HIS 315L: The United States since 1865 Chris Babits ※ [email protected] ※ Jermaine Thibodeaux ※ [email protected] ​ ​ ​ MTWThF ※ 1:00 to 2:30 pm ※ CLA 0.112 Supplement Friday Sessions ※ 3:00 to 4:00 pm ※ GAR 3.116 Office Hours Days, Times, and Locations Listed on Canvas Homepage Vietnam War Protesters (April 17, 1965) ​ COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course surveys American history​ from the Civil War to the present day. Through a combination of lectures, readings, and in-class discussions and activities, students will learn about some of the significant intellectual, political, social, cultural, and economic aspects of ​ ​ America’s recent past. Prominent themes include the fight for civil rights and the United States’ expanding role in international affairs. By the end of the semester, you'll have a deeper understanding of racial ideology, gender, LGBTQ rights, and U.S. foreign policy. Daily readings come in the form of primary sources and academic articles. Assignments include primary source analyses, evaluations of academic articles, attendance/participation, and a final paper. At various points in class, we will focus on refining the skills necessary for you to do well on each of these assignments. This class won't stress the memorization of names and dates. Instead, our goal is for you to think critically about why or how people and events influenced the past. Over the course of the ​ ​ ​ ​ semester, students will ask the question historians ask themselves: so what? Why must we know ​ ​ about a certain person, place, or event? What makes something historically significant? And can we foster the lessons of the past to create a better future? HIS 315L, Summer II (2017), 1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES: The American Historical Association​ (AHA) has recently engaged in a project to re-envision history pedagogy. Part of the “Tuning Project,” as they’ve called it, has been to outline clear goals and objectives for history courses. The Tuning Project’s core competencies highlight what you come away from a class knowing. These learning goals focus on how the discipline of history can broaden your understanding of not only the past but also the present. In this course, we’ll emphasize the following core competencies: Building historical knowledge ● Gather and contextualize information in order to convey both the particularity of past lives and the scale of human experience. ● Recognize how humans in the past shaped their own unique historical moments and were shaped by those moments. Developing historical methods ● Recognize history as an interpretive account of the human past—one that historians create in the present from surviving evidence. ● Collect, sift, organize, question, synthesize, and interpret complex material. ● Develop empathy toward people in the context of their distinctive historical moments. Recognizing the changing nature of knowledge and the ambiguity of the past ● Describe past events from multiple perspectives. ● Explain and justify multiple causes of complex events and phenomena using conflicting sources. ● Identify, summarize, appraise, and synthesize other scholars’ historical arguments. Decoding the historical record ● Consider a variety of historical sources for credibility, perspective, and relevance. ● Evaluate historical arguments, explaining how they were constructed and might be improved. Creating historical arguments ● Craft well-supported historical narratives, arguments, and reports of research findings in a variety of media for a variety of audiences. Use historical knowledge to create an active, informed, and engaged citizenry ● Apply historical knowledge and historical thinking to contemporary issues. ● Develop positions that reflect deliberation, cooperation, and diverse perspectives. You can learn more about the AHA’s Tuning Project at the following address: https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/tuning-the-history-discipline/2016-history-disc ipline-core. HIS 315L, Summer II (2017), 2 UNIVERSITY FLAGS: HIS 315L has been approved​ to satisfy the legislative and University cultural diversity (CD) requirement. This flag seeks to expose students to the histories and experiences of historically marginalized populations. The CD flag is the reason why we’ll focus so heavily on the experiences of racial, ethnic, gendered, and sexual minorities. HIS 315L also counts towards the legislative requirement of enrolling in and passing two U.S. and/or Texas History courses. FINAL GRADE DISTRIBUTION: ​ A 92.50 - 100 A- 89.50 - 92.49 B+ 86.50 - 89.49 B 83.50 - 86.49 B- 79.50 - 83.49 C+ 76.50 - 79.49 C 72.50 - 76.49 C- 69.50 - 72.49 D+ 66.50 - 69.49 D 60 - 66.49 F Below 60 points ASSIGNMENTS AND DUE DATES: ​ Ongoing - Attendance and Class Participation - 20% Monday, July 17 by 5 pm - Primary Source Analysis #1 - 10% Monday, July 24 by 5 pm - Article Analysis #1 - 10% Monday, July 31 by 5 pm - Primary Source Analysis #2 - 15% Monday, August 7 by 5 pm - Article Analysis #2 - 15% Saturday, August 12 by 5 pm - Final Paper - 30% Details about these assignments can be found below. We’ll also spend ample class time reviewing our expectations of, and helping you build the skills to do well on, these assessments. HIS 315L, Summer II (2017), 3 UNIVERSITY-WIDE POLICIES University of Texas Honor Code The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community. Plagiarism The University's Institutional Rules define plagiarism as "but not limited to, the appropriation of, buying, receiving as a gift, or obtaining by any other means material that is attributable in whole or in part to another source...and presenting that material as one's own academic work offered for credit." In simpler language: “handing in someone else's work and taking credit for it as if it were your own.” Google Docs as Plagiarism This course PROHIBITS the use of group Google Docs for the writing of papers. Instead, we ​ ​ encourage you to participate in the “Discussions” we’ve set up through Canvas. This policy is in place for a few reasons. The most important, at least for students, is to ensure that you receive accurate information for your papers. Often, Google Docs, especially those “crowdsourced” among undergraduate students, contain inaccurate information. In addition, it’s the opinion of Chris that crowdsourced Google Docs constitute a form of cheating. If Chris discovers that students have created and shared a Google Doc to write final papers, he has the right to create a new set of questions for the WHOLE class. ​ ​ Documented Disability Statement The University of Texas at Austin provides appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact Services for Students with Disabilities. Use of E-Mail for Official Correspondence You are responsible for reading your email for University and course-related information and announcements. You should check your email regularly and frequently—try for twice per day, in the morning and at night—to stay current with University-related communications. We’re happy to answer questions you have via email, but since we meet every day for five weeks, it’s likely that we’ll ask you to speak to us in person if your question is difficult to answer electronically. Also, please don't get offended if we can't answer your email within a few hours. Like you, we make plans and go out and have fun. We’re not ignoring you and will write back the moment we have time to give your inquiry the attention it deserves. Writing Center We strongly encourage you to use the Undergraduate Writing Center (UWC). The UWC offers free, individualized, expert help with writing for any UT undergraduate, by appointment or on a drop-in basis. HIS 315L, Summer II (2017), 4 Religious Holy Days By University policy, you must notify Chris of your pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holy day. Religious holy days don't count toward unexcused absences. If a due date coincides with a religious holy day, talk to Chris to determine an appropriate timeline to submit your assignment. Behavior Concerns Advice Line (BCAL) If you are worried about someone who may be acting differently, you may use the Behavior Concerns Advice Line (BCAL) to discuss your concerns about another’s behavior. This service is provided through a partnership among the Office of the Dean of Students, the Counseling and Mental Health Center (CMHC), the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and The University of Texas Police Department (UTPD). Emergency Evacuation Policy Occupants of buildings on The University of Texas at Austin campus are required to evacuate buildings when a fire alarm is activated. Alarm activation or announcement requires exiting and assembling outside. HIS 315L, Summer II (2017), 5 REQUIRED READING: You must purchase or rent one​ book, which you can find at the University Co-Op, Amazon, or ​ ​ any used book vendor (try AbeBooks.com or Alibris.com): ● Foner, Eric. Voices of Freedom: A Documentary History. Fourth Edition. New York: ​ ​ W.W. Norton & Co., 2013. Foner, one of America’s finest historians, has assembled a collection of primary sources. This is a wonderful resource to get you thinking about the past. Foner’s book will expose you to a range of ideas that historical actors have had. Since we’ll spend class time discussing these primary sources, reading them before coming to lecture will allow you to participate during discussion. ​ ​ And because we’ll be taking class time to review some of these primary sources, make sure to bring Voices of Freedom to lectures. ​ ​ Other required readings include academic articles. We’ve chosen a range of articles, hopefully to fit a diverse range of students’ interests.