Course Outline for History 48
U. S. Women's History Through Reconstruction

Effective: Fall 2019
SLO Rev: 03/27/2017
Catalog Description:

HIS 48 - U. S. Women's History Through Reconstruction

3.00 Units

A survey of United States women's history from its pre-colonial, indigenous origins through the end of Reconstruction. Emphasizes the interaction and experiences of diverse racial/ethnic groups that include at least three of the following groups: African-Americans, Chicana/Latina Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, Native Americans, and Middle Eastern Americans. Emphasis on (1) distinctively American patterns of political, economic, social, intellectual and geographic developments, (2) the interaction amongst and the experiences of diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups in American history, and (3) the evolution of American institutions and ideals including the U. S. Constitution, representative democratic government, the framework of California state and local government, and the relationships between state/local government and the federal government.
2205.00 - History
Letter Grade Only
Type Units Inside of Class Hours Outside of Class Hours Total Student Learning Hours
Lecture 3.00 54.00 108.00 162.00
Total 3.00 54.00 108.00 162.00
Measurable Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to:
  1. examine how women influenced United States history from the pre-colonial period to 1877;
  2. discuss diversity among women while examining the interconnectedness among the various institutions that shape women's lives from the pre-colonial period through 1877;
  3. analyze the origins of the U. S. political system and the United States Constitution including the efforts of women to gain political equality;
  4. describe the political philosophies of the framers of the Constitution;
  5. explain and discuss the debate concerning the role that women should play in the new nation;
  6. discuss the role of citizens in creating changes under the United States Constitution and state government;
  7. describe how women interacted with state and local governments and their relationships with the federal government to 1877;
  8. explain how women were affected by, or influenced, foreign policy debates and developments from the pre-colonial period to 1877;
  9. analyze the experience of women from diverse racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds and regions;
  10. analyze the social and political reform movements of the antebellum period and women's contributions to these movements;
  11. describe the historic development of different geographic regions of the United States and how these regional differences impacted women's lives and how women influenced society, culture, and politics in these regions;
Course Content:
  1. Indigenous North American women in the entire region that is now the United States before European contact
  2. Women in early colonial North American indigenous and Euro-American societies in the 16th century in the entire region that is now the United States
  3. Women in the colonial ecomony; regional comparisons and contrasts
  4. African slave trade and the development of the institution of slavery; the impact of slavery on women
  5. Women and work in the colonial period; slavery and servitude and regional examples of work
  6. Women and patterns of immigration and settlement in the entire region that is now the United States
  7. Women's role in the War for Independence and the impact of the war on women
  8. Women in the new nation; politics, economics, social movements and foreign policy debates in the Confederation period
  9. Political philosophy debates during the Confederation period
  10. Political philosophy of the framers of the Constitution and the debate over the ratification of the Constitution
  11. Women and work in the new Republic and antebellum periods
  12. Women in the market economy, political and social reform movements in the antebellum period
  13. Women's role in the Civil War and the impact of the war on women
  14. The aftermath of the war on women in regions across the entire region that is now the United States
  15. Women and western expansion 
  16. Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Constitutional amendments and women
Methods of Instruction:
  1. Lecture/Discussion
  2. Textbook reading assignments
  3. Group Presentations
  4. Online Assignments
  5. Presentation of audio-visual materials
  6. Written assignments
  7. Guest speakers
  8. Distance Education
Assignments and Methods of Evaluating Student Progress:
  1. Primary source document reading assignments protocol and analysis. Ask and answer questions about authorship (gender, race/ethnicity, social class, education, expertise), intended audience, and historical context before launching into the actual document. Analyze how these factors influence content and how the text itself influences the historical narrative.
  2. Objective exams to assess content knowledge.
  3. Write an essay on a historical topic that assesses factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them. Typical assignment: watch video and read articles about the European witch burning period. Read sources that focus on the Salem Witch Hunt. Compare and contrast these two phenomena and determine the reliability of sources in both.
  4. Quizzes. Typical Quiz: read a variety of slave narratives by enslaved African women using the primary source analysis protocol. Analyze the commonalities between them and the impact of memory on the historical narrative. Take a short-answer quiz on the narratives.
  5. Group presentations. Small-group presentations on selected topics (women in various reform movements such as abolition, temperance, benevolent societies, higher education and the professions, family limitation). Students are assessed on quality of research, visual presentation, connection to audience).
  1. Exams/Tests
  2. Class Participation
  3. Class Work
  4. Final Examination
  5. Group Projects
  6. Homework
  7. Quizzes
  8. Written assignments
Upon the completion of this course, the student should be able to:
  1. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify connections between them
  2. Demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their events and ideas and the process of change over time.
  3. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change over time.
Textbooks (Typical):
  1. Buhle, Mary (2015). Concise Women's History (eleventh). Pearson.
  2. Kerber, Linda, K. (2015). Women's American: Refocusing the Past (Eighth). Oxford University Press.
  3. DuBois, Ellen and Dumenil, Lynn (2016). Through Women's Eyes: An American History with Documents, Vol. I (Fourth). Bedford.
  4. Instructor (2017). Custom Reader University Readers.
Abbreviated Class Schedule Description:
A survey of United States women's history from its pre-colonial, indigenous origins through the end of Reconstruction. Emphasizes the interaction and experiences of diverse racial/ethnic groups that include at least three of the following groups: African-Americans, Chicana/Latina Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, Native Americans, and Middle Eastern Americans. Emphasis on (1) distinctively American patterns of political, economic, social, intellectual and geographic developments, (2) the interaction amongst and the experiences of diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups in American history, and (3) the evolution of American institutions and ideals including the U. S. Constitution, representative democratic government, the framework of California state and local government, and the relationships between state/local government and the federal government.
Discipline:
History*