History 159B: Women in American History

MTWR 11:00-12:15 pm

PHELP 1440

Instructor: Laura Moore

Contact:

Office: HSSB 3221

OfficeHours: Wednesdays, 12:30-2:30 pm and by appointment

“The recognition that we had been denied our history came to many of us as a staggering flash of insight, which altered our consciousness irretrievably. We have come a long way since then. The next step is to face, once and for all and with all its complex consequences, that women are the majority of mankind and have been essential to the making of history. Thus, all history as we now know it, is merely prehistory. Only a new history firmly based on this recognition and equally concerned with men, women, the establishment and the passing away of patriarchy, can lay claim to being a truly universal history.”

- Gerda Lerner (1975)

Course Description:

This course examines the history of women and gender during the “long nineteenth century.” This periodization, which begins in the 1770s and concludes in the 1910s, allows us to explore key developments and transformations in the lives of women from the American Revolution through the winning of suffrage. The goal is to provide an interpretation of history in which women’s lives, priorities, and experiences take center stage, suggesting an entirely new periodization of U.S. History. We will apply analytical frameworks of race, gender, and class to understand the life experiences and multiple roles of women as mothers, daughters, wives, workers, and agents of social change. Major areas of inquiry will include: the strategies women pursued in attempting to attain political power; their roles as producers and consumers in an evolving economy; cultural attitudes toward female sexuality and motherhood; and the relationship between gender ideologies and divisions based on race and class. Lectures, course readings, and class discussions will challenge students to consider how gender, race, sexuality, and class interact to define women’s experiences and opportunities. This broader exploration into the history of women will provide students with a richer and more complete understanding of the American past. We will also use our new knowledge of women’s history to shed light on women’s roles and women’s lives in present day American society.

Course Structure:

The course combines lectures with group analysis and discussion of course readings and materials. Students are expected to be active participants through regular attendance, participation in class discussions, and completion of written assignments.

Required Readings/Texts:

  • Jane Sherron De Hart, Linda Kerber, Cornelia Hughes Dayton, and Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, Women’s America: Refocusing the Past, 8th edition, Volume One.
  • Harriet Jacobs,Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl Written by Herself
  • Course Reader (available at the Copy Shop in the UCEN)

Students will be expected to have read all assignments the day they are due, and to come to class prepared to discuss them.

Course Requirements:

Graded assignments for this class include a midterm exam, a paper, a final exam, and in-class participation. All students will write one essay (topics will be distributed at least two weeks before the assignment is due). All exams will consist entirely of IDS and short and long essays.

Grade breakdown is as follows:

Participation20%

Midterm Exam20%

Paper30%

Final Exam30%

Late Work and Exam Make-Up Policy:

Please note that late work will not be accepted unless you have received permission from me in advance. If you fail to turn in an assignment on the day it is due you may not turn it in later for credit. Similarly, make-up exams will not be given except in the case of a documented emergency.

Academic Integrity:

Plagiarism is the use of another author’s thoughts, writings, or ideas without citation. Papers with sentences, passages, or entire pages of text copied directly from another source (such as a book or web site) and presented as one’s own work are considered plagiarized. Copying material from a source written by someone else, even if you change some words or phrases, is plagiarism. Academic dishonesty also includes cheating on exams or quizzes, and turning in the same paper to satisfy the requirements of more than one class. The minimum penalty for plagiarism or cheating is an automatic “F” in the course. You may also be subject to further disciplinary action by the university, including possible expulsion from the entire UC system. If you have questions or concerns about avoiding plagiarism or other problems, check with me. The Office of Judicial Affairs also has policies, tips, and resources for proper citation use, recognizing actions considered to be cheating or other forms of academic theft, and students’ responsibilities, available on their website at:

Additional University Resources:

1. Disabled Students Program: Students with disabilities may request academic accommodations for examsonlinethrough the UCSB Disabled StudentsProgram at Please make your requests for examaccommodations through the online system as early in the quarter as possible toensure proper arrangement.

2. Managing Stress: Personal concerns such as stress, anxiety, relationships, depression, culturaldifferences, can interfere with the ability of students to succeed and thrive. Forhelpful resources, please contact UCSB Counseling & Psychological Services(CAPS) at 805-893-4411 or visit

Course Schedule:

Week 1: Introduction and Revolution

6/20 Introduction to the class

6/21 Introduction to Women’s and Gender History

6/22 Women and the American Revolution

6/23Citizenship, Rights, and Revolutionary Backlash, 1780s-1790s

Week 2: Life in the Early Republic

6/27 Home, Work, and Sex

6/28 Ideology and Reality of the Cult of Domesticity

6/29 Women’s Experiences in the Antebellum North: True Women and Moral Reformers

6/30 Women’s Experiences in the Antebellum North: Poor Women and Wage Laborers

Week 3: Race and Gender in the Antebellum South

7/4 HOLIDAY NO CLASS

7/5 The Cherokee, Indian Removal, and Women’s Activism

7/6 Enslaved Women

7/7 The Female Slave Narrative

Week 4: Woman’s Rights and Suffrage

7/11 Women and the Anti-Slavery Cause

7/12 The Woman’s Rights Movement

7/13MIDTERM: REMEMBER TO BRING BLUEBOOK

7/14The Civil War, Gender Ideology, and Women’s Experiences

Week 5:“Freedom’s Boundaries”

7/18 The Continuing War: Reconstruction and Postwar Disappointments

7/19 Women’s Experiences in the Gilded Age

7/20 Immigration and the City

7/21Transnationalism and Empire

PAPAR ASSIGNMENT DUE

Week 6:Racial Ideology, Progressivism, and Suffrage

7/25 Gender and Racial Ideology at the Turn of the Century

7/26 Progressivism

7/27 TheFight for Suffrage

7/28 FINAL EXAM: DON’T FORGET BLUEBOOK