JACOB RIIS HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVE READING GUIDE:

How to Read How the Other Half Lives:

1. Read the book quickly. There’s no need to read every word or remember every story.
2. However, as you read, focus on individual scenes, descriptions, or characters who stand out to you. What makes those parts of the book so gripping? Write down individual page numbers to enhance our discussion.
3. Read the following discussion questions before reading the book. As you read, look for answers to these issues. You will not be turning these in, but the questions will guide our discussion of the book.
Based on the first chapter, describe tenement life.
What is impoverished about tenement life?
Why do you think Riis writes this work?
What impact do the photos have on your reading of this work? What does Riis hope to achieve through images?
As you read, look for evidence of Riis’ views on assimilation. Does he seem to think assimilation is possible?

IMMIGRATION INTERVIEW GUIDELINES AND POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

Interviewer Name: ___________________/ INTERVIEW GUIDELINES/             Due: 9/26/12

Find someone who is at least 50 years old and an immigrant to this country(if possible, 60, but 50 is fine).

Gather the information with as little of your own input as possible. 

What you should include is not your interpretation of what is said. 

Instead, copy direct quotes of what is said:           

BAD:    “Jenny said she was unhappy at first.”    GOOD: “I was so unhappy at first.”

If the respondent agrees, you may record the interview; however, you must bring the transcript on paper.

This may be handwritten. You may bring the interview in another language.

Be prepared for your interview to stray away from the questions below. This is the nature of oral history. Embrace it. Some of the best stories are answers to questions unasked.

HERE ARE SOME SAMPLE QUESTION MEANT TO GUIDE YOUR INTERVIEW...YOU MAY STRAY FROM THEM.

Name of Interview Subject: (optional)

1. Where were you born? What was it like in your country of origin? Have you been back?

2. At approximately what age did you move to the United States?

3. Do you remember, or have you been told, why you left your country of origin?(push)

4. Was the decision to leave your own or were you pressured to leave by someone else? Explain.

5. What made you come to the United States instead of somewhere else? (pull)

6. Did you deal with immigration officials or anyone else in government as part of your journey or at some point after your arrival? How was that experience?

7. What difficulties did you face during the journey?

8. What difficulties did you face in the first years after arriving?

9. Did you find a community of other immigrants when you arrived? What was that like?

10. What do you think are the biggest problems facing immigrants today?

RECONSTRUCTION OUTLINE

I. Reconstruction

     A. PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION

           1. Lincoln

           2. Johnson

     B. CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

           1. RADICALS IN CONGRESS

Thaddeus Stevens & Charles Sumner

“The foundations of their institutions

must be broken up and re-laid, or all our blood and treasure will have been spent in vain.” (Stevens)

                              Frederick Douglass (1865):

"Slavery is not abolished until the black man has the ballot."

           2. MODERATES IN CONGRESS

Wade-Davis Bill (ironclad oath)

                                    --passed Congress at end of 1864:

--sent to the President.

What are his options?

           3. Freedmen's Bureau

     C. JOHNSON'S “RESTORATION”

           --Black Codes

          

Next time we will talk about how the Radicals in Congress begin to take control of the Reconstruction process.

     D. RADICALS STRIKE BACK

           1. First Civil Rights Bill

           2. First Reconstruction Acts

           3. 14th Amendment

           4. Tenure of Office Act

           5. Fifteenth Amendment

     E.   The Compromise of 1877

                 1. Hayes versus Tilden

2. The “End” of Reconstruction

The Souls of Black Folk (1901) W.E.B. DuBois:

"For this much all men know: despite compromise, war, and struggle, the Negro is not free. In the backwoods...he may not leave the plantation of his birth...in the whole rural South the black farmers are...bound by law and custom to an economic slavery, from which the only escape is death or the penitentiary. In the most cultured sections and cities of the South the Negroes are a segregated and servile caste, with restricted rights and privileges. Before the courts, both in law and custom, they stand on a different and peculiar basis...The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line."

Course Syllabus

Course Description: We will examine the political, social, and cultural foundations of American history from 1870 to the Present. We will cover Reconstruction, the problems of an increasingly urban and industrialized society, and the United States in World Affairs.

Course Reading:
1. Hoffman, Best of Abbie Hoffman

2. Riis, How the Other Half Lives

3. McElvaine, Down & Out in Great Depression

4. Recommended: Paul Johnson, History of the American People, or Firsthand
America, or any textbook on U.S. history

Grading Scale:
5%       Debate on Dropping of the Bomb
10%     Participation
5%       Immigration Interview
25%     Writing About Civil Rights
25%     Midterm Exam

30%     Final Exam

The Blog: If you have questions or comments about this class, or if you want to see the course reader or the syllabus online, just go to http://springhistory232.blogspot.com
You need to sign in to this blog this week.
You will also have short readings on the blog. I will announce these in class.

Attendance:
Just to be clear, to succeed on tests and papers you really should be in class. That’s just common sense, right? To pass this class, you may not miss more than two classes. If you miss that third class meeting, you are missing 15% of the quarter. You cannot do that and pass.

Being Prompt:
Get to class on time. Why does that matter? First, it sends the wrong message to your principal grader(that’s me). As much as we in the humanities would like you to believe that these courses are objective (at what time of day did the Battle of the Marne begin?), that is not entirely the case. If you send your principal grader the message that you don’t mind missing the first few minutes and disturbing others in the class, don’t expect to be given the benefit of the doubt when the tests and papers roll around. Does that sound mean? It’s not meant to, but just remember, your actions send signals. Being late also means that someone who already has everything out and is ready and is involved in the discussion has to stop, move everything over, get out of the chair to let you by, pick up the pencil you drop, let you borrow paper, run to the bathroom because you spilled the coffee, and so on. It’s rude. There’s an old saying: better two hours early than two minutes late. Old sayings are good.
So, what are the consequences of persistent tardiness? What do you think they should be? Remember that 10% participation? You are eligible for that grade if you are on time. And no, I’m not the jackass who watches for you to be late that one time and stands at the door and points in your face. If you are late a few (that means three) times, you will lose the entire 10% participation grade. One time tardiness is not a problem precisely because it is not persistent. It’s an accident. But if you are late several times, you will not be able to receive a participation grade above 50%.

The Unforgivable Curse:
Speaking of one time issues, there is something that is so severe, so awful, that if it happens one time, just one time, no warning, no “oh hey I noticed this and if you could stop it that’d be super,” you will automatically lose all 10 percent of the Participation grade. Any guesses? C’mon, you must have some idea. No, it’s not your telephone ringing. If that happens, it’ll just be slightly funny and we’ll move on. It’s a mistake and not intentional, and the increased heart rate and extra sweat on your brow from you diving headfirst into an overstuffed book bag to find a buried phone that is now playing that new Cristina Aguilera ringtone is punishment enough for you. So, what is it, this unforgivable crime? Texting. If you take out your phone one time to send or receive messages you will automatically lose 10% of your course grade. That means, if you receive a final grade of 85%, it will drop to 75%. If you receive a final grade of 75%, it will become a 65%. Why is that? The phone ringing is an accident. Texting is on purpose and is rude. It, in fact, is beyond rude. It wreaks of the worst of our current society. It bespeaks the absolutely vile desire we all have to never separate from our technological tether for even a moment. It sends your fellow classmates and your teacher the signal that you have better things to do. Checking your phone during class is like listening to a friend’s story and right in the middle turning away and talking to someone else. Oh, and guess what, this room is designed to give your teacher a perfect view of you with a phone beneath the table; is that text message really worth 10% of the quarter grade? Plus, the way our brains work, you need to fully immerse yourself, to tune your brain into an optimal, flowing machine (see Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s incredible book Flow) that can grasp and can let itself go. Students now tend to see school as a stopover on their way to a career. Brothers and sisters, that’s deadly! I wish that I could pay for you all to quit your jobs and just focus on the mind. I can’t yet do that, but if I could I would, because it’d be worth every penny. Devoting time to the mind and to thinking deeply about your world will change who you are and how you approach your future, your family, your job, and your everything. Is that overstated? I believe it to be true. So, until my stock choices really take off so that I can pay all of your bills, promise me one thing: when you are in class or preparing for class, you have to be fully here. Oh crap, now it’s going to sound like a hippy professor from the 1960s: “I mean, like, be here man, just be here.” Maybe the hippies were on to something. Devote yourself fully to your classes by unplugging from the outside world for a while.

In-Class Essay on Civil Rights:
In the later part of the quarter, we will be writing an in-class essay on some aspect of the Civil Rights movements in the 1950s and 1960s. We will have several readings, lectures, and class discussions leading up to this assignment.

Interviews:
You have the opportunity to conduct two interviews this quarter. I will give you more details in class, but basically, you should begin to consider who your two subjects will be. For the first interview, you will need to find someone who is at least 50 and decided to immigrate to this country.
For the second interview, you will be talking to someone who remembers the war in Vietnam. This is not a veteran of the war, necessarily, but anyone who was alive and thinking at that time. For both interviews, I’ll give you a handout and guidelines to direct your interview.

Participation:
You do not need to be the person who speaks out the most, asks the most questions, or comes up with the most brilliant historical arguments to receive full credit in participation. If you are in class and on time, discuss the issues that we raise, avoid the temptation to nod off, to leave early, or to text people during class (the three easiest ways to lose credit), and in general act like you care, then you will receive a good participation grade! Just being here does not guarantee a 100% participation grade, since you must be regularly actively involved for that to be possible.

Academic Integrity
The principles of truth and integrity are recognized as fundamental to a community of teachers and scholars. The University expects that both faculty and students will honor these principles and in so doing will protect the integrity of all academic work and student grades. Students are expected to do all work assigned to them without unauthorized assistance and without giving unauthorized assistance. Faculty have the responsibility of exercising care in the planning and supervision of academic work so that honest effort will be encouraged and positively reinforced.
http://www.csub.edu/studentconduct/documents/academicintegrity.pdf

Course Schedule:

9/10  Intro/Intro to Reconstruction/Jourdan Anderson/Assign Immigration Interview

9/12  Reconstruction/HOMEWORK DUE TODAY: SIGNED STATEMENT

9/17  Industrialism

9/19   New Imperialism/1890s/How the Other Half Lives Reading Due

9/24   Progressivism/Immigration Interview Due

9/26  More Progressivism

10/1  World War I/Prohibition

10/3  Woman Suffrage/ Harlem Renaissance

10/8  Midterm Examination

10/10  The Great Depression/New Deal/McElvaine must be read by today

10/15            More New Deal/From Quarantine to War

10/17  Bomb Debate/Post War Conformity

10/22  The Cold War

10/24              Cold War Culture

10/29  Civil Rights/Prep the In Class Essay

10/31  New Rights Movements/Writing About Civil Rights(in class essay)

11/5  War in Vietnam

11/7  Political life from Ike to LBJ/ Best of Abbie Hoffman due in Class

11/12               HOLIDAY – Veterans Day Observed – Campus Closed

11/14   War in Vietnam

11/19               Watergate and the Turbulent 70s/Last Day of Classes

REMEMBER, although this syllabus is the “law” of the class, I reserve the right to change it at any time to suit the particular needs of our class. If I must do so, it will always be in your best interest, and I’ll always advise you as soon as possible.