This course schedule is a living document and subject to minor changes. Please check with the version of the syllabus on the course website (this one!) to confirm the day’s reading and assignment deadlines.
Please complete each set of readings before class on the date shown.
(AY = The American Yawp. AYR = The American Yawp Reader.)
Week 1: Introductions
August 27:
- In class: Map
- In class: Introductions
- In class: Lenses
August 29:
- Read syllabus and course schedule.
- Read “How to Read in this course.”
- In class: Community agreements
- In class: First short essay assigned.
- abbreviated office hours: 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. August 29
August 30:
- extended office hours: 8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Week 2: Indigenous North America and early settlement by Europeans
September 3:
- Skim AY chapter 1 (all sections) .
- Go to the Native Land website and study the map. If you grew up in North America, zoom into a place where you lived while you were in elementary, middle, or high school. Find out as much as you reasonably can about the indigenous peoples who inhabited that land, and be prepared to share with others.
September 5:
- Read AYR chapter 1, all sources.
- Read “What Difference Can a Word Make?”
Week 3: Colliding cultures
September 10:
- Skim AY chapter 2 (I, II, IV, VI).
- Read AYR chapter 2, sources 3, 4, and 5.
September 12:
- Read AYR chapter 2, source 2.
- Read President Reagan’s farewell address.
- Read Anthony Kronman, “Hiding the dark parts of our history on campuses is bad for our democracy,” and be ready to share your opinion in a small group.
- In class: Upstander criteria
Weeks 4 and 5: Indigenous people in the California missions
September 17:
- Read Saints and Citizens, 1-49
September 19:
- Meet at the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial at 10:30 a.m.
- Read Saints and Citizens, 50-82
- First short essay (Exploring reparations) due. (NEW DEADLINE)
September 24:
- Read Saints and Citizens, 83-139
- In class: Revisit Upstander criteria.
September 26:
- Read Saints and Citizens, 140-186
- Read Taryn Luna, “Newsom apologizes for California’s history of violence against Native Americans”
- In class: Second short essay assigned.
- In class: Finding sources for Upstander research
Week 6: British North America and The 1619 Project
October 1:
- Skim AY chapter 3(I, II, V, VI).
- Read AYR chapter 3, sources 1 & 7, and study “Print of the slave ship Brookes, 1789.”
October 2:
- shifted office hours: 8:30 – 10:30 a.m. (replaces cancelled office hours on October 4)
October 3:
- Read DeNeen L. Brown, “She was captured and enslaved 400 years ago. Now Angela symbolizes a brutal history.”
- Explore The 1619 Project. Select 2 or 3 items for special study and come to class prepared to talk about them.
- Read Ishaan Tharoor, “The 1619 Project and the far-right fear of history”
- shifted office hours: 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
October 4:
- office hours cancelled—moved to October 2.
Week 7: Colonial society and the American revolution
October 8:
- Skim AY chapter 4 (I, II, III, IV, VII)
- Read AYR chapter 4, source 3.
- Second short essay (Native American cultural confluences) due.
October 10:
- Skim AY chapter 5 (I, II, III, VI, VII).
- Read AYR chapter 5, sources 4 and 7.
- Read Judith Sargent Murray, excerpt from “On the Equality of the Sexes.”
Week 8: A new nation and the early republic
October 15:
- Skim AY chapter 6 (I, II, III, IV, V, IX, X).
- Read AYR chapter 6, sources 1, 2, 4, and 5.
October 17:
- Skim AY chapter 7 (I, II, III, V, VII).
- Read AYR chapter 7, sources 1, 2, 3, and 5.
- In class: midterm questions distributed
Week 9: Review and midterm exam
October 22:
- In class: How to find openly licensed images for Upstander project
- In class: Midterm exam review
- Third short essay (Applying Upstander criteria) due.
October 24:
- Midterm exam
October 29 and 31:
- In- class time to research your upstander. Bring a device you can use to conduct research, or bring printed out articles/websites/primary sources for help interpreting them. Dr. Madsen and Noah will help students, and students can help one another.
Week 10: Responses to Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings
November 5:
- Read Mongrel Nation, 1-55
- In class: Upstander presentations
November 7:
- Read Mongrel Nation, 59-99
- In class: Upstander presentations
Week 11: The market revolution and democracy in America
November 12:
- Skim AY chapter 8 (I, III, IV, V, VII).
- Read AYR chapter 8, sources 3, 4, and 6.
- In class: Upstander presentations
November 14:
- Skim AY chapter 9 (I, II, III, V, X, XI).
- Read AYR chapter 9, sources 1, 3, and 5.
- In class: Upstander presentations
Week 12: The cotton revolution and manifest destiny
November 19:
- Skim AY chapter 11 (I, II III, V, VI, VII).
- Read AYR chapter 11, sources 1-4.
- In class: Upstander presentations
November 21:
- Skim AY chapter 12 (I, II, IV, V, VII)
- Read AYR chapter 12, sources 1, 2, 4, 5.
- In class: Upstander presentations
Week 13: Thanksgiving break
Class does not meet.
Week 14: The sectional crisis and the Civil War
December 3:
- Skim AY chapter 13 (I, II, IV, V, VI).
- Read AYR chapter 13, sources 2, 4, 5, 6, 7.
- In class: Upstander presentations
December 5:
- Skim AY chapter 14 (I, II, IV, V).
- Read AYR chapter 14, source 1.
- Read Leslie Madsen-Brooks, “‘I Nevertheless Am a Historian’: Digital Historical Practice and Malpractice around Black Confederate Soldiers.”
- Read Gillian Brockell, “Some white people don’t want to hear about slavery at plantations built by slaves.”
- Read Michael W. Twitty, “Dear Disgruntled White Plantation Visitors, Sit Down.”
- In class: Upstander presentations
Week 15: Reconstruction and reparations
December 10:
- Skim AY chapter 15 (I, II, III, IV, V, VII, VIII).
- Read AYR chapter 15, sources 1, 2, 4, 7.
- Read “‘My mother was sold from me’: After slavery, the desperate search for loved ones in ‘last seen ads’”
- In class: Upstander presentations
- In class: final exam questions distributed
December 12:
- Read “Slavery’s descendants say a reparations check won’t make the pain go away”
- In class: Upstander presentations
- In class: final exam review
Week 16: Upstander Project and Final exam
December 17:
- No class meeting (finals week)
- Upstander project (all pieces) due by noon MST.
December 19:
- Final exam, 9:30-11:30 a.m.