HISTORY 386 - HISTORY
OF WOMEN IN AMERICA
AMY BIX -
FALL SEMESTER, 2003
Lectures:
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 11:00 a.m. to 11:50
a.m., E164 Lagomarcino
Sections:
Fridays, 8 a.m. to 8:50 a.m., 25 Ross Hall
Tuesdays, 8 a.m. to 8:50 a.m., 120 Ross Hall
Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 9:50 a.m., 205 Bessey
Hall
Thursdays, 12:10 p.m. to 1 p.m., 27 Ross Hall
Amy Bix:
Office
hours: Tuesdays, 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.; Wednesdays, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00
a.m.; plus other
times by appointment;
Office: 633 Ross Hall, 294-0122
E-mail:
abix@iastate.edu
COURSE
DESCRIPTION:
This
course will survey social, economic, intellectual, and political aspects of
women's changing place in American life from the colonial era to the
present. Issues covered include
women's employment, education, political position, concepts of sexuality and
gender roles, family life and the changing nature of the home.
COURSE
STRUCTURE:
This course includes two full-group meetings per week,
plus one weekly small-group discussion section, attendance at which is mandatory. Sections will include discussions of
assigned reading, viewing of films, and reviews for examinations, among other
activities. Sections are also
opportunities to ask questions about course procedures and about readings or
lecture material.
There will be three exams in this course (two during the
semester itself, plus a final). All students, including graduating seniors, are required
to take all exams, including the final. Exams cover
material presented in lectures, discussions, readings, and audio-visual
material. Students must bring blue books and a pen to use on
exams - points will be deducted for exams written in pencil or not in blue
books! Standard ISU policies on
academic dishonesty will be applied. Students are responsible for ensuring they
complete all exams by the proper dates. Any exam not completed by semester's
end will automatically convert to a zero, and failure to take the final risks
course failure. Students experiencing difficulty should first consult the
professor and T.A., but may also wish to use ISU's Academic Learning Lab or
Tutoring Services. Before the
first semester exam, we will distribute handouts giving helpful hints on how to
study and prepare.
Your grade in this class
will also depend on a series of brief in-class quizzes. During our Tuesday/Thursday lectures,
on twelve occasions throughout the semester (unannounced ahead of time), we
will pause for a five-minute quiz. These closed-book, closed-note quizzes will
cover material from the current or previous week's reading assignment and from
recent lectures. The format will
be short and simple, roughly five questions per quiz, usually in true/false,
multiple choice, or fill-in-the-blank format. Quizzes may turn up at the beginning
of a lecture period, the end, or in the middle. There will be no make-up for any quiz missed, regardless of
the reason; missed quizzes will receive a zero. However, at the end of the semester, you will be permitted
to drop your two lowest quiz scores; the remaining ten will amount to your total
quiz grade.
Each week's lecture includes overhead
transparencies listing key concepts, names and dates, quotes, and other material.
To save you frantic scribbling during class, this material will be put on the
web (exact web address to be announced).
We will try to post each lecture's material on the web ahead of time
(barring computer problems, etc.); some students find it useful to print copies
and bring them to lecture, as an aid in taking notes. Please remember: having webnotes
is no substitute for attending lecture yourself and taking your own
notes on material covered Ð they contain essential facts, but are NOT a full
transcript of information and ideas!
COURSE
REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:
1. Class participation - 10% of final
grade:
a. Attendance;
b. Constructive participation in class discussion
and weekly section meetings; evidence of having
completed reading assignments; and other section activities;
2. In-class quizzes Ð total quiz grade equals
10% of final grade.
3. Two examinations (dates below) - 30%
each:
Each exam will be in two
parts:
Part I: in-class, closed-book, short writing
questions;
Part II: take-home,
open-book longer essay question;
4. Final examination - 20% of final grade:
Combination of short and
long writing questions, closed-book, in-class.
REQUIRED
BOOKS:
These books
can be purchased in paperback (some available used) at university
bookstores. Copies should also be
available through library reserve.
1. Woloch, Nancy; Women and the
American Experience, THIRD EDITION; (McGraw Hill, 2000)
2. Kerber, Linda and Jane Sherron De Hart,
eds., Women's America: Refocusing the Past, FIFTH
EDITION; (Oxford,
2000)
3. Norton, Mary Beth and Ruth M.
Alexander, eds., Major Problems in American Women's History,
THIRD EDITION;(Houghton
Mifflin, 2003)
Short
additional readings may occasionally be handed out in class.
TOPICS
AND ASSIGNMENTS:
Tuesday,
August 26 and Thursday, August 28 -
Course
introduction; women in early colonial society;
Tuesday,
September 2 and Thursday, September 4 Ð
Women in the
Revolutionary era;
ASSIGNMENT for week of 9/2:
- Woloch, p. 1-47; Kerber, p.
3-60 and 73-87;
Tuesday,
September 9 and Thursday, September 11 -
Women and
economic life in the early 1800s: farms and factories;
ASSIGNMENT for week of 9/9:
- Woloch, p. 52-96; Kerber, p.107-120;
Norton, p. 61-100;
Tuesday,
September 16 and Thursday, September 18 -
Legal rights
and social reform;
ASSIGNMENT for week of 9/16:
- Woloch, p. 103-153 and 159-174;
Kerber, p.121-127 and 138-165; Norton,
p. 101-115;
Tuesday,
September 23 and Thursday, September 25 -
Women in the
Civil War era;
ASSIGNMENT for week of 9/23:
- Woloch, p.175-205; Kerber, p.
193-210 and 214-229; Norton, p. 133-138, 146-159, and 161-185;
EXAMINATION #1 coming up on
Tuesday, September 30 !
Tuesday,
September 30 and Thursday, October 2 -
Separate
spheres?: women's education, work, and organizations;
EXAMINATION
#1 on Tuesday, September 30;
ASSIGNMENT for week of 9/30:
- Woloch, p. 209-254;
Kerber, p. 229-238; Norton, p. 213-229 and 236-244;
The fight for
suffrage;
ASSIGNMENT for week of 10/7:
- Woloch, p.
260-306; Kerber, 168-180;
Suffrage,
radicalism, and WWI;
ASSIGNMENT for week of 10/14:
- Woloch, p. 314-349; Kerber, p.
241-270 and 283-292; Norton, p. 246-262;
Tuesday,
October 21 and Thursday, October 23 -
1920s: Taking
the flapper seriously;
ASSIGNMENT for week of 10/21:
- Woloch, p. 349-387; Kerber, p.
294-308, 312-343 and 355-363; Norton,
p. 292-296;
Tuesday,
October 28 and Thursday, October 30 -
Women in the
Great Depression and New Deal political life;
ASSIGNMENT for week of 10/28:
- Woloch, p.
388-426 and 432-462; Kerber, p. 377-385; Norton p. 329-348;
EXAMINATION
#2 coming up on Tuesday, November 4!
Tuesday,
November 4 and Thursday, November 6 -
Rosie the
Riveter: WWII women overseas and on the homefront;
EXAMINATION
#2 on Tuesday, November 4;
ASSIGNMENT for week of 11/4:
- Woloch, p. 462-485; Kerber, p.
401-425 and 436-447; Norton, p. 358-366
and 384-392;
Tuesday,
November 11 and Thursday, November 13 -
1950s: Cold
War domestic ideals;
ASSIGNMENT for week of 11/11:
- Woloch, p. 492-519; Kerber, p.
448-453; Norton, p. 394-403 and 408-417;
Tuesday,
November 18 and Thursday, November 20 Ð
1960s: youth
culture, civil rights, and activism;
ASSIGNMENT for week of 11/18:
- Kerber, p. 462-506; Norton, p.
427-456.
Tuesday,
November 25 and Thursday, November 27 Ð no class
Tuesday,
December 2 and Thursday, December 4 -
1970s:
feminism and women at work;
ASSIGNMENT for week of 12/2:
- Woloch, p. 519-543; Kerber, p.
508-570;
Tuesday,
December 9 and Thursday, December 11 -
1980s and
1990s: backlash? and century's end;
ASSIGNMENT for week of 12/9:
- Woloch, p. 550-597; Kerber, p. 580-615;
Norton, p. 476-491;
Week of
December 15 -
FINAL
EXAMINATION WEEK Ð FINAL EXAM at time to be announced.