HIS 1403 - US WOMEN’S HISTORY: 1865 TO PRESENT

credits: 3.0
Crosslisted/Same As: WMS 1403
HIS-WMS 1403. An introductory survey of the work and family roles of different groups of American women from the post-Civil War era to the present. Groups include: black farm workers in the South, immigrant factory workers in the urban Northeast, middle-class homemakers, college educated professional women, and domestic and clerical workers in the urban/suburban North. The course will explore how these women’s experiences shaped their involvement in various political activities. These include: labor unions and strikes such as the 1909 strike of almost 20,000 (mostly female) garment workers in New York City; the suffrage campaigns of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; the pre-World War I crusade for legal contraceptives; and the struggle for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s. Objectives: A) To introduce students to the major issues and concerns shaping the American female experience from the end of the Civil War to the present, B) To develop a student’s analytical skills through writing, critical reading of assigned works, and class discussion. Method of Instruction: Mixture of lectures and class discussion. Method of Evaluation: Two exams; class discussion; and two papers based on assigned readings OR one ten-page research paper. Meets *WEP Distribution Requirement.