SPRING 2014 HISTORY 142D PROF. MARY F. COREY TU/THU 12:30-1:45 PERLOFF 1102 OFFICE HRS. TUESDAY 11-12:30 OR BY APPT. 310-825-2416 [email protected]

AMERICAN CULTURE, EVEN IN ITS MOST RIGIDLY SEGREGATED PRECINCTS, IS PATENTLY AND IRREVOCABLY COMPOSITE. IT IS, REGARDLESS OF ALL THE HYSTERICAL PROTESTATIONS OF THOSE WHO WOULD HAVE IT OTHERWISE, INCONTESTABLY MULATTO. John Strausbaugh, Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult and Imitation in American Popular Culture.

HISTORY 142D: AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE

This course is a survey of American cultural history since the mid- 19th century with an emphasis on the consistent interplay between white and black culture that ultimately produces a set of specifically American cultural forms. We will also examine the historical development of the commodification of an urban, consumer-oriented American mass culture that enveloped diverse groups of Americans as producers and consumers. We will examine the minstrel impulse as it plays out over time and in an ever-changing set of political, economic, and social circumstances. We will study key elements of the culture such as theatrical entertainment, music, cinema, television, and sports – all through the lens of race and commodification.

READING LIST:

L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz

Jeffrey B. Ferguson, The Harlem Renaissance: A Brief History With Documents

Jonathan Lethem, The Fortress of Solitude

Yuval Taylor & Jake Austen, Darkest America: Black Minstrelsy From Slavery to Hip Hop

Elijah Wald, The Blues: A Very Short Introduction

Please note that the website for this class has a section labeled YouTube videos. Part of the midterm assignment for the class is a three page paper that asks you to choose one or two of the videos, research the artist and the song and incorporate this research into a brief discussion of the history of this particular artist and/or song and perhaps some discussion of other artists who have covered this song. I will discuss this in class but I wanted to give you a heads up in advance. As part of your final exam you will choose one of the films on the course list and write a three page paper about it placing it in the context of what we have learned about the complexity of the minstrel impulse in American popular culture.

All other readings will be posted on-line on the syllabus. Begin reading The Wizard of Oz at once. Then start the Lethem book. Specific readings from the other two books will be assigned on the syllabus.

EXAMS I will disseminate the prompts for both the midterm and the final one week in advance. In addition to the exam you will have to select one of the films from the list attached to this syllabus and write a two-page, historically contextualized review essay about it. All papers should have a thesis and the thesis statement should be printed in boldface type.

List of Films

All work must be turned in to Turnitin.com. Be sure to turn your work in to Turnitin as one document. Citations should be in parenthetical style. Ex: (Lethem, p.22). If you want to quote from lecture it should be simply (Corey, Lecture). You do not need a bibliography unless you use outside books, which I do not encourage. Be sure to keep a copy of your work in case of any issues with lost or misplaced exams.

CLASS SCHEDULE

This schedule is subject to change. We will cover as much ground as is possible in the very short 10 week session. The class is extremely lecture driven. This is not a class that you can do well in by only doing the reading. Office hours will also be helpful.

WEEK ONE

Tuesday: Introduction

Thursday: A Brief History of Minstrelsy

Reading: Start Wizard of Oz; Blackface Lore Cycle (Google Books, PDF); (Add on-line link to Karen Sotiropoulus Staging Race, pp. 1-41)

WEEK TWO

Tuesday: A Brief History of Minstrelsy, continued.

Thursday: The Shift to an Urban Commodified Culture and the Wizard of Oz.

Reading: Finish Oz; Darkest America, pp. 1-79 WEEK THREE

Tuesday: Houdini: Ethnicity, Magic and the Re-invention of the Self.

Thursday: The Harlem Renaissance

Reading: From Harlem Renaissance, Helene Johnson, pp. 55- 56; Claude McKay, pp. 57-59; Langston Hughes, pp. 68-72; Alain Locke, pp. 78-82; Zora Neale Hurston, pp. 105-113; Bessie Smith, p. 125; Joel Rogers, pp. 124-131; George S. Schuyler, pp. 144-148; Langston Hughes, 149-154.Darkest America, pp.109-134

WEEK FOUR

Tuesday: The Moderns

Thursday: Jazz & Ragtime, Jews & The Blues

Watch at home: Rhapsody in Blue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oadzppD9Rv8

Reading: Start Lethem; Darkest America, pp. 81-108, Staging Race, pp. 42-80); The Blues, (pp.11-94)

Midterm Questions available on-line by Sunday, April 27th. Exam due in class on Thursday, May 8th in class.

WEEK FIVE

Tuesday: The Survival of the Zulu Krewe

Thursday: Hollywood

Reading: American Motion Pictures and the New Popular Culture, 1893-1918 by Daniel J. Czitrom, From Jim Cullen, Popular Culture in American History, pp. 131- 157; Ronald Davis, Celluloid Mirrors, Ch 4.; Selection from Donald Bogle’s Bright Boulevards, Bold Dream’S (add on-line link pp.29-183

WEEK SIX Tuesday: Radical Escapism: Popular Culture in the Great Depression

Thursday: Film: WONDERBAR

Reading: Ronald Davis, Celluloid Mirrors, Ch 8; Darkest America, pp. 135-164; continue reading Lethem.

WEEK SEVEN

Tuesday: Radio: The Roots of Virtual Cultural Integration

Thursday: The Amos N’ Andy Question

Reading: (On-line add Melvin Patrick Ely, The Adventures of Amos N’ Andy, pp. 64-96; Darkest America, pp. 135-164. (“I’s Regusted.”)

WEEK EIGHT

Tuesday: The Rise of TV: Beulah, Molly Goldberg & Lucy

Thursday: Watch Beulah, Molly Goldberg videos in class.

Reading: Darkest America, pp. 165-200; (On-line add J. Fred MacDonald, Blacks and White TV, pp. 117-137; TK, selection from Susan Murray and Laurie Ouellette, Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture.

WEEK NINE

Tuesday: The Beats: Another Side of the Fifties

Thursday:

Reading: Howl for Carl Solomon; The White Negro by Norman Mailer; The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy from Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin, pp. 216-241

WEEK TEN Tuesday: Race and Sport: From Boxing to Basketball

Thursday: Hip Hop Nation

Reading: Hip-Hop Nation by Tricia Rose from Popular Culture in American History, pp. 270-291; Can't Stop Won't Stop, Jeff Chang, pp. 7-19; Hip: The History, John Leland, pp. 339- 356; She-Bop, Lucy O'Brien, pp. 241-298; The Seventies, Bruce Schulman, pp. 144-158 OR Sports on the Edge of Panic, Dave Zirin, pp. 131-180; Lewis Erenberg, from Beyond Blackface, “More Than a Prizefight”; Black Fists and Sole Brothers - The 1968 Olympics from Open Mike: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture and Religion by Michael Eric Dyson, pp. 207-226; Film: Paris Is Burning (furnaced)

LIST OF FILMS FOR HISTORY 142D

DURING THE COURSE OF THE QUARTER WATCH ONE OF THESE FILMS . ON THE FINAL YOU WILL BE ANSWERING A QUESTION ABOUT HOW YOUR FILM RELATES TO THE COURSE MATERIAL.

LYING LIPS, 1939

STORMY WEATHER, 1943

GENTLEMEN’S AGREEMENT, 1947

PINKY, 1949

HOME OF THE BRAVE, 1949

SHOWBOAT, 1951

CARMEN JONES, 1954

BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK, 1955

PORGY AND BESS, 1959

IMITATION OF LIFE, 1959

WATERMELON MAN, 1970 THE GREAT WHITE HOPE, 1970

LITTLE BIG MAN, 1970

SHAFT, 1971

SOUL TO SOUL, 1971

THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR, 1973

TRADING PLACES, 1978

BLUE COLLAR, 1978

THE JERK, 1979

A SOLDIER’S STORY, 1984

BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET, 1984

HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE, 1987

ALIEN NATION

SCHOOL DAZE, 1988

DO THE RIGHT THING, 1989

BAMBOOZLED, 1990

JUNGLE FEVER, 1991

THE FIVE HEARTBEATS

NEW JACK CITY, 1991

BOYZ ‘N THE HOOD, 1991

JUICE, 1992

WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP, 1992

LOVE FIELD, 1992

ZEBRAHEAD, 1992

MALCOLM X, 1992

WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT, 1993

PARIS IS BURNING, 1993

FEAR OF THE BLACK HAT, 1993

MENACE II SOCIETY, 1993

CB4, 1993 THE GLASS SHIELD, 1994

STRANGE DAYS, 1995

DEAD PRESIDENTS, 1995

WHITE MAN’S BURDEN, 1995

NIGHTJOHN, 1996

SET IT OFF, 1996

JACKIE BROWN, 1997

BULLWORTH, 1998

SMOKE SIGNALS, 1998

GHOST DOGS: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI, 1999

THREE KINGS, 1999

BLACK AND WHITE, 1999

LOVE AND BASKETBALL, 2000

MONSTER’S BALL, 2001

TRAINING DAY, 2001

FAR FROM HEAVEN, 2002

WHITE CHICKS, 2004

THE WIRE, 2005 (SEASON ONE)

TALK TO ME, 2007

TROPIC THUNDER, 2008

DISTRICT 9, 2009

NIGHT CATCHES US, 2011

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, 2011

PARIAH, 2011

MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, 2011

THE KNICK, 2013 (SEASON ONE)

FRUITVALE SATION, 2013

TOP FIVE . 2014

SELMA , 2014 DJANGO IN CHAINS, 2014

BEYOND THE LIGHTS, 2014

TANGERINE, 2015

CREED , 2015 (WITH THIS YOU WOULD NEED TO WATCH THE ORIGINAL ROCKY MOVIE AND COMPARE THEM)

STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, 2015

LOVE AND MERCY, 2015

BESSIE, 2015

THE PEOPLE VS. OJ, 2016

MOONLIGHT , 2016