or participating prior to end of class
I (incomplete) = 0.0
Welcome, and good luck!
* Marjory Stoneman Douglas, “At Home on the Marcel Waves,” Saturday Evening Post (June 14, 1924), 22.