HI 280 (A1): Protest Movements in Modern America Boston University, Spring 2015 Mondays and Wednesday 5.30-7pm, CAS 227 Professor Michael Holm History Department Office: 226 Bay State Road, # 506 Email: mholm@bu.edu. Phone: (617) 353-8305 Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 11-12.30 COURSE DESCRIPTION/FORMAT: Social and political protest and activism are crucially important parts of modern society. The ability to voice opposition and to challenge the status quo is a particular virtue of democratic societies and a core American principle. This course examines the history of protest movements as forces of change in modern American society from the late nineteenth century to the present. We will look at the ideological, political, cultural, and socio-economic origins of selected movements, and explore the movements origins, rationale, ideas, tactics, and their successes or failures. We will also discuss the responses these movements provoked from the American public, the media, and from government structures of power. Topics include but are not limited to anti- war protest movements, civil rights, the South s protests against civil rights, the women s movement, the gay rights movement, the anti-nuclear movement, the Tea Party, and the Occupy (Wall Street) Movement. REQUIRED READINGS: Michael Foley, Front Porch Politics: The Forgotten Heyday of American Activism in the 1970s and 1980s. Jill Lapore: The White of Their Eyes: The Tea Party's Revolution and the Battle over American History. 1
Nancy MacLean, The American Women s Movement: A Brief History with Documents. Van Gosse, The Movements of the New Left: 1950-1975: A Brief History with Documents. Lillian Smith, Strange Fruit. Books are available the Barnes and Noble Bookstore. Additional assigned readings will be uploaded to the course Blackboard site. On the syllabus these are designated **. COURSE WEBSITE: The course s Blackboard site is your location for readings, the course syllabus, and practical information regarding writing assignments and grading criteria. GRADE BREAKDOWN: Midterm: Essay Take-home Exam. Due via email or in my office, March 6 at 3pm (20%) Participation and attendance (25%) Final: Essay Take-home Exam (30%) Analytical Paper (25%) The grading criteria for this course will be accordingly: 93-100 A 90-92 A- 88-89 B+ 83-87 B 80-82 B- 78-79 C+ 74-77 C 70-73 C- 50-69 D 0-49 F In addition to the midterm and final take-home examinations, you will be required to write a primary source based analytical paper. The nature of the paper assignment requirements will be explained in greater detail in class. The analytical paper is due in lecture April 15. Handing in your paper after the due date will result in a penalty of three points per day. Please note that each student is required to schedule a meeting with the professor to discuss a selected topic and a preliminary source selection. These meetings must be arranged to take place no later than April 3. Failure to schedule a meeting by the deadline will result in a grade penalty of 6 points. NOTE ON WRITING ASSIGNMENTS: For a detailed description of the proper format for historical essays, students should consult the BU History Department Writing Guide. http://www.bu.edu/history/undergraduate-program/resources/writing-guide/ NOTE ON PLAGIARISM: Remember that plagiarism is a serious offense. The Boston University Code of Academic Conduct defines plagiarism as any attempts by a student to represent the work of another as his or her own. Plagiarism is subject to serious sanctions, including reprimand, suspension, and expulsion. For a detailed description of Boston University s rules, consult the code of conduct at: http://www.bu.edu/academics/cas/policies/academic-conduct/ 2
Schedule of Lectures, Discussions and Weekly Assignments: January 21: January 26: January 28: February 2: February 4: February 9: February 11: Introduction to the Course Then and Now: Protest, Memory and 2 Tea Parties Lapore, pp. 1-42 Foley, pp. 3-11 Boston Tea Party Documents (handout in class) The Battle for the Soul of America: Protest in the Aftermath of Reconstruction Henry Grady and the South Will Rise Again** Article Collection The Klan** Media on Birth of a Nation** Protesting the Quest for Empire Boutwell, Against Empire ** E.B. Smith, The Constitution and Inequality ** Gookin, A Liberty Catechism ** Murphy, Womens Anti-Imperialism ** Recommended reading: Williams, The Crisis of the 1890s and the Turn to Imperialism ** Anti-Immigration and Nativism Hungtington, Who Are We? The Challenges to America s National Identity, (excerpt)** Ngai, Impossible Subject (excerpt)** (Skim) The National Origins Act of 1924** Protesting the National Origins Act** Senators For and Against Immigration** Discussion: The Meaning of America Mark Twain, To the Person Sitting in Darkness ** Bourne, Cultural Pluralism ** Jane Addams, Democracy and Militarism ** Racializing Immigration** Prominent Americans against Immigration** Protesting the Great War Bourne, War and the Intellectuals ** Linda Schott, The Woman s Peace Party and the Moral Basis for Women s Pacificism Journal of Women s Studies, (1985)** Francis Early, Feminists Pacifists and Conscientious Objectors ** Norris and LaFollette Against War** 3
February 17: February 18: In Defiance against Radicalism: Opposing the New Deal Challenges to the New Deal ** Discussion: Protesting Executive Power Abroad Bourne, War is the Health of the State ** Eugene Debs, The Canton, OH, Anti-War Speech** Charles Lindbergh, Des Moines Speech ** February 23, 25: Lecture/Discussion: The Early Civil Rights Struggle: 1909-1963 Raines, My Soul is Rested (excerpt)** Gosse, pp. 46-48 March 2: March 4: March 6: March 16: March 18: March 23: March 25: March 30: April 1: Protesting Civil Rights: The Southern Conservative Perspective Raines, My Soul is Rested (excerpt)** Recommended Reading: Sokol, There Goes my Everything (excerpt)** Take-home Midterm Assignment handed out in class No Class: Work on Midterm Take-home Midterm Exam due by 3pm. Discussion Smith, Strange Fruit (all) Cold War Women and a Changing Society MacLean, pp. 1-14; 47-70. Feminists, Radicals and a Changing Society MacLean, pp. 14-33; 71-83; 87-90; 94-96; 100-103; 106-113 Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (excerpt)** The Redstocking Manifeso** Rights in the Sixties and Seventies Foley, pp. 41-64 Gosse, pp. 72-95; 103-106 In-Class Movie and discussion Protesting Vietnam Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, Woman and Antiwar Activism ** Adam Garfinkle, Movement Myths ** Joshua Freeman, Hardhats: Construction Workers, Manliness, and the 1970 Pro-War Demonstrations, ** Recommended Reading: Charles Debenedetti and Charles Chatfield, The Antiwar Movement and American Society ** 4
April 3: April 6: April 8: April 13: April 15: April 22: April 27: April 29: May 1: Last day to hold meetings with Professor Holm regarding the Analytical Paper Discussion: Vietnam Gosse, pp. 95-99; 112-122; 156-160; 165-169 Readings on Vietnam** Gender and the Movement Van Gosse, pp. 137-141; 149-150 Foley, pp. 65-94; 280-300; 303-323 Gloria Steinem, If Men Could Menstruate ** Gloria Steinem, Words and Change ** Protesting for the Planet s Future: The Environmental Movement Foley, pp. 97-177 Religion, Conservatism and the counter-counter-culture MacLean, pp. 33-40; 113-117; 146-149 Analytical Paper due in class Vietnam All Over? Opposing War in the 21 st Century Stanley Hauerwas, September 11, 2001: A Pacifist Response** Small, Antiwar Activism and Withdrawal from Vietnam and Iraq** Readings on Iraq** The Tea Party Again Lapore, pp. 43-162 Jim DeMint: Leading the Right s Rebel Brigade** Discussion: Protest, Anger, and Hate in Contemporary Society Modern Form of Protest from Maureen Dowd to Brenda Walker** Foley, pp. 3-15; 325-330 Assignment: Research the Occupy Movement Take-Home Final Exam uploaded to Blackboard Due date TBD. 5