21H.104J/11.015J, Riots, Strikes, and Conspiracies in American History

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21H.104J/11.015J, Riots, Strikes, and Conspiracies in American History

11.015J/21H226J. Riots, Strikes, and Conspiracies in American History. Fall 2013

Instructor:Writing Advisor:

Prof. Robert M. FogelsonKim Vaeth
MIT 9-639E34-566 (across the street from MIT Medical)

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onference sign up: mysignup.com/kimvaeth

Requirements:

(1) Attendance and participation in class discussions. This subject is taught entirely through discussions. As a result, it is essential that students come to class having read the assigned readings and participate in discussions. Students will also be expected to give brief presentations on their chosen paper topics (see below) in the specially scheduled classes on writing papers. Class performance will be a significant consideration in assigning grades.

(2) Preparation of three papers, of which the final one will be a research paper on a riot, strike, or conspiracy not discussed in regular class meetings, but which applies the analytical techniques developed there. As the schedule below indicates, special classes will be devoted to choosing an appropriate paper topic and preparing final papers. Students will be asked to turn in a brief statement of topics on which they might write their papers on or before the class on September 12, and those proposed topics will be discussed in class on September 17. Thereafter, written assignments will fall due as follows:

October 15. First paper, circa 8-10 pages. It should 1) provide a succinct narrative of the event to be studied, from beginning to end (circa five pages); 2) list the major questions (usually five to eight) and subsidiary questions for the entire event, then 3) designate one of the major questions for closer study in a final paper, and 4) explain why that question was chosen. The paper must also 5) include a bibliography of major sources on the event.

November 14 Second paper. It will 1) outline –using outline form—the final paper, which should answer the question chosen in the previous paper, and 2) provide a bibliography of the primary and secondary sources relevant to the paper’s specific topic; that is, the bibliography should list documents of the time (newspaper articles, official reports, letters by people involved in the event, etc.) as well as subsequent studies of or relevant to the event, and also 3) state where, particularly with regard to primary sources, those sources are available (for example: “on line through Proquest,” “Boston Public Library,” “microfilm through Interlibrary Loan”). Note that this bibliography is different from the general one submitted with the first paper, although some works will probably appear on both. This bibliography generally includes more primary sources and some specialized studies keyed to the specific question being answered.

December 10. Final paper, circa 15–18 pages. All papers must be based on both primary and secondary sources. Papers should not simply distill information from other secondary studies since the point of this exercise is to give students experience in doing first-hand historical research. All papers must include footnotes and a bibliography or bibliographical essay presented in a full, clear, and consistent form.

Since this is a Communications Intensive Subject, students will normally be required to rewrite at least one of the first two papers. The purpose of rewrites is to improve the skills of students who are already capable writers as well as of those who have difficulty writing. Rewrites must be turned in no later than two weeks after the original papers were handed back, which is usually done in the class after that in which they were turned in. Although there can be no rewrites of final papers, students are encouraged to go over drafts of the final paper with the writing advisor or to consult the appropriate instructor before preparing the final version.

Note that the MIT Libraries offer a wide array of services designed to aid students’ research, including personal consultations to help locate sources for their specific paper topics. Contact the History librarian, Michelle Baildon (, 3-9352), to ask research questions or to schedule an appointment, or visit The class Writing Advisor will help students in preparing papers as well as in doing rewrites.

There will be no final examination. However, the final paper should demonstrate the writing and analytical skills developed over the course of the term. Along with class attendance and participation, the papers, and particularly the final paper, determine final grades. Students should therefore invest appropriate time in researching, writing, editing and proof-reading their papers, and take advantage of the help available to improve their writing.

Readings:

Most of the readings for 11.015J/21H.226J are available on electronic reserves accessible through the subject’s Stellar site. Only one book must be purchased:
David P. Demarest, The River Ran Red: Homestead 1892 (Pittsburgh, 1992)
Students will also need to make their own xeroxes of one assigned reading, Crisis at Columbia, from copies available in the Rotch and Humanities Libraries.

Class Schedule:

September 5. Introduction.

September 10-24 The Rendition of Anthony Burns, Boston, 1854.

From “Readings on the Anthony Burns Crisis in Boston” (on the Stellar site):

Jane H. and William H. Pease, The Fugitive Slave Law and Anthony Burns: A Problem in Law Enforcement (Philadelphia, New York, and Toronto, 1975), v-viii, 3-54, 71-98. Read this and the Finkelman article (below) by October 11.

Paul Finkelman, “Legal Ethics and Fugitive Slaves: The Anthony Burns Case, Judge Loring, and Abolitionist Attorneys,” Cardozo Law Review, XVII (May 1996), 1793-1836.

Gordon S. Barker, The Imperfect Revolution: Anthony Burns and the Landscape of Race in Antebellum America (Kent, Ohio, 2010), 1-7

Boston Slave Riot, and Trial of Anthony Burns. Containing the Report of the Faneuil Hall Meeting; The Murder of Batchelder; Theodore Parker’s Lesson for the Day; Speeches of Counsel on Both Sides. Corrected by Themselves; A Verbatim Report of Judge Loring’s Decision; and Detailed Account of the Embarkation (Boston, 1854).

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Cheerful Yesterdays(Cambridge, Mass., 1900), 132-66.

Charles Francis Adams, Richard Henry Dana: A Biography, Vol I (Houghton Mifflin and Company; Boston and New York, 1891), chapter XIV, 262-82.

Henry David Thoreau, “Anti-Slavery in Massachusetts,” in Thoreau, Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers (Montreal, 1963), 26-41.

Pauline Maier, “Popular Uprisings and Civil Authority in Eighteenth-Century America,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d Series, XXVII (1970), 3-35.

September 26: First Discussion of Papers

October 1-15: The Lockout-Strike at Homestead, Pennsylvania, 1892

David P. Demarest, Jr., ed., The River Ran Red: Homestead 1892 (Pittsburgh, 1992): title page and table of contents; vii-9, 13-30, 35, 37, 41-105, 112-16, 119-38, 140-46, 148-49, 150-59, 162-73 178-96, 198-203, 225-28. Note: this book includes a large selection of documents on the Homestead "Strike" along with some secondary accounts, generally by modern historians. The documents are broken up so they relate to that part of the Homestead story covered in the chapter. Note that each chapter begins with a summary of "events." These appear on pages xii, 24, 46, 72, 104, 126, 162, 180, 202. Along with the "Afterword" on pps. 225-28, they provide a succinct chronology of the event. Read those pages as well as the Yellen chapter (below) by November 5.

Readings on the Stellar site:
Samuel Yellen, American Labor Struggles, 1877-1934 (New York, 1970), 72-100.
Robert Reinders, "Militia and Public Order in Nineteenth Century America," Journal of American Studies, April 1977, 81-101.

Robert M. Fogelson, America's Armories: Architecture, Society, and Public Order (Cambridge, 1989), 20-44.

William C. Oates, "The Homestead Strike. I. A Congressional View"; George Ticknor Curtis, II. A Constitutional View"; T. V. Powderly, "III. A Knights of Labor View," North American Review, September 1892, 355-75.

October 15: First Paper Due

October 17: Second Discussion of Papers

October 22–November 7: The Uprising at Columbia University, 1968.

Crisis at Columbia: Report of the Fact-Finding Commission Appointed to Investigate the Disturbances at Columbia University in April and May 1968 (New York, 1969), 63-155, 205-215. Available in the Humanities and Rotch Libraries for students to make copies for their own use.

October 22–November 7 (cont.)

Readings on the Stellar site:

Daniel Bell, “Columbia and the New Left,” in Daniel Bell and Irving Kristol, eds., Confrontation: The Student Rebellion and the Universities (New York, 1969), 67-107. Read by November 27.

David Truman, “Reflections on the Columbia Disorders of 1968,” (an unpublished memoir; used with the permission of Truman’s son), 8-96, 106-180.

Stephen Donadio, “Columbia: Seven Interviews,” Partisan Review, Fall 1968, 354-92.

Jerry L. Avorn, et. al., Up Against the Ivy Wall (New York, 1969), Appendix I and II, 285-97.

James Simon Kunen, The Strawberry Statement: Notes of a College Revolutionary (New York, 1969), 15-55.

November 12: Third Discussion of Papers.

November 14: Second Paper Due

November 14–December 5: The Uprising at Attica Penitentiary

Attica, a film by Cinda Firestone (1974), to be shown in class.

Attica: the Official Report of the New York State Commission on Attica(New York, 1971), 21-82, 104-233, 250-267, 280-403.

U.S. House of Representatives, Select Committee on Crime, American Prisons in Turmoil (Washington, D.C., 1971), 699-712, 750-73, 776-806, 950-64.

Samuel Melville, Letters from Attica (New York, 1972), 83, 133, 144-48, 165-69

Tom Wicker, A Time to Die (New York, 1975), 38-64, 200-22.

Russell G Oswald, Attica--My Story (Garden City, N.Y.1972), 71-94, 230-53.

December 10: Conclusion; Final Paper Due.