Posted: December 14th, 2022

Explain the causes and consequences of the defining events in the twentieth century

HIS 1201
Course Description
This course traces the political, economic, cultural, and social history of the United States since 1896. In the process we will examine some of the events, ideas, institutions, and people that have helped make the United States of America what it is today. We will spend a great deal of our time learning to identify and analyze useful and informative primary sources, and in learning how to do research to find secondary sources that we can trust.
As this version of the course is offered entirely online, it is up to you to keep up with the readings and assignments.
There are many assignments!
Essentially, there will be two assignments due each week . These are brief responses to the reading, video, art or interviews we will explore. As I said, these are brief responses, but they are graded.
In addition, you will choose two topics from the Modules and submit two short papers. The regular assignment schedule will end in mid-November, and you will then need to choose which ares you want to focus in on.
Finally, you will submit a 5 to 8 page paper on a topic of your choice that falls within the chronology and geography of the course.
I will send out reminders from time to time, but much of what you’re comfortable doing in class as a group you will now be responsible for on your own. You can do it! But, completing an online course is usually more difficult and requires more individual commitment from a student than a traditional course. Be sure to follow the Course Summary and to complete the short papers and the final paper, as well as the quizzes and discussions and other assignments.
Goals
Students who take this course will learn:
• The narrative arc of twentieth century American history.
• Key methods, ideas, and analytical frameworks in American history.
• How historical interpretations change over time.
• The difference between primary and secondary sources.
• Critical thinking, research and communication skills.

Objectives
At the end of this class, students should be able to:
• Explain the causes and consequences of the defining events in the twentieth century, including the World Wars, the Great Depression and New Deal, the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and various culture wars.
• Identify the defining features, successes, and failures of significant political movements, including Progressivism, Liberalism, and Conservatism, and explain how those movements influenced party politics.
• Summarize the major economic developments during the twentieth century and their impact on the average American worker.
• Compare and contrast the historical experiences of diverse groups in American society during the twentieth century and analyze these groups’ roles in shaping American society.
• Situate social movements and cultural trends in their contexts, and identify the factors that created and influenced them.
• Analyze aspects of the United States’ foreign policy and stature in the world over the course of the twentieth century and describe the relationship between world and U.S. affairs.
• Explain the influence twentieth century U.S. history has had on current political affairs, social movements, and cultural trends.
• Interpret primary and secondary sources, and understand how historians utilize both to create an analysis.
NOTE: This course is part of the General Education Program and successfully completing the class fulfills one course in the World Heritage & Global Perspectives Body of Knowledge. Specifically, the course will focus on helping students to focus on historical and social elements of culture as well as contemporary issues related to society, polities and belief systems.
You can learn more about the General Education Curriculum here:
https://www.sfc.edu/academics/gepLinks to an external site.

You will meet the outcomes listed above through a combination of the following activities in this course:

• Completing assigned readings from the course modules and the writing due most days!
• Completing 1 short, one to two page papers discussing primary sources. I will pick 1 and you will pick 2
• Completing 1 five to eight page paper on a topic chosen during the course
• Completing the short quizzes and other assignments offered from time to time during the course

Required Text and Materials
Textbook: Our textbook is entirely online and entirely free!
http://www.americanyawp.com/index.html (Links to an external site.)
We will be using Vol. II: After 1877. You can download the entire text as a PDF, or read it online. It is a gift from hundreds of historians who compiled it as a collaborative effort. If you would like to know about them, read an interview here:
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/03/11/interview-editors-american-yawp-free-history-textbook-published-online (Links to an external site.)
If you are confused by The Yawp, or would like a different perspective on a particular era or issue, you can also consult US History, another free online text found at this link:
https://openstax.org/details/books/us-history (Links to an external site.)
In addition, all students must have access to a computer with sufficient storage to download the course materials found in Modules, and an internet connection capable of streaming video. See the section below labeled “Computer Requirements”. You will need access to a computer with these capabilities from the first day of class.

Course Delivery Mode
This course will be delivered entirely online through the learning management system Canvas. You will use your SFC account to login into the course from the Canvas Login Page. If you have not activated your SFC account, please visit the SFC Help Desk on campus or call the Help Desk at (718)-489-5444 for proper protocol to obtain your log-in credentials.
In Canvas, you will access online lessons, course materials, and resources. At designated times throughout the semester, we will participate in activities using Canvas. Activities will consist of live office hours, discussion forums, email, and web posting.
There are many online Canvas resources found in the Pages section of the menu at the left. Among the most important:
Canvas Resources
Canvas Student Tutorial Guides
Canvas Student Video Tutorials

Computer Requirements

Canvas Access
To access this course on Canvas you will need access to the Internet and a supported Web browser (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari). Make sure your browser is up to date.
Supported Browsers
Because it’s built using web standards, Canvas runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, or any other device with a modern web browser.

Canvas supports the last two versions of every browser release. We highly recommend updating to the newest version of whatever browser you are using as well as the most up-to-date Flash plug-in.

Click here to see the browsers/versions that Canvas supports (Links to an external site.)

Some supported browsers may still produce a banner stating “Your browser does not meet the minimum requirements for Canvas.” If you have upgraded your browser but you are still seeing the warning banner, try logging out of Canvas and deleting your browser cookies.

Click here for help with clearing your cache on MAC (Links to an external site.)
Click here for clearing cache on PC (Links to an external site.)

If you are using an unsupported browser, you can update your browser, or you can dismiss the warning banner during the duration of your browser session. For instance, testing centers can dismiss the banner and it won’t appear until the next browser session.

Required Components
Flash (Links to an external site.) is required in several places in Canvas: media recording/streaming and viewing as well as uploading files to a course or an assignment. Other than these features, Flash is not required to use most areas of Canvas.

The Java plug-in (Links to an external site.) is required for screen sharing in Conferences. Please note that some browsers do not support Java. Otherwise, there are no other browser plug-ins used by Canvas.

Update Your Desktop Browser
There are a couple of different ways to update your desktop browser.
1. Every time you open your browser, it will check to make sure it is using the most current version. If it is not updated, your browser will prompt you with a notification and walk you through the update process.
2. Download the latest version of your desktop browser directly. Click the name of your browser below to visit your browser’s download page:
• Internet Explorer (Links to an external site.)
• Chrome (Links to an external site.)
• Safari (Links to an external site.)
• Firefox (Links to an external site.)
• Flash (Links to an external site.)
• Technical Requirements for using Canvas ONLY

Required Technical Skills (Don’t worry, I’m not a computer science major, either.)

To be successful in this course you should be familiar with and be able to execute the following technological skills:
• Creating and posting to a discussion board, blog, or Wiki
• Taking a test through Canvas
• Attaching documents
• Copy and paste functions
• Microsoft Office tools: Word, PowerPoint, Excel
• Searching the SFC library and websites
Note: These skills will not be taught in class. You will be expected to perform these functions in order to participate in the class.
Technical Helpance
If you need technical Helpance at any time during the course or to report a problem with Canvas you can:
• Seek Helpance for Canvas you can call the 24/7 number a (855)-979-8942 or view the student guides (Links to an external site.)for frequently asked questions.
• For questions about SFC email accounts and/or Canvas access, please contact the Instructional Technology Support Center by email to helpdesk@sfc.edu, calling (718)-489-5444 or stop by the help desk on the 4th
• Visit the office of Academic Enhancement

METHODS OF EVALUATING STUDENTS:
Students are required to read and watch all assigned materials and be prepared to participate in class discussions and projects. Your final course grade will be based on assignments, quizzes, discussion participation, spot checks and the final paper.
Assignments:
All assignments for this course will be submitted electronically through Canvas unless otherwise instructed. Assignments must be submitted by the given deadline or special permission must be requested from your professor before the due date. Extensions will not be given beyond the next assignment except under extreme circumstances. It is important to keep up with the reading and assignments.
You can find most of the information you will need in the modules tab in the left hand navigation bar, and in your textbook. Each module will include a set of primary sources, secondary sources for you to read and reference, and an assignment (an achievement) such as a paper or a quiz. Assignments will be thoroughly explained in the module and so be sure read the instructions carefully. Most errors in assignments are caused by not following directions. Assignments are also found in the Course Summary and the Assignments tab.
LATE WORK POLICY
Be sure to pay close attention to deadlines-there will be no make-up assignments or quizzes, or late work accepted without a serious and compelling reason and instructor approval. All discussion assignments must be completed by the assignment due date and time. Late or missing discussion assignments will affect the student’s grade. In addition, it will be very difficult to catch up once you have fallen behind. If you find yourself falling behind, please send me an email and I can help you prioritize what to focus on and submit.
GRADING POLICY
Viewing Grades in Canvas
Points you receive for a graded activity will be posted in the Canvas Grade Book. Click on the Grades link to view your points.
Graded Course Activities
Visit the Assignments link in Canvas for details about each assignment listed below. Click on Quizzes to access quizzes and exams.
Your grade will be determined as follows:
11 graded assignments each with a due date. 5 points each. You can earn up to 60 points.
2 Short papers you choose yourselves. 5 points each. You can earn up to 10 points.
1 Final paper. You can earn up to 30 points.
So, there are a total of 100 possible points. I will follow the usual grading scale, so you should have a good idea of what your final grade will be based on the number of points earned.
Note: if, for whatever reason, you chose to complete more than 2 short papers, I will use the two papers with the highest grades.
92 points or more: A
90-91: A-
88-89: B+
82-87: B
80-81: B-
78-79: C+
72-77: C
70-71: C-
65-69: D
Below 65: F

Class Participation Policy

We strongly encourage a daily login to include a completion of an activity or assignment, just to catch up on the reading, or to look for primary and secondary sources for your final paper. Without a daily login you may miss required assignments or helpful information to help you complete later assignments, including the Final Paper.

Generally online students invest 8 to 10 hours each week reading and completing assignments. By logging into the course at least a few times each week and completing work in scheduled blocks of time, you will find the workload is manageable. Plan your schedule accordingly and be sure to meet all assignment deadlines to succeed in this class.

Full details of this policy are provided in the Student Attendance and Student Participation Agreement. You must complete this agreement in the first week of class, and a link to the agreement is included in the first module.

Online Course Conduct
Netiquette Guidelines

Netiquette is a set of rules for behaving properly online. Your instructor and fellow students wish to foster a safe online learning environment. All opinions and experiences, no matter how different or controversial they may be perceived, must be respected in the tolerant spirit of academic discourse. You are encouraged to comment, question, or critique an idea but you are not to attack an individual. Working as a community of learners, we can build a polite and respectful course community.

The following netiquette tips will enhance the learning experience for everyone in the course:
• Do not dominate any discussion.
• Give other students the opportunity to join in the discussion.
• Do not use offensive language. Present ideas appropriately.
• Be cautious in using Internet language. For example, do not capitalize all letters since this suggests shouting.
• Popular emoticons such as ☺ or / can be helpful to convey your tone but do not overdo or overuse them.
• Avoid using vernacular and/or slang language. This could possibly lead to misinterpretation.
• Never make fun of someone’s ability to read or write.
• Share tips with other students.
• Keep an “open-mind” and be willing to express even your minority opinion. Minority opinions have to be respected.
• Think and edit before you push the “Send” button.
• Do not hesitate to ask for feedback.
• Using humor is acceptable.
Adapted from: http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/ (Links to an external site.).

Course Preferred Method of Communication
Please use the Canvas Inbox or Outlook email to send me an email.
Please allow for enough time for me to answer your email. I normally respond back quickly but please give me a 48 hour response window. If I do not respond back within that window please forward your email to me again. Sometimes things do get lost in my mailbox.
Any pressing questions should not be put in the comments section of your assignment submittal. I use this comments section to make notes on your assignments.

Institutional Policies
Institutional Policies

Academic Integrity
Academic Integrity is central to academic life. Academic integrity (honesty) entails being truthful to oneself and to the larger College community, being original in thought and expression, and attributing honestly ideas and words taken from other sources. Originality of thought and expression is fundamental to academic discourse, as is honesty in giving credit to other thinkers when using their ideas and words. Academic integrity embodies the values of sound moral character and of excellence, social responsibility, and mutual respect which are upheld, in the College Mission Statement, as cornerstones of the College Community. The policies and procedures are defined in detail in The Cord: Official Student Handbook of St. Francis College.

Accessibility and Accommodations (formerly Disability Services)

Accessibility and Accommodations provides reasonable and appropriate accommodations to students with documented disabilities to ensure equal access to programs, activities, and opportunities at the College. Accommodations are determined through an interactive process between the student and the College. For more information, please visit the website at www.sfc.edu/studentlife/accessibility. To request accommodations, please call (718) 489-2047, email KKrieger@sfc.edu, or stop by the office in room 3307.

Attendance
Students are expected to attend every class session, which for an online class means checking in every day. Students absent more than 10 percent of the total meetings of a course are subject to a grade of F in that course. Students who do not attend any portion of a course or whose last date of attendance is before the withdrawal date may receive an X instead; however, the X will have the same computational effect as an F. (See the section on grading policies.) Additionally, students who have accrued five hours of consecutive absences are reported to the Office of the Vice President of Student Affairs/Dean of Students.
Seniors with a 2.0 cumulative index or better may be entitled to privileged attendance. This will be granted at the discretion of the individual instructor and such policy will be announced at the first class meeting.
Religious Holidays
All colleges and universities in New York State must not in any way penalize a student who, because of his or her religious beliefs, is unable to register, attend class, take an examination, or participate in any required academic work on a particular day or days. Any absence(s) accrued under these circumstances will be excused, and alternatives will be provided for the student to register or make up any required work. No additional fees, requirements, or penalties will be assessed. All members of the College community are expected to exercise good faith with respect to the implementation of these provisions.
Dropping Courses
Students are permitted to drop courses during the first week of the fall and spring semesters and during the first two days of the summer semester. This right in no way relieves the student of the responsibility to complete core or departmental requirements in the appropriate sequence, nor does it relieve the student of tuition obligations.
Withdrawal from Courses or from the College
Students who wish to withdraw from a course after the first week of the fall and spring semesters or after the first two days of the summer semester may do so as follows:
• Report to the Registrar’s Office to complete the proper forms. The mark of W (withdrawal) will appear on the transcript for the course but will not be computed in the student’s quality-point index.
• The last day for withdrawal from courses with a mark of W will be exactly nine weeks after the start of the semester. Only under very unusual circumstances, and with the permission of the Academic Dean, will students be permitted to withdraw after the deadline. The date of withdrawal is the day the student informs the Registrar’s Office.
Note: The failure to attend a class does not constitute an official withdrawal from a course. Students who drop or withdraw from a course are advised to see a financial aid counselor regarding the effect this action may have upon their receiving financial aid. Students obliged to withdraw from the College should contact the Registrar’s Office for further instructions.
Retroactive Withdrawals
From time to time, students face unforeseen circumstances that require them to leave the College temporarily or permanently. The College will attempt to minimize the burden as much as possible. Students should make every effort to present their situation in a timely fashion. Students requesting to withdraw in the current semester should contact the Dean for Students who may authorize a withdrawal or, if the circumstances warrant, may authorize that the semester be deleted from the student’s academic and financial record.
If the semester has already ended and grades have been recorded, students may request that the grades be converted to withdrawals (mark of W). In this case, the Dean for Students will consult with the faculty who taught the student and make a recommendation to the Academic Dean’s office. If the Academic Dean (or desig- nee) approves, all grades will be converted to withdrawals.
Following one full fall or spring semester, the student’s record will become permanent, and changes of grades to withdrawals will no longer be allowed.

Sources to consider when thinking about your final paper:
• Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform: From Bryan to FDR (1955)
• Robert Wiebe, The Search for Order 1877-1920 (1967)
• Michael McGerr, A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement (2003)
• Robyn Muncy, Creating a Female Dominion in American Reform 1890-1935 (1991)
• William Link, The Paradox of Southern Progressivism, 1880-1930 (1992)
• Ellen Carol DuBois, Harriot Stanton Blatch and the Winning of Woman Suffrage (1997)
• William Appleman Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy (1962)
• John Dobson, America’s Ascent: The United States Becomes a Great Power, 1890-1914 (1978).
• Kristin L. Hoganson, Fighting for American Manhood: How Gender Politics Provoked the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars (1998)
• James Field, “American Imperialism: The Worst Chapter in Almost Any Book,” with responses from Walter LaFeber and Robert Beisner, American Historical Review, Vol. 83 (June 1978), 644-683.
• Chambers, John Whiteclay. To Raise an Army: The Draft Comes to Modern America (1987)
• Robert H. Zieger, America’s Great War: World War I and the American Experience (2000).
• John Milton Cooper, Breaking the Heart of the World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations (2001)
• Arthur Link, Woodrow Wilson: A Brief Biography (1963)
• Joel Williamson, A Rage for Order: Black-White Relations in the American South Since Emancipation (1986)
• David Levering Lewis, E. B. DuBois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919 (1993)
• Nancy MacLean, Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Klu Klux Klan (1994)
• Grace Elizabeth Hale, Making Whiteness: The Culture of Segregation in the South, 1890-1940 (1998)
• Matthew Frye Jacobson, Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race (1998)
• TJ. Jackson Lears, No Place of Grace: Antimodernism and the Transformation of American Culture, 1880-1920(1981)
• Susan Porter Benson, Counter Cultures: Saleswomen, Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores, 1890-1940 (1986)
• Lee D. Baker, From Savage to Negro: Anthropology and the Construction of Race, 1896-1954(1998)
• Kathy Peiss, Hope in a Jar: The Making of America’s Beauty Culture (1999)
• Robert McElvaine, The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941 (1984)
• Ira Katznelson, When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth Century America (2005)
• Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle, eds., The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order., 1930-1980 (1989)
• Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 (1990)
• Michael Denning, The Cultural Front (1997)
• William Leuchtenberg, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1940 (1963)
• Alan Brinkley, The End of Reform: New Deal Liberalism in Recession and War (1995)
• David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (1999)
• John Morton Blum, V Was For Victory: Politics and Culture During World War Il (1976)
• Karen Anderson, Wartime Women: Sex Roles, Family Relations and the Status of Women During World War II (1981)
• Allan Berube, Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men & Women in World War Two (1990)
• John Dower, War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (1986)
• Neil A. Wynn, The Afro-American and the Second World War (1993)
• Ronald Takaki, Double Victory: A Multicultural History of America in World War II (2001)
• David Roeder, The Censored War: The American Visual Experience in World War II (1995)
• Roger Daniels, Prisoners without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II (2004)
• Thomas Patterson, The Making of the Cold War (1978)
• Walter LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War, 1945-1996 (Eighth Edition, 1997)
• John L. Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History (2005).
• Richard M. Fried, Nightmare in Red: The McCarthy Era in Perspective (1990)
• John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America (1999)
• Ellen Schrecker, Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America (1998)
• Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (1988)
• Paul Boyer, By the Bomb’s Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age (1985).
• Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumer’s Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (2003).
• Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States (1985)
• Joanne Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver: American Women in the 1950s (1992)
• Clayborn Carson, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s (1981).
• David Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1986)
• Steven F. Lawson and Charles Payne, Debating the Civil Rights Movement (2006)
• Charles M. Payne, I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Struggle (1995)
• Peniel Joseph, Waiting Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America (2007)
• Danielle L. McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance: A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power (2010)
• Charles DeBenedetti with Charles Chatfield, An American Ordeal: The Antiwar Movement of the Vietnam Era (1990)
• Todd Gitlin, The Sixties: Years of Hope: Days of Rage (1987)
• Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin, America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s (2000)
• George Herring, America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975 (4th 2002)
• Maurice Isserman, If I had a Hammer. . . : The Death of the Old Left and the Birth of the New Left (1987)
• Marilyn B. Young, The Vietnam Wars (1990)
• David Maraniss, They Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace in Vietnam and America October 1967 (2004)
• Nancy Cott, The Grounding of Modern Feminism (1987)
• William H. Chafe, Paradox of Change (1991)
• John D. Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (1983)
• Bruce J. Schulman, The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics (2001)
• Berman, Willam C., America’s Right Turn from Nixon to Clinton (1998)
• Dan T. Carter, From George Wallace to Newt Gingrich: Race in the Conservative Counterrevolution 1963-1994 (1996)
• William Martin, With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America (1996)
• William H. Chafe: Never Stop Running: Allard Lowenstein and the Struggle to Save American Liberalism (1993)
• William Pemberton, Exit With Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan, (1997)
• Doug Rossinow, The Politics of Authenticity: Liberalism, Christianity and the New Left in America (1998)
• David Greenberg, Nixon’s Shadow: A History of an Image (2004)
• Steven Lawson and John Hope Franklin, One America in the Twenty-First Century: The Report of Bill Clinton’s Initiative on Race (2009)
• “Entertainment Wars: Television Culture after 9/11” by Lynn Spigel, American Quarterly 56 (Jun., 2004), 235-270

Assessments

A comparison of assignments from the class will be used to assess student achievement of the learning objectives. For example:

1. Compare achievement by a sampling of student submissions for their first short paper (on imperialism) with the paper on the Vietnam War due near the end of the term. This will assess the following objectives a) how well students interpret primary and secondary sources and how historians use both to create an analysis. B) demonstrate how well a student can analyze US foreign policy and stature in the world over the course of the century.
2. Compare achievement by a sampling of student submissions from the assignment on The Great Migration with the Assignment on the Civil Rights Movement. This will assess a) how well the students can explain the causes and consequences of some of the defining events in the century, b) how well they can situate social movements in their contexts, and c) explain the influence 20th century history has had on current social movements.

Rubric:

Based on a combination of the content, analysis and quality of writing, indicate the demonstrated level of proficiency with the objective at the beginning and near the end of the course.

Exemplary
Proficient
Approaching
Not Demonstrated

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