History of Women in Twentieth-Century America
HIS 50970
Summer 2007
INSTRUCTOR
Dr. Rebecca Sharpless R.Sharpless@tcu.edu
Reed Hall 302A
Telephone 257-5645
Office hours: By appointment
BOOKS REQUIRED
Gordon, Linda. The Moral Property of Women: A History of Birth Control Politics in America
Lunardini, Christine A. From Equal Suffrage to Equal Rights: Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party, 1910-1928.
Faderman, Lillian. Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America
Tentler, Leslie Woodcock. Wage-Earning Women: Industrial Work and Family Life in the United States, 1900-1930.
Blackwelder, Julia. Women of the Depression: Caste and Culture in San Antonio, 1929-1939.
Goossen, Rachel Waltner. Women against the Good War: Conscientious Objection and Gender on the American Home Front, 1941-1947.
May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era
Payne, Charles M. I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle
Echols, Alice. Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-75.
Mathews, Donald G., and Jane Sherron De Hart. Sex, Gender, and the Politics of ERA: A State and the Nation.
Rosen, Ruth. The World Split Open: How the Modern Women’s Movement Changed America
Faludi, Susan. Backlash: The Undeclared War against American Women (fifteenth anniversary edition).
INTRODUCTION
This course is designed to be a broad survey of women’s experiences in the twentieth-century United States.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
By the end of this course, the student will:
1. Be familiar with the general history of women in the U.S. in the twentieth century.
2. Be able to discuss change over time in American women’s lives from 1900 to 2000.
3. Be able to trace the impact of major historical events such as industrialization, the Great Depression, World War II, and the feminist movements on the lives of American women.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
The course grade is based on a combination of attendance and participation, and a bibliographic essay.
Attendance and participation: 50 percent
We are a community of scholars together, and you are expected to attend each class and contribute meaningfully to each class discussion. Your contributions should consistently demonstrate thoughtful engagement with the material.
Bibliographic essay: 50 percent
Each student will select a topic of interest to her or him in twentieth-century U.S. women’s history and will write a bibliographic essay of at least fifteen (15) pages. The essay must cover a minimum of ten books. If articles prove more relevant than books, then the student must use at least four articles for every book that is being substituted. The essays are due August 7, 2007.
Communication with the Outside World during Class Time
Please keep your attention focused inside the classroom during class time. Use of cell phones (including text messages), BlackBerries, wireless Internet, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, including devices of which the professor has not yet heard, is expressly and vehemently forbidden.
Statement on Disability Services at TCU
Texas Christian University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 regarding students with disabilities. Eligible students seeking accommodations should contact the Coordinator for Students with Disabilities in the Center for Academic Services located in Sadler Hall, 11. Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations. Further information can be obtained from the Center for Academic Services, TCU Box 297710, Fort Worth, TX 76129, or at (817) 257-7486.
Academic Misconduct (Sec. 3.4 from the Student Handbook)
Any act that violates the academic integrity of the institution is considered academic misconduct. The procedures used to resolve suspected acts of academic misconduct are available in the offices of Academic Deans and the Office of Campus Life. Specific examples include, but are not limited to:
Cheating: Copying from another student’s test paper, laboratory report, other report, or computer files and listings; using, during any academic exercise, material and/or devices not authorized by the person in charge of the test; collaborating with or seeking aid from another student during a test or laboratory without permission; knowingly using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting, or soliciting in its entirety or in part, the contents of a test or other assignment unauthorized for release; substituting for another student or permitting another student to substitute for oneself;
Plagiarism: The appropriation, theft, purchase or obtaining by any means another’s work, and the unacknowledged submission or incorporation of that work as one’s own offered for credit. Appropriation includes the quoting or paraphrasing of another’s work without giving credit therefore.
Collusion: The unauthorized collaboration with another in preparing work offered for credit.
Class Schedule and List of Readings
HIST 50970
Summer 2007
June 11:
Gordon, The Moral Property of Women: A History of Birth Control Politics in America
Lunardini, From Equal Suffrage to Equal Rights: Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party, 1910-1928.
June 18:
Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America
Tentler, Wage-Earning Women: Industrial Work and Family Life in the United States, 1900-1930.
June 26:
Blackwelder, Women of the Depression: Caste and Culture in San Antonio, 1929-1939.
Goossen, Women against the Good War: Conscientious Objection and Gender on the American Home Front, 1941-1947.
July 3:
May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era
Payne, I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle
July 10:
Echols, Alice. Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-75.
July 24:
Mathews, Donald G., and Jane Sherron De Hart. Sex, Gender, and the Politics of ERA: A State and the Nation.
July 31:
Rosen, Ruth. The World Split Open: How the Modern Women’s Movement Changed America
August 7:
Faludi, Susan. Backlash: The Undeclared War against American Women (fifteenth anniversary edition).