US History II

In this last unit of the course, we consider recent history – what matters, who decides, and how best to learn about more recent events. The “lens” is Race, Identity and Immigration, i.e. the “New Face of the USA.” What does America look (and sound, and taste) like in 2012, and why?

Here’s a unit overview. Note there’s also a new tab above for your unit SkillBuilder due on Friday 11/30.

Mon 11/26 – “What Happened to the 1960s?” Reading: Skim Ch 12, especially 12.4 Middle East and Malaise: America in the Late 1970s

Wed 11/30 – Reaganomics and the End of the Cold War. Reading: Chapter 13.1 and 13.2

Fri 11/30 – History Now Workshop Day. Very important that you’re in class on this day, I’ll be handing out the packets for our History Now project (guidelines here). No reading. SkillBuilder #6 is due by the start of class.

Mon 12/3 – Immigration in Your Time. Reading: Ch 13.4 Technology and Globalization

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno _ Citizenship Test by hulu

Wed 12/5 – American Diversity. Reading: Ch 14.3 Diversity in the New America

Fri 12/7 – History Now, Discussion Day. No reading, History Now Project is due in class. No electronic submission on this project and NO LATE WORK ACCEPTED.

The last exam will be Wed 12/12 at 8:30 am in our classroom

Well, the water main break has made a really long weekend – no class today, Wed 11/14.

Here is how we will revise the schedule and grading for Unit 4:

1. I am cancelling the in-class exam on Monday 11/19. That day will be a regular class, on popular culture during the Vietnam War. Here’s one minute from 10 years of network news coverage of the war, with CBS’s Walter Cronkite:

2. In place of that exam, I am making a longer online (i.e. open-book) multiple-choice test. It will be 30 questions long, each worth 2 points, for a total of 60 points replacing the 57 points of the online + written portions. The online test will open on Friday, November 16th after class and remain open until just before midnight, Wednesday the 21st. You can take it up to 3 times.

3. Please read chapters 10.3 (“America and the World During the Kennedy Years”), and all of 11 and 12. The test will cover the following concepts and terms from those chapters:

Cuban Missile Crisis
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Great Society (including Medicare, Medicaid)
Second-wave feminism including NOW, Ms, ERA, and Title IX
Vietnam War terms: Gulf of Tonkin, Rolling Thunder, Tet Offensive, My Lai Massacre, War Powers Act
Election of 1968
New Left
Kent State shooting
Pentagon Papers
Watergate
detente
the 1970s “crisis of confidence”
Iranian revolution and hostage crisis

Our lens for this unit is Media and Popular Culture, especially television and rock&roll music.

Mon 11/5 – Television, Media and Music. Reading: excerpt from David Halberstam, The Fifties (PDF)

Check out some TV of the era:

Milton Berle, an early 1949 show

News film on the Kefauver hearings on organized crime (1951)

The Jack Benny Show (guest star Fred Allen) in 1953

Camel News Caravan nightly newscast from 1952

Wed 11/7 – Postwar America. Reading: Ch 9.2 Postwar America + 9.3 Red Scares

Two film trailers:  THEM! (1954) and Rebel Without A Cause (1955)

Fri 11/9 – Workshop Day on Juvies and Youth Culture. We will work in class with a PDF packet of documents which I will provide (although it can be downloaded here if you want to look ahead at it). SkillBuilder #5 is due, please use the links provided in the 1954-1980 tab above.

Links: Blackboard Jungle (1955), The Wild One (1953), Teenage Doll (1957)

Mon 11/12 – No School, Veterans Day

Wed 11/14 – Updated: No School, campus closed

Fri 11/16 – Updated: Songs of the Long Sixties. Reading: Ch 10.3 America and the World During the Kennedy Years. Online test (30 questions) opens up after class and will remain open until Wed 21st just before midnight. See post above for details and coverage.

Mon 11/19 – Media and Popular Culture in the Vietnam Era. Reading: Ch 11.2 The Great Society and the Vietnam War

No class on Wed 11/21 – enjoy your Thanksgiving! Online test closes just before midnight 11/21.