DR. JENRETTE—HIST 351 HISTORY OF WOMEN AND CRIME SPRING 2015
Colonial Troublemakers, Rebellious Wives, Abolitionists, Suffragettes, Serial Killers,
and Other Disobedient Females
Office: Hendricks 142 Phone: 1225 email:
Office hours: Mon 4:45-5:45 (Wiley 100) MW 1:30-2:30; TR 9:30-10:30
and by appointment or walk-in
http://users.edinboro.edu/jjenrette/ (for additional copies of the syllabus)
Catalog Description:
This course examines the history of women in crime from the colonial period to the present. The course will use case studies to analyze women who engaged in criminal activity. It will also consider the impact of race, gender, ethnicity, and class within the broader context of U.S. as well as time and space. An important element will be to examine the changing definitions of female crimes over time. Prerequisite: Students must take one of the following- HIST 261, HIST 262, HIST 315, HIST 372, or CRIM 100
Texts: Joseph Laythe, Engendered Death: Pennsylvania Women Who Kill
Karen Elizabeth Chaney, Lizzie Borden
Chris Enss, Bad Girls of the Midwest
Selected cases from the Salem witch trials (I will provide the “booklets”)
http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/people?group.num=G07&mbio.num=mb33
(also, I have inserted multiple websites throughout the course schedule)
Other required readings will be announced/assigned periodically
Course Objectives/Outcomes:
Each student will demonstrate the ability, and at the end of the semester will have the skills and
knowledge to:
1. Examine the differences race, gender, and ethnicity had on women’s lives and their choices
2. Demonstrate proficiency in conducting historical research related to women’s crime history
3. Analyze the impact of women’s crimes on society
4. Identify the major female criminals in US history and analyze their impact on society as well as society’s impact on their choices
5. Deeper knowledge about the particular events in which female criminals have been involved
6. Evaluate the changing definitions of crime as it relates to women in US history
7. Analyze the impact of political, social, and economic life on female criminals
8. Demonstrate the ability to read a question and write a cohesive, analytical answer.
9. Demonstrate the ability to use effectively skills in analysis, synthesis, and generalization regarding the specific problems associated with oral history.
10. Demonstrate the ability to take notes on lectures, discussions, reading materials, and communicate ideas through oral and written exercises.
11. Demonstrate the ability to compose a scholarly product with substantive evidence and documentation.
12. Demonstrate the knowledge of the leading scholars in women’s criminal history
13. To improve your oral and written communication skills
14. To examine through papers, discussions, essays, quizzes, etc., your comprehension of the material covered
Methods of Assessment:
Each student will complete the following:
1. Exams. A Mid-term and a Final COMPREHENSIVE exam.
No make-up exams will be given without an authorized note. Only the professor has the authority to judge whether or not the note is legitimate. Exams will consist of both objective and subjective questions. Exam dates are tentative and may be changed by the professor if necessary.
2. Class Dialogue. The dialogue grade MAY consist of several parts including class discussion, in-class writing on reading assignments, and quizzes on the previous week’s lecture.
· At times I will assign discussion topics for which you must prepare. This means you will be expected to engage in research using your assigned books, lectures, the library, and the web. Discussion topics will generally be assigned 1 week in advance; however, “pop” discussions will occur each week.
· Each student will participate in classroom discussion of assigned readings. Failure to read the assignments and discuss them in class will result in a zero (0) for each time you CANNOT DISCUSS AN ASSIGNMENT!!! Therefore, if you are NOT going to read, DROP THIS CLASS. Class discussion/Quizzes will constitute 20% of your course grade. It will only take a couple of zero grades to reduce your final grade to an embarrassing low!!! The class will occasionally be divided into discussion groups and members of the group will be responsible for leading the discussion---no advance warning will be given; therefore, be prepared each week to lead discussion. Quizzes will be given if students fail to participate in discussion in a satisfactory manner.
· Possible Weekly Quizzes. Take-home and In-Class quizzes. Unannounced and Announced quizzes may be given on lectures and READING ASSIGNMENTS. If you leave early or arrive late and miss a quiz you cannot make it up. On several occasions, students MAY be asked to submit a 1-2 page typed reaction paper that describes and analyzes your reading assignments. LATE QUIZZES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED; THEREFORE, YOU WILL RECEIVE A ZERO (0) FOR EACH PAPER YOU FAIL TO TURN IN ON TIME!!! QUIZZES CANNOT BE MADE UP UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. I will drop the lowest quiz grade at the end of the session.
· In-class and take-home writing exercises on reading assignments.
3. Major Research Projects. (This is a two-part assignment).
A. Research Paper/Project. 15-20 pages (3,750-5,000 words). Students will identify a research project by the third class period. This project may be a traditional research paper, a documentary, a piece of artwork (painting, etc.), or some other creative work. Students who do not identify their specific project by the third week of the semester will do a traditional research paper AND I WILL ASSIGN THE TOPIC. Creative works must be accompanied with narrative (artist’s statement of at least 5 pages) and a list of sources. Further instructions will be given by the third week of class. You must follow Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers, 8th edition; copies of this are in the Writing Center in the Baron-Forness Library or the HAWL Student Resource Center in Hendricks 132. Failure to do your own work will result in an F for the course; in other words, if you plagiarize you will not pass this class. Late papers will be penalized by 20 points per day including weekends and holidays. Papers/Projects (when possible) will be submitted both electronically and hard copy on the due date. Failure to meet the deadlines identified below will have a negative impact on your grade.
Deadlines:
· Topic selected, Wednesday, February 4
You must submit a formal, one-page, proposal which identifies your topic along with a thesis statement indicating the purpose of the project, and the kinds of sources (working bibliography) you might be able to use. You must also include a statement describing your methodology/plan.
· Bibliography, Wednesday, March 4
· Detailed Outline, Wednesday, April 1
· Rough Draft, Wednesday, April 8
· Final Paper, Wednesday, April 29 (no extensions)
B. Poster
You will develop a Poster based on your research paper/project in A.
· By February 4 you will submit a one page abstract of your Poster topic.
· The posters will be due two times: March 4 (first draft) and March 25 (final version). These posters will be displayed and evaluated at various times throughout the remainder of the semester (and you are required to submit an abstract describing your poster to the Celebration of Scholarship Committee who will determine if it will be included in the April 1 event).
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=academic+posters+templateand
· Your grade will be based upon your teammates’ evaluation, your’s, and mine
· I will provide a rubric to help guide you in your work on this
C. Weekly activities will be incorporated into the course where you will be expected to engage in small group discussions, writing assignments etc.
FAILURE TO COMPLETE ALL ASSIGNMENTS WILL RESULT IN AN F FOR THE ENTIRE SEMESTER.
CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM. The penalty for cheating on any assignment will be an F for the entire semester and you will be referred to the university judiciary process for further action. Plagiarism is taking credit from the ideas, writings, etc. of someone else. If you use ideas, words, etc. from a source other than yourself, and you will, then you must cite that source.
Grading Percentages: Grading Scale:
Mid-term Exam 20% 0-59 =F
Final Exam 25% 60-67 =D 68-69 =D+
Discussion/quizzes 20% 70-77 =C 78-79 =C+
Poster 15% 80-87 =B 88-89 =B+
Research Proj/Paper 20% 90-100 =A
100%
Course Schedule:
Week Topic Reading Assignment
1/28 Introduction
Role of Women in the Settling of the American Colonies
“The Price of Adultery in Massachusetts”
Status of Women, Colonial attitudes
Women’s place in the political, Economic, Social and cultural spheres
2/4 Colonial Society, Church, State, and Women’s Crimes Laythe, Intro
Defying the Church
Religion and Domestic Violence
Defying the State
Defining women’s crimes in colonial America
Anne Hutchinson, Mary Dyer, and Margaret Jones
http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bdorsey1/41docs/30-hut.html
http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/Literature/Quakers&Witches/Quakers/MMD521.html
2/11 The Crime of witchcraft Selected cases/booklets
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28513/28513-h/28513-h.htm
(for brief review to provide a sense of the time)
Margaret Jones
http://historyofmassachusetts.org/margaret-jones-first-person-executed-for-witchcraft-in-massachusetts/
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/witchesamerica/a/Margaret-Jones.htm
The Glover incident
The Salem situation
http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/people?group.num=G07&mbio.num=mb33
Witchcraft in the Modern Era Laythe, Chapter 7
The Chalfa and Allas Poison Case
Philadelphia Poison Ring
2/18 20th Century Problems in Colonial Society
Religion and Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence
Assault and Rape
Murderous women
2/25 Female Criminals in the 19th-Early 20th Centuries Laythe Chapter 3
Defining female crimes
Labor issues
Abolition and runaway slaves
Race-Ethnicity-Class
Suffragettes violating social and cultural mores
Suffragettes and workhouse incarceration
3/4 Contemporary (20th-21st Centuries) Definitions Laythe, Chapter 3
Gender, Crime, and Law Enforcement
Race-Ethnicity-Class
Gender and Motivation
Gender and Murder Technique
Gender and Law Enforcement
3/18 MID-TERM EXAM (TENTATIVE DATE)
3/25 Case Studies: Lizzie Borden Chaney, Lizzie Borden
4/1 Lizzie Borden (cont)
Gender and the Courts
Gender and Prison: “Orange is the new Black?”
Women in Law Enforcement
Race-Ethnicity-Class
4/8 Marital Terror : Women Who Love and Kill Men Laythe, Chapters 1, 4, 6
4/15 Women and Their Children Laythe, Chapters 1, 5 Susan Smith, Andrea Yates, Edna Mumbulo
4/22 Bad Girls of the Midwest Enss, Bad Girls
4/29 Martha Stewart’s “fall from grace”
http://www.brighthub.com/money/investing/articles/107591.aspx
http://money.cnn.com/2004/03/05/news/companies/martha_verdict/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2004/03/08/martha-stewart-convicted-on-all-four-counts/
http://biography.yourdictionary.com/articles/why-did-martha-stewart-go-to-jail.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/17/business/martha-stewart-s-sentence-overview-5-months-jail-stewart-vows-ll-be-back.html
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20030605thursday.html
Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong Laythe, Chapter 8
http://www.wired.com/2010/12/ff_collarbomb/4/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/marjorie-diehl-armstrong-sentenced-life-prison-role-so-called-pizza-robbery-article-1.139161
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20061472,00.html
5/6 Female Serial Killers Laythe, Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10
Aileen Wuornos, Martha Grinder,
Millie Thomas, Irene Schroeder, Velma Barfield
Corinne Sykes
Services Not Rendered: The Failure of Society
Redefining Woman’s Place in Society
Final Exam for HIST 351 is scheduled as follows:
Wednesday, May 6, 6-8:00 p.m.
I reserve the right to make ANY CHANGES I deem necessary to the syllabus.
YOU, AND ONLY YOU, ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY WORK COVERED ON DAYS THAT YOU CHOOSE TO MISS CLASS. I WILL NOT GO OVER MATERIAL A SECOND TIME.
YES, SPELLING AND PUNCTUATION DO COUNT AND YOUR PAPERS WILL BE GRADED ACCORDINGLY!! SPELL-CHECK AND PROOFREAD!
Only work graded by the Professor, Dr. Jenrette, will be counted in the course grade.
Disposition: Basic Ground Rules for Classroom Behavior:
1. Respect the right of others to have opinions that may differ from yours. Even if you disagree with someone, you should respect the individual's right to have that opinion.
2. Disruptive behavior will not be tolerated in this class. Disruptive behavior includes TEXTING, tardiness, leaving class early, talking, clicking pens, shuffling papers, book, etc., ringing phones, alarming watches, gathering belongings before class is dismissed, turning work in late. If you do not adhere to these basic rules of respect for others, you will leave the class and DROP THIS COURSE!! I WILL NOT TOLERATE THE DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR OF ANY STUDENT WHO ATTEMPTS TO PREVENT OTHERS FROM LEARNING. I will give you only one warning!!! It will be a verbal warning in the presence of your classmates. On the second violation, you will be dismissed from class until you can behave like a mature adult who treats others with respect. If you dare to violate these rules a third time, I will deduct 30 points from your final grade, which will make it practically impossible for you to pass this class. TEXTING WILL NOT BE TOLERATED IN THIS CLASS! CONSEQUENTLY, IF YOU CANNOT ACCEPT THESE BASIC GUIDELINES, DROP THIS CLASS!!!
3. Tardiness is unacceptable and disruptive. Do not come to class late! Regular and prompt class attendance is a requirement. Tardiness will result in the lowering of your course grade by 10 points per incident; therefore, if you cannot make it to class on time, DROP THIS CLASS! Leaving class early also fits into this category.
4. Two unexcused absences will be "tolerated" during this summer session. After the second cut, I will deduct 10 points from your final grade for each absence. As future teachers you should NEVER miss class except under the most extraordinary circumstances!
5. Do not socialize, talk in class (unless you are participating in class discussion), or sleep. If you cannot stay awake in this class, YOU WILL NOT PASS.
6. Plagiarism/Cheating: The penalty for plagiarism or cheating on any assignment will be an F for the entire semester and you will be referred to the judiciary process for further action.
7. Policy of Nondiscrimination and Affirmative Action: Edinboro University welcomes students, faculty, and staff from all racial, religious, national, and socio-economic backgrounds. Edinboro University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all in every aspect of its operations. The University has pledged not to discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, age, religion, national origin, disability, organizational affiliation, affectional or sexual preference, and marital status. The policy extends to all educational, service, and employment programs of the University.
8. If you are not here to learn, drop this class.
9. ABIDE BY THE RULES OR DROP THIS CLASS. FAILURE TO ABIDE BY THESE RULES WILL RESULT IN YOUR DISMISSAL FOR THIS COURSE. YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHEAT OTHERS OUT OF THEIR OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN!
10. To be counted present in this class, all of you, including your BRAIN, must be attentive at all times. NOTE: Putting your body in a desk DOES NOT CONSTITUTE your presence in the course. Becoming actively engaged suggests presence. BE ATTENTIVE.
1