Course Outline for History 49
U.S. Women's History Post-Reconstruction

Effective: Fall 2019
SLO Rev: 03/29/2017
Catalog Description:

HIS 49 - U.S. Women's History Post-Reconstruction

3.00 Units

A survey of United States women's history from 1877 to the present with a special emphasis on the interaction amongst and the experiences of diverse racial/ethnic (African Americans, European Americans, Indigenous North Americans, Chicana/Latina Americans, Asian Americans, and Middle Eastern Americans), and socio-economic groups in American history. Includes analysis of (1) the U. S. Constitution as a living document in the context of historical change, and (2)significant issues related to California state and local governments.
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. evaluate the significant political, social and economic events of modern American history from 1877 to the present from a woman's perspective and relate the impact of these events on women;
  2. demonstrate an understanding of how women influenced modern American history from the late nineteenth century to the present;
  3. study the lives of women in different geographic regions of the U. S. and explain how regional differences shaped women's opportunities;
  4. demonstrate an awareness of diversity of experiences among women while noting the interconnections among the various institutions that shape women's lives in modern American history;
  5. examine significant Constitutional issues and Supreme Court cases since 1877, especially as these relate to women;
  6. explain the impact of major foreign policy issues and debates from 1877 to the present upon women and society;
  7. analyze political reform movements of the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries especially as they relate to women;
  8. describe the development of California politics from 1877 to the present, with special focus on state and local politics and legislation, as they relate to women;
  9. explain, in relation to women, economic change, social change, and the importance of science and technology in America's development;
  10. analyze the Constitution of the State of California and amendments that impact citizenship and voting rights;
  11. describe the effects of growth and power of federal government upon women, and how these changes impacted federal state relations between 1877 and the present.
Course Content:
  1. Woman's culture and woman's sphere in the nineteenth century
  2. Thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth amendments and women's issues
  3. Women and the fight for the vote from Reconstruction to ratification of the nineteenth amendment
  4. Women and the Progressive Era; including diversity of the reform movement, the movement in California, and the Constitution of the State of California and movement to reform state and local government
  5. Federal and California State Supreme Court and reform in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
  6. Women's organizations at the turn of the century; race, class and regional dimensions
  7. Women during World War I
  8. Women in the 1920s
  9. Great Depression/New Deal; Great Depression across the entire geographic area that is now the United States, comparison of  federal/state relations in California and the nation during the Depression and New Deal as they relate to women
  10. Women during World War II
  11. Womane and culture of the 1940s
  12. The impact of World War II on women in the West, focusing on the homefront in California
  13. Federal, State and local issues in California during World War II
  14. The 1950s; roles, resistance to conformity, and effects of the Cold War and foreign relations upon women
  15. Impact of Constitutional amendments and govenment reorganization upon women after World War II
  16. The 1950s and 1960s: Cultural Revolution and Cold War
  17. Civil Rights and Women's Rights
  18. The Sexual Revolution and women's liberation
  19. New Militancy: Lesbians, Black Feminists, Chicanas and Native American organization and protest
  20. The battle for federal and California state legislative changes in the 1960s-1980s
  21. Varieties of feminism in the 1970s and beyond
  22. Policies of state and local government as it relates to women in California
  23. Rise of the New Right and challenges to feminism
  24. The impact of foreign policy and recent immigration upon women on the local, state and national levels
  25. Global feminism in the twenty-first century
Methods of Instruction:
  1. Audio-visual aids
  2. Lecture/Discussion
  3. Textbook reading assignments
  4. Group Activities
  5. Class and group discussions
  6. Group Presentations
  7. Online Assignments
  8. Distance Education
Assignments and Methods of Evaluating Student Progress:
  1. Break into small groups themed around current feminist topics (see topics above). Students research and prepare Powerpoint presentations to present to class. Students assessed on research, quality of Powerpoint slides, individual contributions to the group, and the quality of the overall presentation.
  2. 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.
  3. Read a variety of brief excerpts from memoirs written by women involved in the Civil Rights Movement using the primary source analysis protocol. Analyze the commonalities between them and the impact of memory on the historical narrative. Create a poster board project containing photos, text quotes, time-line, legislative and judicial changes to demonstrate how the activism of individuals can bring about legal and societal changes.
  4. Construct a timeline of women’s rights. Examine why the earliest successes occurred in the western states, with particular attention paid to early progress in California. Assign particular topics to research in this area such as: reproductive freedom in California, rape on college campuses in the Bay Area, violence against women & its treatment in the California judicial system.
  1. Exams/Tests
  2. Quizzes
  3. Class Participation
  4. Papers
  5. Final Examination
  6. Group Projects
  7. Homework
Upon the completion of this course, the student should be able to:
  1. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change.
  2. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them.
  3. The students will demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time.
Textbooks (Typical):
  1. Riley, Glenda (2007). Inventing the American Woman: An Inclusive History, Vol. II (Fourth). Harlan Davidson.
  2. Instructor (2017). Custom Reader University Readers.
  3. Ellen DuBois, Lynn Dumenil (2016). Through Women's Eyes: An American History with Documents, Vol. II (Fourth). Bedford, St. Martin's.
  4. Ellen Skinner (2011). Women and the National Experience: Primary Sources in American History, Vol. I (Fourth). Prentice-Hall.
  1. Custom Reader, created by individual instructor, published by University Readers, etc., can be updated every year and offered in hard-copy or digitally.
Abbreviated Class Schedule Description:
A survey of United States women's history from 1877 to the present with a special emphasis on the interaction amongst and the experiences of diverse racial/ethnic (African Americans, European Americans, Indigenous North Americans, Chicana/Latina Americans, Asian Americans, and Middle Eastern Americans), and socio-economic groups in American history. Includes analysis of (1) the U. S. Constitution as a living document in the context of historical change, and (2)significant issues related to California state and local governments.
Discipline:
History*