Assigned Materials Spring 2021
See syllabus for books. Additional Materials:
Backstory (podcast)
American History Tellers (podcast)
The Last Archive, Jill Lepore (podcast)
The New American History This is a website that hosts and aggregates new approaches to thinking about American history.
American Yawp (website/wiki) Our textbook for the class. Note there are chapters and a primary source reader. This is a free to use textbook, open education resource, created by academics and hosted on a Wiki by Stanford University Press.
Crash Course US History. Use Crash Course History as a supplement to class. If you miss a class or just want more clarification, the Crash Course History videos offer a good lecture alternative (plus I can't match the video production quality).
Various Odds and Ends via YouTube, podcasts, etc.
A note on materials. Below you will find links to the course materials. It is a lot of stuff, but don't get overwhelmed. Some of this you will do out of class; some of it we will be working with and discussing in class. At other times you will get to select the materials you use, so for example it might be listen and comment on this podcast or that podcast. My goal is to get as much of the course materials online and easily accessible in advance to make navigating this class in a pandemic easier.
Each week I’ll send out an email with specifics via Moodle announcements.
The purpose of the web page is to give you easy access to links. This is not the full syllabus. The full syllabus and other course materials are posted on Moodle. Bottom line - check Moodle, read the syllabus, and read your e-mail.
Our Class Tech
Microsoft Teams
How to use Microsoft Teams with Kevin Stratvert (His YouTube channel is a useful resource for Microsoft and other types of software). We’ll be using Teams for some assignments and to augment in-class discussion since we’ll be wearing masks.
E-Mail and Microsoft Office
This web site
http://historyprofessorpayne.com/
I’ve created a page specifically for this class (you are looking at it). Elsewhere on this site, you will find a bunch of resources that we will be using or you might find helpful. Specifically, you will find assignment instructions including reaction papers guidelines, history 202 reaction paper guidelines, and evaluating a primary document guidelines.
As you know, our LMS (Learning Management System) is Moodle. If you need some help with Moodle, ask or check out the Moodle Overview on the Moodle YouTube channel. The SBU IT folks have put up a bunch of resources on using Moodle when you log into our Moodle site. Wagner College has a handy overview of using Moodle for students.
I’ve assigned podcasts to the class. Many of you will already be listening to podcasts, but if you are new to podcasts here are overviews for the two main podcast apps - Apple and Google. You can also stream the podcasts on your PC or tablet.
The two big podcast apps:
Apple Podcast App Basics (My experience is that a solid majority of students have iPhones, so this will be your default podcast app.)
Google Podcast App Review (For those of you not in the Apple ecosystem, this is a good bet.)
There are at least a zillion podcast apps (link takes you to a review comparing 10) and most of them will do just fine. If you have a favorite you don’t have to switch apps. I use Pocket Casts on a Pixel running Android. You can also find the podcasts on Spotify or Stitcher. On Spotify I've created a playlist, Payne history spring 22. You can search by podcast name, episode name, and date in the app or you can use Listen Notes: The Best Podcast Search Engine. If you need or want captions for the audio, on your phone you can use Live Caption. On an Android phone Use Live Caption. On iPhones use hearing accessibility features for iOS. Chrome offers extensions for accessibility. Many podcast also post to YouTube. Backstory and Wondery, which does American History Tellers, have YouTube channels, YouTube has a subtitle option.
Below is the same schedule that is found on the syllabus.
Mandatory First Reaction Paper: Why History?
Monday we will go over technology and syllabus
Questions: What is a fact? How do historians work with facts to recreate the past? Post a reaction paper to the Moodle assignment.
Read Ayes, “How do our Ideas About History Change”
Listen to The Last Archive, Episode 1: The Clue in the Blue Bottle
We will discuss this on Monday. Reaction paper due by Wednesday.
Module One
Week 1: January 18 - 21
American Yawp Reconstruction
Questions: Was Reconstruction a failure? If it was a failure, should there be reparations?
Podcast you can select from:
Backstory, The American History Guys, Paying for the Past, Reparations and American History. 5.24.20
Backstory episode 297. How Reconstruction Transformed the Constitution. Aired 10.11.19
American History Tellers, Political Parties, The Golden Age of the GOP, Sept 30, 2020
Supplemental Materials:
D. W. Griffith: Birth of a Nation (1915) based on the novel The Clansman (we'll watch clips in class; don’t watch the entire movie unless you want to and I’m not going to encourage that.)
Crash Course US History, Reconstruction
Week 2: January 24 - 28
Reconstruction continued, Industrialization Starts
American Yawp, Capital and Labor
Podcast you can select from:
American History Tellers, The Gilded Age, Exclusion, Aug 12, 2020
New American History, The Restless South, 1860 - 1940
Supplemental Materials:
Crash Course US History: The Industrial Revolution
Reaction Paper Due
Week 3 January 31 to February 4
Industrialization
Questions: Is the 21st century a second Gilded Age? If so, why? Who were the winners and losers during industrialization?
American Yawp, Capital and Labor
Podcast you can select from:
American History Tellers, The Gilded Age, Exclusion, Aug 12, 2020
New American History, The Restless South, 1860 - 1940
Supplemental Material:
Crash Course US History: The Industrial Revolution
Module Paper Due
Module Two
Week 4 February 7 to 11
Industrialization Continued
Questions: Was the United States an imperial power? Did it have an empire?
American Yawp, Life in Industrial America
American Yawp, the West
Podcast you can select from:
American History Tellers, The Gilded Age, Cross of Gold, Aug 26, 2020
American History Tellers, Revolution, The Populist
Supplemental Materials:
Crash Course US History:
Week 5 February 14 to 18
Empire and Populism
Questions: What drives political change? Reform?
American Yawp, American Empire
Podcast you can select from:
Backstory American Empire, episode 325
Supplemental Materials
New American History, David Singerman, Zone of Doubt, Bunk History
Edison, Kinetoscopic Recording: Sneeze
Crash Course US History:
Reaction Paper Due
Week 6 February 21 to 25
Progressive Era and start of World War I
American Yawp, Progressive Era
Podcast you can select from:
American History Tellers, The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, Wildcat Oct 23, 2019
American History Tellers, Legacy Of the Triangle Fire. Nov 20, 2019
Supplemental Materials:
Charlie Chaplin, The Adventure (1917)
Crash Course US History: Progressive Presidents
Module Paper Due
Midterm Break: February 28 to March 4
Module Three
Week 7 March 7 to 11
The Great War and 1920s
Questions: Why was the Great War such a huge event for Americans? And why did we forget it so soon?
American Yawp, World War I and Its Aftermath
Podcast you can select from:
American History Tellers: The Coal Wars: The Most Dangerous Woman in America Aired 22.16.2020
American History Tellers, The Tulsa Race Massacre - Legacy and Lessons. June 26, 2019
Supplemental Materials
Week 8 March 14 to 18
The Roaring Twenties
Questions: Were the 20s modern? What does that mean? Did the 20s foreshadow our current culture wars?
American Yawp, The New Era
Supplemental Materials:
Buster Keaton, The General (1927) (in class)
King Vidor, The Crowd (1928) (in class)
Crash Course History The Roaring 20s
Reaction Paper Due
Week 9 March 21 to 25
The Great Depression
Questions: Should we bring back the New Deal? Political parties that represent coalitions? Are we still debating the 1930s?
American Yawp, The Great Depression
Podcast you can select from:
American History Tellers, Political Parties, the New Deal Coalition, Oct 7, 2020
Backstory, Hard Times: A History of Unemployment. Episode 150. 2.26.16.
American History Tellers, The Great Depression, Dust, March 13, 2019
Supplemental Materials
Franklin Roosevelt Inauguration Speech (1933) (in class)
Franklin Roosevelt, First Fireside Chat (1933) (in class)
Crash Course History:
Module Paper Due
Module Four
Week 10 March 28 to April 1
World War II
Questions: Was WW II the Good War? Why?
American Yawp, World War II
Podcast you can select from
Supplemental Materials
Why We Fight - War Comes to America
The Atom Strikes (1945) The Nuclear Vault via YouTube
The Smoothies - Rosie the Riveter (1943) (in class)
Private SNAFU in Rumors (1944) (in class)
Double V Campaign (in class)
Crash Course History
World War II part 2 - the Homefront
Week 11 April 4 to 8
Cold War
American Yawp, The Cold War
Questions: Why did the United States fight the Cold War? What country held the greatest responsibility for the Cold War?
Podcast you can select from:
The Last Archive, Episode 4: Unheard
Supplemental Materials:
Techniques of Propaganda (1949)
Crash Course History
Reaction Paper Due
Week 12 April 11 to 13 (M/W)
The 1950s
American Yawp, The Affluent Society
Questions: How happy (Happy Days TV show reference) were the 1950s?
Podcast you can select from:
The Last Archive, Episode 5 Project X
The Last Archive, Episode 6, Cell Strain
New American History Polio on Trial
Backstory, Another Burden to Bear: A History of Racial Health Disparities. Episode 327. 6.5.20
Supplemental Materials:
Living Room Candidate: 1952 (in class)
The Dos and Don’ts of Dating (1949) (in class)
I Love Lucy episode (1952) (in class)
John Ford, The Searchers (1956) (in class)
Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan Show (1956) (in class)
Crash Course US History: The Civil Rights Movement and the 1950s
Module Paper Due
Easter Break: April 14 to 18
Module Five
Week 13 April 19 to 22 (W/F)
Sixties
Questions: Did the 60s set the stage for our current political divide?
American Yawp, The Sixties
Podcast you can select from:
Backstory, Give Us the Ballot: LBJ and the Great Society. 4.17.20.
The Last Archive, Episode 7, The Computermen
Supplemental Materials
Living Room Candidate: 1964 (in class)
Living Room Candidate: 1968 (in class)
We Learn about the Telephone (1965)
The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show (1964) (in class)
Jimmy Hendrix Star Spangled Banner (1969) (in class)
Ronald Reagan, A Time for Choosing (1964) (in class)
Crash Course US History: The 1960s in America
Week 14 April 25 to 29
Malaise - the Long Sixties or the Seventies
Questions: Did Ford and Carter fail? What are the legacies of Watergate and Vietnam?
American Yawp, The Unraveling
Podcast you can select from:
American History Tellers, The Space Race, Photo Finish, June 10, 2020
American History Tellers, J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI - Controlling the Message, May 1, 2019
Supplemental Materials
Richard Nixon Resignation Speech (in class)
Jimmy Carter Crisis of Confidence (in class)
US Evacuation of Saigon (1974) (in class)
Crash Course US History:
Reaction Paper Due
Week 15 May 2 to 4
The Reagan Revolution
Questions: Did Reaganomics work? How were politics different?
American Yawp, The Triumph of the Right
Podcast you can select from:
American History Tellers, Political Parties, The Reagan Revolution, Oct 14, 2020
The Last Archive, Episode 10 Tomorrowland
Supplemental Materials:
American Population, 1840 - 2000 (in class)
Living Room Candidate: 1980 (in class)
Living Room Candidate: 1992 (in class)
Reagan, Tear down this wall (1987) (in class)
Crash Course US History:
America at the turn of the 21st Century
Crash Course US History:
Questions: Does history help us understand now? Elaborate
Module Paper Due
Final: Based on May, 9/11 Report