Women in America, 1607 to the Present

History 229

Fall 2011

Sarah McNair Vosmeier

VOSM@hanover.edu

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Exploring the history of American women from the colonial era to the present provides both pleasure and practical benefits. Getting to know women from America's past is as much fun as meeting an interesting new person or learning more about an old friend. Reading, discussing, and writing about women's history also offers the practical benefits of all history courses: honing your ability to analyze and make arguments, helping you see connections between small details and the big picture, helping you understand change, and furthering your ability to understand others' points of view.

As we pursue women's history, we will also consider its meaning. Is women's history the history of feminism? Is it a chronology of female "firsts"? Should women's history concentrate on those experiences (like childbearing) that are exclusive to women, or should it give equal attention to women's experience of national events like presidential elections and wars? Should studying women alter the way we understand the larger story of America's history?

Participation 20%

Book review 15%

Primary Source Analysis 15%

Midterm 23%

Final 27%

Nota Bene

Our class time provides an opportunity, rare in modern life, to focus for an extended time on a single task and conversation. Please do not multitask - to avoid distraction for others and temptation for ourselves, we will not use laptops, cell phones, etc. in our classroom.

Late papers will be penalized, and in-class assignments cannot be made up. Students with emergencies who wish to request an exception to this rule should contact me before the due date.

About Participation, Papers, and Exams:

Participation:

Students are expected to participate fully in all discussions, which will be based on close analysis of our texts. There will be occasional brief assignments to complement the regular work of the class.

Also included in participation are two assignments for which you will teach, and learn from, your classmates: the Postwar Magazine Project (a written visual analysis) and the Article Presentation (an oral presentation of a scholarly article).

People who excel in participation show evidence of careful preparation for class; they make useful comments in class or ask helpful questions; and they adequately complete all participation assignments, handing them in on time.

Book review: Students will concisely analyze a scholarly book on American women's history (600-1000 words).

Primary Source Analysis: Students will make a historical argument, supported by evidence from a primary source(s). This year the topic will be women in college; the paper could develop from our assigned readings, but it does not have to do so. (1000-2100 words).

Exams will include identification items and essay questions.

About items needed for this class

As our discussions will be based on close readings of the texts, you will need to bring them to class (ie the book, photocopies, print outs, or your own extensive notes). Thus, you should budget appropriately for printing and photocopying. All assigned readings are available on reserve at the Duggan Library or online, and the following are available at the bookstore:

Linda K. Kerber, Jane Sherron De Hart, and Cornelia Hughes Dayton, eds., Women's America, 7th edition.

Jennifer Fleischner, Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly (2003).

Diana Hacker, Rules for Writers, 6th edition.

Bettye Collier-Thomas and V.P. Franklin, eds., Sisters in the Struggle (2001).

Assignments

Note that the excerpts of scholarly articles and monographs found in Kerber, De Hart, & Dayton (identified as KDD) are cited here by their original titles.

Defining Women's History and Feminism.

Week 1 Sept. 5, 2011 (Mon) Lecture: "Defining Women's History and Feminism." For review: Kerber, De Hart, and Dayton, "Gender and the New Women's History," 2011; Scott, "The Search for the American Woman" syllabus, 1971 (KDD 1-23, 748-51).

Sept. 7, 2011 (Wed) Offen, "Defining Feminism" 1988 ( online).

Colonial and Revolutionary America.

Sept. 9, 2011 (Fri) Lecture: "Colonial and Revolutionary America." Colonial laws relating to women, 1640-1705; patriotic broadside, 1780; Osborn deposition, 1837; Wells petition, 1786 (KDD, pp. 57-60, 98-102, 134-38).

Week 2 Sept. 12, 2011 (Mon) White, "The Woman Who Married a Beaver," 1999 (click here, and then choose "pdf full text").

Sept. 14, 2011 (Wed) Book review workshop. Book reviews online.

Sept. 16, 2011 (Fri) Karlsen, excerpt from Devil in the Shape of a Woman, 1987 (KDD 76-89).

Week 3 Sept. 19, 2011 (Mon) Ulrich, Good Wives, 1980 (on reserve, pp. 3-50).

Sept. 21, 2011 (Wed) Gordon-Reed, excerpt from The Hemingses of Monticello, 2008 (KDD, pp. 139-46).

Antebellum and Civil War America.

Sept. 23, 2011 (Fri) Lecture: "Antebellum and Civil War America." Perkins letter, 1852; WPA interview with "Rose", c.1935; Sarah and Angelina Grimke documents, 1830s; Kendall letter, 1839; New York's Married Women's Property Acts, 1848, 1860; Sojourner Truth photograph, 1864 (KDD 161-63, 233-40, 267-71).

Week 4 Sept. 26, 2011 (Mon) Book review due.

Sept. 28, 2011 (Wed) Fleischner, Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly, 2003 (pp. 1-44).

Sept. 30, 2011 (Fri) Smith-Rosenberg, "The Female World of Love and Ritual," 1975 (K&D 168-83).

Week 5 Oct. 3, 2011 (Mon) Seneca Falls Declaration, 1848 (KDD 264-66); Wellman, "The Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention," 1991 (click here, and then choose "pdf full text").

Oct. 5, 2011 (Wed) Fleischner, pp. 56-62, 65-88, 93-99, 118-20, 130-37, 142-48.

Oct. 7, 2011 (Fri) No class.

Week 6 Oct. 10, 2011 (Mon) Fleischner, pp. 175-78, 181-84, 193, 200-208, 217-18, 222-24, 230-32, 293-95, 314-25.

Oct. 12, 2011 (Wed) Review

Oct. 14, 2011 (Fri) Midterm

Fall Break

Week 7 Oct. 19, 2011 (Wed) Article Presentations

Oct. 21, 2011 (Fri) Article Presentations

Reconstruction Era through the 1920s.

Week 8 Oct. 24, 2011 (Mon) Lecture: "Reconstruction Era through the 1920s." Childs affidavit, 1866; Fourteenth Amendment, 1868; Fifteenth Amendment, 1870; Bradwell v Illinois, 1873; Muller v Oregon, 1908; Adkins v Children's Hospital, 1923 (KDD 296-97, 309, 312-14, 415-16, 431-32).

Oct. 26, 2011 (Wed) Assignment t.b.a.

Oct. 28, 2011 (Fri) McCandless, "Maintaining the Spirit and Tone of Robust Manliness," 1990 (click here, and then choose "pdf full text"); Gnivri "Notes," 1876, Fisher autobiography, 1909, and Harrison letter, 1933 ( online).

Week 9 Oct. 31, 2011 (Mon) Bibliographic Instruction. Meet at Duggan Library.

Nov. 2, 2011 (Wed) Brumberg, excerpt from Fasting Girls, 1988; images of women, 1853-2009 (KDD 451-76).

Nov. 4, 2011 (Fri) Sewell, "Tea and Suffrage," 2008 (Click here and choose "pdf full text"); Minor v Happersett, 1874; Mackenzie v Hare, 1915; Nineteenth Amendment, 1920 (KDD 315-16, 427-31).

Great Depression through the Postwar Era.

Week 10 Nov. 7, 2011 (Mon) Lecture: "Great Depression and World War II." World War II images (online here, here, here, and here).

Nov. 9, 2011 (Wed) Kessler-Harris, excerpt from In Pursuit of Equity, 2001; Milkman, excerpt from Gender at Work, 1987 (KDD, 519-29, 553-65).

Nov. 11, 2011 (Fri) Primary source analysis due.

Week 11 Nov. 14, 2011 (Mon) Westbrook, "I Want a Girl, Just Like the Girl that Married Harry James," 1990 ( online).

Nov. 16, 2011 (Wed) Lecture: "Postwar America." Postwar Magazine Project due.

Nov. 18, 2011 (Fri) Friedan, excerpt from Feminine Mystique, 1963 (KDD 691-94); Meyerowitz, "Beyond the Feminine Mystique," 1993 ( online).

Second Wave of Feminism and Beyond.

Week 12 Nov. 21, 2011 (Mon) Lecture: "Second Wave of Feminism and Beyond." Civil Rights Act of 1964; "Title IX," 1972; Frontiero v Richardson, 1973; Meritor Savings Bank v. Mechelle Vinson, 1986; Violence against Women Act, 1994; Defense of Marriage Act, 1996 (KDD 650-51, 721-25, 741-45, 772).

Thanksgiving Break

Week 13 Nov. 28, 2011 (Mon) Parks, "Tired of Giving In," 1992 (in Sisters in the Struggle, pp. 61-74).

Nov. 30, 2011 (Wed) Lee, "Anger, Memory, and Personal Power," 2001 (in Sisters in the Struggle, pp. 139-70).

Dec. 2, 2011 (Fri) "Women in the Movement," 1964 (online); Hanisch, excerpt of "Critique of the Miss America Protest," 1968; Redstockings Manifesto, 1969; Radicalesbians, "Woman-Identified Woman, 1970; Equal Rights Amendment, 1972-1982; Schlafly, excerpt from The Power of the Positive Woman, 1977 (KDD 694-701, 714-19).

Week 14 Dec. 5, 2011 (Mon) Mohr, excerpt from Abortion in America, 1979; Comstock Law, 1873; Griswold v Connecticut, 1965; Roe v Wade, 1973; Weiss, "What Medical Students Learn," c.1975; Planned Parenthood v Casey, 1992 ; (KDD 205-14, 314-15, 712-14, 725-34, 768-770).

Dec. 7, 2011 (Wed) Student selected assignment t.b.a.

Dec. 9, 2011 (Fri) Review