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W 8/24 Lecture: Historical Subjects: Women
& Gender
Read textbook
, xxv-xxviii
When and how were courses in U.S. history changed to
include the experiences of women? When and why was the
history of gender, another approach to studying the
history of women and men, developed? What is the difference
between sex and gender? What does it mean to say that
womanhood/manhood or femininity/masculinity are socially
constructed?
Primary Sources: Documentary concerns (transparency of evidence)
Read textbook
,190-197, 227, 345,
357
What kinds of sources do historians use to document
the past? Why have most historians preferred written
sources to other types of documents (pictorial, photographic,
oral accounts)? How do we know what a source (written,
visual, or oral) means? What does it mean to contextualize
a source? What do visual images-paintings, illustrations,
cartoons, and photographs-- tell us about women's history
that other sorts of evidence cannot? How can we analyze
visual sources in ways that do not merely treat them
as transparent mirrors of a lost historical reality?
F 8/26 Discussion: Historiographical Narratives
and Methodological Concerns: Objectivity, Universalism,
Progress
Read textbook
,xxviii-xxxiii (bring textbook to class from now on)
How do historians interpret evidence? Does the documentary
evidence alone dictate the kind of history an historian
must tell? What is the difference between "history,"
"historiography," "historical narrative"? Can/should
historians be objective in constructing historical narratives?
Find an example in the textbook in which the authors
either presume or argue explicitly that something was
worse in the 19th century and got better in the 20th
century. Is there another way to narrate this history?
Presentation
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PART I 1800-1900
Week 2 NINETEENTH CENTURY: AN OVERVIEW
M 8/29 Lecture: Separate Spheres and the Ideology
of True Womanhood
(Domesticity, Family, and Reproduction)
Have read:
textbook, 137-145, 182-189
How and why did the ideologies of separate spheres
and true womanhood develop? Is true womanhood a descriptive
or prescriptive term? What qualities/behaviors did true
womanhood encompass? Were these ideologies meant to
apply to all women? What groups of women were deemed
to violate the strictures of true womanhood and why?
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W 8/31 Lecture and Discussion: Public/Private
Spheres: Politics and Work
Have read: textbook,
190-197.
What kinds of work did women perform in the nineteenth
century? Why was there a stigma attached to labor for
women? What do historians mean by the phrase, "sex-segregation
of the labor force?" In what other ways was the labor
force segregated in the nineteenth century?
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F 9/2 TBA / Screening of The Ballad of Little Jo
(Maggie Greenwald, 1993)
To assist with the paper assignment (described below),
you may want to consult the textbook's discussion of
women's lives in the western regions of the U.S. (207,
210-212, 347-355) and check out some of the websites
recommended by the on-line version of the textbook.
egs. http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/historymodules/CTM/tpcindex.htm
Short paper (2pp) assigned
In what ways does the film, The Ballad of Little
Jo (Maggie Greenwald, 1993) accurately depict
certain historical realities about women's lives and
gender relations in the west during the 1870s/80s/90s?
Discuss specific examples from the film and compare
these with information that you have gleaned from the
textbook (quote from at least two relevant passages).
In what ways does the film impose a 20th century vision
upon its 19th century subject(s)?
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Week 3 CIVIL WAR LEGACIES
M 9/5 Labor Day Holiday - No Class W 9/7 Lecture: Impact of the Civil War/Reconstruction
on Women's Lives
Have read:
textbook, 270-305
What impact did the civil war have on the lives of
women (white and black) in different regions of the
nation (north, south and west)? What did the women involved
in the abolitionist movement do after the war? What
other political movements developed after the war? How
did racial concerns shape the political goals of white,
black, immigrant, and native-American women?
F 9/9 Discussion: The Ballad of Little
Jo
Short Paper (2p) due
at the beginning of class (25 pts) -- DUE DATE CHANGED
TO MONDAY SEPTEMBER 12
I will also expect that you have read the relevant
pages of the textbook (e.g. 347-353), as you will need
to use this material in writing the short papers due
Monday.
Presentation
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Week 4 REGIONAL, CULTURAL & RACIAL DIVERSITY,
1870s-1880s
M 9/12 Lecture: Work & Family Lives: White,
Black, Native American & Immigrant Women
Short Paper (2p) due
at the beginning of class (25 pts)
Have read: textbook, 347-352,
386-392
What constituted a normative family and/or family household in the second half of the nineteenth century?
W 9/14 Lecture: Politics-- Temperance, Suffrage,
Anti-Lynching
Have read: textbook,
306-310
Why was temperance so popular among women in the second
half of the nineteenth century? Why was suffrage, relatively
speaking, so unpopular among women?
F 9/16 Discussion: Mexican and Native American
women in the West
Have read:
textbook, pp. 341-347, 373-378
Focus Questions
• On page 341 is the statement, “In all
these developments – western consolidation, mass
immigration, the political crisis of the 1890s, and
the beginnings of American imperialism – women
were involved, active, influential, and as a result,
changed.” How might you characterize their activity
and influence?
• What is the importance of the images on page
345 for understanding Native American women’s
experience during the era of western consolidation?
• What was the “Family West” and how
was it different from the “Wild West” in
terms of women’s experiences?
Tips for
Test Preparation
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Week 5 ECONOMIC CRISIS, EARLY 1890s, IMPERIALISM, LATE 1890s
M 9/19 In-class screening of documentary: Ida
B. Wells: A Passion for Justice
W 9/21 Discussion of Wells documentary/review
for test #1
F 9/23 Test
#1 given in class on all material to date (25 pts)
Sample Answers
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Week 6 WOMEN & PROGRESSIVISM, 1890-1920
M 9/26 Discussion: Sexuality
Begin reading: Angela Davis, Blues
Women and textbook, 406-479
What do the songs of blues artists tell us about evolving
struggles for racial and social justice? Are these songs
expressing feminist ideas?
Presentation
W 9/28 Lecture: Labor
Have read: textbook
, 406-479
F 9/30 Discussion
Midterm Exam
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Week 7 Women & Progressivism, cont.
M 10/3 Discussion:
Have read and come to
class ready to discuss: Davis, Blues Women
W 10/5 Optional Class for those who have rough
drafts of midterm assignment
F 10/7 Homecoming/No
Class
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Week 8 Prosperity and Depression, 1920-1940
M 10/10 Lecture
W 10/12 Lecture: Overview of 1920s and 1930s
What sorts of jobs were considered women's work?
How was the labor force segregated by race and by gender?
Why is the concept of the sex-segregation of labor so
important for understanding the meaning of women's increased
participation in the workforce over the first half of
the 20th century?
Quiz
F 10/14 TBD (BWB Conference)
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Week 9 Prosperity and Depression, 1920-1940, cont.
M 10/17 Lecture: Feminism during the Progressive
Era
W 10/19 Lecture: Women & the Depression
F 10/21
In-class screening of documentary: The Life and
Times of Rosie the Riveter (Connie Field 1980)
http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/rosie.html
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Week 10 IMPACT OF WW2
M 10/24 Discussion: World War 2
Have read:
textbook, 507-518
How did WW 2 affect women's work, family lives and
expectations about the future?
How did the job experiences of white women and women
of color vary during the war years?
In what ways were they similar?
Sample
Questions for Test 2
W 10/26 Lecture:
F 10/28 Test
#2 given in class on material in Part II (25 pts)
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Week 11 Return to Normalcy (so-called), 1950s
M 10/31 Discussion:
Have read and come to
class ready to discuss: Douglas , Where the
Girls Are
W 11/2 Lecture: Women's Lives, 1945-1965
Have read:
textbook, 554-627 (Ch. 9)
Begin reading: Moody,
Coming of Age
F 11/4 Screening: Color Adjustment
(documentary)
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Week 12 Civil Rights and Second Wave Feminism, 1960s-1970s
M 11/7 Lecture: Separate Roads to Feminism
W 11/9 Lecture: Separate Roads to Feminism,
cont
F 11/11 Veterans' Day-
No class
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Week 13 1970s
M 11/14 Discussion
Have read and come to
class ready to discuss: Moody, Coming of
Age
Begin reading: Mary Crow Dog, Lakota Woman
W 11/16 Lecture
F 11/18 TBD
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Week 14 1980s-present
M 11/21 Screening: In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
Final
Assignment handed out in class
W 11/23 TBD
F 11/25 Thanksgiving
Holiday-No Class ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Week 15 CONCLUSION
M 11/28
Have read and come to
class ready to discuss: Mary Crow Dog, Lakota
Woman
(Course Evaluations: 5pts)
W 11/30: Discussion of Mary Crow Dog, Lakota
Woman, cont.l
F 12/2 TBD
Week 16: Review for Final Assignment
Final
Assignment available here
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12/12 Final Assignment Due
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