HSTAA 105 A: The Peoples of the United States

Winter 2020
Meeting:
MWF 12:30pm - 1:20pm / KNE 210
SLN:
15465
Section Type:
Lecture
Instructor:
OPTIONAL LINKED WRITING COURSE FOR "C" OR "W" CREDIT: PLEASE SEE ENGL 198 C
Syllabus Description (from Canvas):

Professor James Gregory
Office hours: After class or Monday 3:30-4:30
312B Smith   543-7792; e-mail: gregoryj@uw.edu

Section Instructors:

Alika Bourgette <abourget@uw.edu> 
Ross Coen <rcoen@uw.edu>
Soh Yeun Elloise Kim <elloise@uw.edu>

See Pages at left for lecture slides, sample exams, and other materials 

 

NationOfImmigrants1.jpgThis course explores the history of American diversity. Covering five centuries, it examines the sequences of immigration and conquest that eventually made the United States one of the most ethnically and racially complicated societies on earth. The consequences of diversity are another theme of the course. We will discuss both the contributions of various peoples and the conflicts between them, paying special attention to the historical construction of race and ethnicity and the changing understandings of American citizenship. "What is an American?" each generation has asked, usually answering in terms that are new to their era.

HSTAA 105 earns writing course W-credits and satisfies the I&S and Diversity (DIV) requirements. This course also counts as a foundations class for the Diversity Minor.  Students who pursue the Diversity Minor would have to earn only 20 more credits to satisfy its requirements.  For more information about this opportunity  please see the webpage http://depts.washington.edu/divminor or email divminor@uw.edu.

READINGS:

  • 105 Reader (available after Saturday 1/4 at Rams Copy: 4144 University Ave.)
  • Pauli Murray, Proud Shoes: The Story of an American Family
  • Thomas Bell, Out of this Furnace      

ASSIGNMENTS: Grades will be based on four elements: a midterm, final, 8-10 page research paper, and participation in discussion section. All four are mandatory; failure to complete any of them will make it impossible to pass the course. The research paper and final exam will each count for 30% of the grade; the midterm and discussion section will each contribute 20%.

Due dates are subject to change:
Paper prospectus: January 22 (Wednesday)—a 1 page description of research project
Midterm exam: Jan 31 (Friday)
Optional paper draft: Feb 19 (Wednesday)
Paper final: Mar 9  (Monday)
Final exam: March 17 (Tuesday) 4:30 or March 19 (Thursday) 8:30

NOTE: Recording lectures or class discussions is not allowed except under special circumstances and with the express permission of the instructor.

SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND LECTURES

Week 1: Jan 6-Jan 10 reading assignment: 105Reader, section A
·        Life and death in the first age of globalism
·       The British imprint on American demography and institutions

Week 2: Jan 13-Jan 17 reading assignment: 105Reader, section B
·      
Winners and losers among Indigenous peoples 1607-1775
·       Atlantic slave industry 1520s-1870s

Week 3: Jan 20-Jan 24 reading assignment: 105Reader, section C

·       Inventing Americans: the road to independence
·       Building a new nation: the paradox of founding principles

Week 4: Jan 27-Jan 31 reading assignment: 105Reader, section D

·      Irish immigrants and the issue of Catholicism
·      Foreigners in their native land: Mexicans in the Southwest
·      MIDTERM

Week 5: Feb 3-Feb 7 reading assignment: Murray, Proud Shoes, 1-136
·       Civil War and the the violent end of slavery
·       The 14th amendment and the buried promise of equal rights
·      German immigrants and cultural challenges

Week 6: Feb 10-Feb 14 reading assignment: Murray, Proud Shoes, 137-end
·       Race and changing schemes of whiteness
·       Chinese in America 1848-1940

Week 7: Feb 17-Feb 21 reading assignment: Bell, Out of This Furnace, 1-178
·       Third wave immigrants: Poles and Italians
·       Greeks and Jews: the rewards of small business enterprise
·       Immigration restriction, xenophobia in the 1920s

Week 8: Feb 24- Feb 28 reading assignment: Bell, Out of This Furnace, 179-end
·      New Deals: reorganizing economy, reorganizing democracy 1933-1948
·      Unburying the 14th “amendment: civil rights campaigns 1941-1965

Week 9: Mar 2 -Mar 6 reading assignment: 105Reader, section E
·       Fifth wave immigrants: the changing face of diversity 1965-2019
·       Asians: disaggregating the 'Model Minority"
·       Latinos: the search for cultural and political power

Week 10: Mar 9-Mar 13 reading assignment: 105Reader, section F
·       Middle Easterners: a new indispensable enemy?
·       Indian Country in the age of pluralism
·       Race, class, justice, and opportunity in today’s America

 

RESEARCH PAPERS

Paper prospectus: Jan 22 (Wednesday)—a 1-page description of your project
Optional paper draft: Feb 19 (Wednesday)
Paper final: Mar 9 (Monday)

The research paper accounts for 30% of the course grade. You may choose between two kinds of projects: a family history project or a research paper about either a nativist movement or a civil rights movement. Papers will be submitted through VeriCite plagiarism checker.

Option 1: FAMILY HISTORY PROJECT

This involves research into your family's history. Pauli Murray’s book, Proud Shoes, is an example of what family research can yield. Family documents and interviews with relatives will be the major sources for this assignment, and they must be supplemented with library research. Collecting family stories is only part of this assignment. You must incorporate  one or more of the concepts developed in this course. The family stories you tell must be used to discuss one or more of the following issues and concepts that will be explained in lectures over the coming weeks:

 Identity issues: "ethnic pride," "cultural retention/change," "varieties of Americanism," "passing," "evaporating ethnicity," "compiled ethnicity," "expanding whiteness" “changing dimensions of whiteness” “changing race formations” “dangerous religions”

Citizenship issues: "struggles for equality, " "xenophobia, " "exile politics," "14th Amendment, " "using politics," "expanding pluralism"

Economic issues: “job ghetto,” "ethnic enterprise, " "ethnic privilege, " "immigrant resources," "productive stereotypes, " "the educational divide"

Gendered ethnic issues: "gendered stereotypes," "gendered identity pathways," "gendered cultural guardians," "intermarriage"

Here are some ways to think about connecting a family story to the issues of this course: Does your family background lend itself to a discussion of immigration and Americanization? Think about the issues involved in coming to America and becoming American. Cultural conflicts and identity negotiations will probably be the focus of your analysis. Pay attention to national background, generations, gender, class, and other factors and conditions that might have affected your family's experience.

Some family backgrounds lend themselves to examinations of struggles for basic rights. Perhaps there are family experiences with prejudice and discrimination or perhaps there were ancestors who benefited from the oppression of others. In either case you will want to think about the historical context and try to understand how your family story fits into the changing patterns of pluralism and ethno-racial heirarchy that mark different eras. You may also have an opportunity to discuss the political forces that have changed the fabric of rights and opportunities.

Some of you will be intrigued by family stories about changing economic status, about struggles to attain wealth, position, or a better living. If so, you will want to pay attention to ethnic enterprises and perhaps ethnic privilege. Think beyond the purely personal aspects of these accounts. What events and conditions helped shape family opportunities? How did ethnic connections and communities contribute to the family's experiences?

Some may choose to examine complicated genealogies that stretch back many generations. Here you may find opportunities to discuss issues of intermarriage, cultural retention or ethnic evaporation, and any number of other concepts.

Note: Family history projects must focus largely on experiences in the United States and may not be appropriate for international students unless they have family members who have been in the US for some years.

Library research is a required part of this assignment. You will need to set your family's stories in historical context, which means reading about the time periods and also ethnic groups you will be discussing. Here is a list of books that can serve as reference works. Your paper should include citations from at least two books.

The final result should be 8-10 typed pages. It should be logically organized and well written. Good ideas do not count if they are not readily understood. All quotations and specific references require citations. Here is a brief guide to Chicago-style footnotes. Be sure to edit your work. There is no excuse for sloppy grammar, spelling, or typing. Warning: be very careful about plagiarism. I enforce a zero tolerance rule when it comes to any form of cheating. Papers will be submitted through VeriCite plagiarism checker.

  

Option 2: NATIVIST MOVEMENTS/ CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS    

 This involves researching a political movement that has fought either to restrict or expand civil rights. It involves research in primary sources (historic newspapers) as well as in reputable secondary sources (especially books). Choose one of the movements listed below.  You will record events associated with the movement in a database and write a paper about the movement’s goals and activities. Click on Pages to find instructions for each topic.

Civil Rights and labor movements:

o   National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Founded in 1909, the NAACP has been a premier civil rights organization for more than a century. You will read about the organization’s activities in the 1920s in several historic newspapers (online) and in a pair of books that have been placed on reserve.

o   Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). Founded in 1928, the JACL sought to represent Japanese Americans the way the NAACP fought for African Americans. You will read about the organization’s activities in the Pacific Citizen (microfilm A7139) and in a pair of books that have been placed on reserve.

o   Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Founded in 1905, the IWW was committed to revolutionary unionism and was one of the first labor organizations to organize black and Asian workers as well as whites. You will read about the organization’s activities and about the campaign to suppress the IWW in several historic newspapers (online) and in a pair of books that have been placed on reserve

o   Marcus Garvey and the UNIA. Marcus Garvey founded United Negro Improvement Association in 1916 to fight for Black pride and economic self-determination in America and create a new nation in Africa. You will read about activities and explore press coverage  in online newspapers. 

 Nativist and white supremacist movements:

·        Anti-Catholic campaigns 1850s.  In the early 1850s, the American Party (the Know-Nothing Party) won federal and state elections advocating anti-Catholicism and immigration restriction. You will read about the Know-Nothing movement in the New York Times (online) and in a pair of books that have been placed on reserve.

·        Anti-Chinese movement 1880s. Along the West Coast hatred and violence directed at Chinese people peaked in the 1880s. You will read about the campaign in several historic newspapers (online) and in a pair of books that have been placed on reserve.

·        Immigration restriction campaigns 1920s. In 1920 and 1924, Congress passed laws severely restricting immigration. You will read about the campaigns and legislation in several historic newspapers (online) and in a pair of books that have been placed on reserve.

·        Henry Ford, the Dearborn Independent, and antisemitism. In 1920, Henry Ford published a stream of vicious attacks on Jews in his widely read newspaper, the Dearborn Independent. You will read about the campaign in several historic newspapers (online) and in a pair of books that have been placed on reserve.

·        Ku Klux Klan 1920s. The Ku Klux Klan resurfaced in the 1910s and by the early 1920s claimed millions of members. You will read about the organization’s activities in several historic newspapers (online) and in a pair of books that have been placed on reserve.

 

Catalog Description:
History of diverse peoples who have come together through conquest and immigration since 1500, including Native Americans, Europeans, Africans, Asians, and Latin Americans. Explores contributions of may peoples with special attention to changing constructions of race and ethnicity and evolving understandings of what it means to be American.
GE Requirements Met:
Diversity (DIV)
Social Sciences (SSc)
Writing (W)
Credits:
5.0
Status:
Active
Last updated:
March 28, 2024 - 1:02 am