REVISED

WSS 260 /HIS 259 History of Women & Social Change

Instructor:Laurie Kozakiewicz, Office: Ten Broeck 308-1

Spring 2004, University at Albany

Class period T/TH 9:45 am� 11:05 pm

Office Hours Tues/Thurs 11:30 � 12:30

E-mail address[email protected]

 

Course Overview

This course introduces students to the political, economic, social, and cultural forces that shaped the lives of women in America from the Colonial Period to the present.It also looks at women�s impact on the growth and development of the United States.Attention will be given to the ways in which race and gender have influenced women�s status.The first half of the course takes a roughly chronological approach to the analysis of women and American society.The second half of the course spends more time on special topics, including family, work, cultural attitudes, policy issues, and women�s organized activism.Course requirements include a mid-term examination and a final, two written assignments and one oral presentation (described below).

 

Required Texts.

Students are expected to have all texts.Tests, class discussions, and writing assignments are based on them.

 

Main Texts:

Evans, Sara.Born for Liberty a History of Women in America, 1997 edition.

Kerber, Linda and Sharon De Hart.Women�s America 6th Edition 2004.

 

Additional Texts:

--White, Deborah Gray, Ar�n�t I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South

--Friedan, Betty.The Feminine Mystique, 2001 edition.

 

E Reserves:Some of the reading is available only in this format.Use Link from University Libraries web page for E Reserves.Look the course up by my name and/or course number.Password for accessing the material is Suffrage.

 

Other internet materials:Some of the reading is available via links embedded in the syllabus.The URL address for the syllabus on line is https://www.albany.edu/faculty/lk0550

 

Course Requirements

General

Course requirements include attendance at all class lectures, completion of all written assignments, participation in class discussions, and completion of a mid-term and final examination.

 

Lectures

Portions of the course will be in lecture form.Students are responsible for all information presented in class.Students are expected to attend all sessions and take notes.I do not share my notes or make copies for students.

 

Writing Assignments � Total of2

You will do essays on the two additional texts.These will be three to five page papers answering a specific question given to you several weeks before the assignment is due.

 

Group Presentation

Students will be put into groups and assigned responsibility for leading the class once during the semester.Groups and specific day assignments will be made at the first class.On their assigned day, the group will review that day�s assigned material with the class and facilitate a discussion of the readings.Some time will be available during the first two classes for groups to begin planning their presentations.I encourage students to meet outside of class to prepare as well.

 

Discussions

Part of your grade will be based my evaluation of your participation in discussions of the assigned reading.Completing assigned reading gives you some up-front familiarity with the day�s topic.I encourage you to ask questions and offer comments during the lectures.In addition, there will be at least two class sessions devoted specifically to discussing the additional texts.You will also write papers on those books.I hope for thoughtful comments that contribute to lively, stimulating discussions on those days.

 

Student Evaluation

Grades

The course grade for each student will be determined as follows.The midterm exam will be 25% of the total course grade; the final will be 25% of the total course grade; each writing assignments will be 15% of the total course grade (total 30%); the oral group presentation will be 15% of the total course grade.Finally class participation, including attendance, will be 5% of the total course grade.

 

Academic Dishonesty

Cheating will have serious consequences.Cheating on a specific assignment/test will, at minimum, result in a failing grade for that assignment.Repeated cheating will result in an �E� for the course.


Plagiarizing will have serious consequences.Plagiarizing is the use of the words or ideas of someone else as if they were your own.The way to avoid accusations of plagiarism is to ALWAYS cite properly.Both direct quotes and paraphrasing require full and proper citation.Please see me if you have any questions about whether what you are doing may be violating these rules.Plagiarism on a specific assignment will result, at minimum, in a failing grade for the assignment.Repeated plagiarism will result in an �E� for the course.

 

In-Class Behavior

Attendance does matter.The course is structured so that you cannot do well without being here.I will monitor attendance.I reserve the right to factor a student�s attendance record into the determination of the final course grade.Be courteous.If necessary, I will ask a disruptive student to leave the class.Anyone asked to leave will need to speak with me privately before returning.

 

Class Session Outline

1/22����������� Introduction:Class Requirements & Themes for the Course

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1/27����������� America�s Earliest Women � Settlement through the Colonial Era 1607-1773

����������� Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Ulrich p 45; Norton p. 69; Trial of Anne Hutchinson p. 79; Karlsen p. 83

����������� Evans: Chapters 1 & 2

 

1/29���� Women and the Birth of the American Nation: Revolutionary Mothers

����������� Reading: Kerber & De Hart:Documents: supporting the Revolution p. 114 & 115 & 117; Kerber p. 119

����������������������� �� Evans: Chapter 3

 

2/3����������� Woman�s Lives Under the New Nation 1783-1850: Redefining Public & Private Lives By Gender

����������� Reading: Kerber & De Hart:Boyston p. 153; Rosenberg p. 168

�������������� �������� ���Evans Chapter 4

�����������������������

2/5����������� Exploring Women�s Quest for Economic and Legal Rights in the 19th Century

����������� Reading:Kerber & De Hart: Document: working conditions in the early factory p. 165; Documents: Documents: Married Women�s Property Actp. 217; Pascoe p. 275

����������� ����������� Essay: Thomas Dublin �Women Workers in the Lowell Mills�

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2/10����������� Exploring the Impact of Race on Women�s Lives in the New Nation

����������� Reading:Kerber & De Hart:Documents: Testimony of Slave Women p. 132; Block p. 135

����������� Paper Due on Ar�n�t I a Woman

 

2/12����������� Exploring Women�s Public Activism in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries

����������� Essay: Steven Buechler �The Origins of the Women�s Rights Movement�

Essay:Paula Baker �White Women�s �Separate Sphere� and their Political Role�

����������� Website: Oberlin Women and Antebellum Social Movements, Abstract

 

2/19����������� America Divided: 1848-1870; Early Women�s Rights Movement

����������� Reading:Kerber & De Hart: Documents Claiming Rights I Grimke p. 193; Documents: Claiming Rights II Declaration of Sentiments p. 198; Wellman p. 200; Documents: After the Civil War p. 247-251; Document: Women�s Centennial Agenda p. 265

����������� �� �������� ����Evans: Chapter 5

����������� Essay Catharine Beecher & Harriet Beecher Stowe �Why Women Should Not Seek the Vote�

 

2/24���� Women as Reformers, Gilded Age and Progressive Era 1880-1920

����������� Reading:Kerber & De Hart: Sklar p. 327; Document: Protecting Women Wage Workers p. 340 & 342

����������������������� ��� Evans: Chapter 6

����������� Website:The Juvenile Court Law in Iowa, 1904, Abstract

 

2/26���� Women as Reformers Continued: divided by class, race, geography

����������� Reading:Kerber & De Hart: Schechter p. 268; Gilmore p. 286

����������� Essay: Eileen Boris �Black and White Women Bring the Power of Motherhood to Politics�

Document: Mary Church Terrell �Club Work of Colored Women� & �Lynching from a Negroes point of view�

 

3/2������ The Fight for Suffrage: 1890-1920

Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Dubois p. 358; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship I pp 365 & 367

����������� �� Evans: Chapter 7 section on �New Life in the Suffrage Movement� to the end

Charlotte Perkins Gilman: �The Yellow Wallpaper� Charlotte Perkins Gilman - Free Online Library

Website: Lobbying for Passage of the National Suffrage Amendment, Abstract

 

3/4����������� Suffrage continued & review for mid-term����

 

3/9������ MID-TERM EXAMINATION

 

3/11���� Across the Great Divide: women, politics & the struggle for legal & economic equality 1920s & 1930s

����������� Reading:Kerber & De Hart: Cott p. 379; Jones p. 429; Kessler-Harris p. 435

Reading:Evans:Chapters 8 & 9

����������� Website:Equal Rights Debate in the 1920s, Abstract

 

3/16���� The Modern Woman (20th ), changing images of sexuality; consumerism and sexuality

����������� Reading:Kerber & De Hart: Brumberg p. 390; Bordo p. 660

����������������������� ���� Evans: Chapter 7 Beginning to section �New Life in the Suffrage Movement�

Essay Maxine Craig Introduction to Ain�t I a Beauty Queen

����������� Reading:No More Miss America!

 

3/23���� Film �Killing Us Softly�

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3/25���� The Modern Woman�s quest for sexual independence

����������� Reading:Kerber & De Hart:Mohr p. 183; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship I, Sanger p. 370; Regan p. 423

����������� Website: Mary Ware Dennett's Congressional Lobbying Efforts for Contraception, Abstract

 

3/30���� Limits and Opportunities:Women and War

����������� Reading: Kerber & De Hart:Matsumoto p 459; Milkmann p. 466

����������������������� �� Evans:Chapter 10

����������� Essay: Varlerie Matsumoto �Japanese American Women During World War II�

 

4/1������ Images of Women in Cold War America

����������� Reading:Kerber & De Hart: Swerdlow p. 500; Douglas p. 569

����������������������� ��� Evans:Chapter 11

����������� Essay:Donna Penn �The Meanings of Lesbianism in Postwar America�

Essay: �From Rosie to Lucy�

 

4/13���� Gender and Civil Rights

����������� Film �Fannie Lou Hamer�

Reading:Kerber & De Hart: Payne p. 532; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship II, Murray p. 537 & Civil Rights Act p. 550

����������������������� ��� Evans: 263-273

����������� Double Jeopardy

 

4/15���� Moving Towards a Revitalized Feminism

����������� Discussion: The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

����������� Paper Due

 

4/20����������� Feminism Reborn

����������� Film �Step by Step�

����������� Reading:Kerber & De Hart: Documents: Making the Personal Political, Chavez p. 583 & Combahee Collective p. 586 & Schafly p. 593; De Hart p. 598

����������������������� ��� Evans: Chapter 12

����������� Essay: Joanne Meyerowitz �Competing Images of Women in Postwar Mass Culture�

NOW Statement of Purpose- 1966

 

4/22����������� Exploring Women�s Quest for Legal Rights in the 20th Century: Jury Service, Military Service

����������� Reading:Kerber & De Hart: Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship II: Hoyt v. Florida p. 546; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship III: ERA p. 624 & Frontiero v. Richardson p. 628; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship IV: 1st American Women p. 637 & Rostker v. Goldberg p. 641; Francke p. 647

���������� Essay: Kate O�Beirne �An Army of Jessicas�

 

4/27����������� Exploring Contentious Issues:Abortion; Welfare; domestic violence

����������� Reading:Kerber & De Hart: Bailey p. 560; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship III: Roe v Wade p. 630; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenshiop IV: Meritor v. Vinson p. 643 & Violence Against Women Act p. 646; Lakoff p. 670; Adair p. 677;

����������� Website: The 1994 Violence Against Women Act, Abstract

 

4/29����������� Exploring Contentious Issues: Affirmative Action

����������� Reading: Kerber & De Hart: Cahn p. 508; Documents: Dimensions of Citizenship: Title IX p. 625; Documents: the Changing Workplace: 657 & 660

Too Strong for a WomanThe Five Words That Created Title IX

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5/4������ Women at the Millenium: Assessing Progress politically

����������� Film �Running Mate�

����������� Reading: Kerber & De Hart:De Hart p. 691

����������������������� �� Evans: Chapter 13

����������� Website:Center for American Women and Politics