History 82-History of Working People in the United States II

History 82-History of Working People in the United States II

Spring 2015, Section #7646 online

Dr. Ellen Joiner, NEA-181, Office Phone: 310-233-4582 E-mail:

Campus Office hours- 9:30-11 TTh or by appointment

Online Office hours: Etudes Chat Room (Wednesday 7-8 p.m.) or Private Messenger

Do You Have an Education Plan? An education plan is essential to completing your education and to insuring that every class you take counts toward your college graduation and toward getting a job. If you have not worked out an education plan with a Harbor College counselor contact the counseling office and schedule an appointment.

Course Summary:

“We’ve taught about the Carnegies and the Fords, and all of those millionaires, but not what working people do.” Dolores Huerta-co-founder UFW

This course studies the history of working people in the United States from Reconstruction to the present. Issues of class, gender, and race within the context of work and the influence of organizations and collective action are also examined. Emphasis is also placed upon the defining role of the American Constitution and its impact upon labor.

History 82 Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs):

1. Define primary and secondary sources within the context of U.S. labor history and demonstrate their use in historical research, organization, and writing.

2. Evaluate constitutional issues that impact working people in the 19th and 20th centuries.

3. Trace the chronological development of industrial capitalism and evaluate its impact on working people.

4. Examine the formation of labor unions, their relationship to working class community, and to the Populist, Progressive, New Deal, and Cold War eras.

5. Evaluate the intersection of race, gender, and ethnicity within U.S. History and their influence on American labor.

6. Assess the connection between corporate growth, American global domination, and the role of labor.

Required Books:

Roy Rosenzweig, et.al.,Who Built America? Working People and the Nation’s History, vol. 2, 3rd ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008.The textbook will be read and used extensively in the course so purchase of the book is required. The book may be purchased from the Harbor College Bookstore or online. Copies are also on reserve in the Harbor College Library. If you need help paying for books and other college expenses, contact the Financial Aid Office at http:

Required Materials:Because this class is completely online it is mandatory that you have a personal computer and online access. Do not take this course and plan to use your employer or friend’s computer. The class has specific dates when assignments must be submitted so depending upon someone else’s computer will not work. You must have your own computer in order to put in the time that is required.
Course Requirements: This course surveys U. S. History from the perspective of working people as the country develops as a society and as a nation. History 82 is completely online. On the first day of class you will be able to log onto the class which is found at After logging on you will immediately click the Assignments, Tests, and Surveys icon and follow the instructions given there. There will be a series of assignments the first week to orient you to the class that must be completed.
During the first week of class several face-to-face orientation sessions for Etudes will be offered in the computer lab at Harbor College and in the Learning Resource Center. Days and times of these sessions will be noted on Announcements at Etudes.
The class is organized on a weekly basis with assignments opened each Monday morning at 8 a.m. and closed at 11 p.m. the following Sunday night. Each week’s assignment will be found at the Assignments, Tests, and Surveys section. Assignments will include:
1)Textbook reading: Textbook assignments will typically be one chapter/ week. Each chapter also includes primary source readings. The primary sources (those will be the readings highlighted in gray in the text) are assigned on the syllabus and I will remind you of these each week at Assignments, Tests, and Surveys. You are not required to read all of the primary sources for each chapter just those that are assigned.
2)Online explanations: Each week you will also listen to my explanation of the chapter material in a 40 minute lecture at ellenjoiner.com
3)Modules: To help you understand and learn the reading material each week’s Module lists key terms and individuals from each chapter. You are not required to write on the Modules. This section is to be used as you are reading the text in order to help you identify the important terms from your reading. Review of these terms is also important to prepare for the practice tests and course examinations.
4)Practice tests:After reading the text, listening to my explanation, each week you will take a practice test which reviews the chapter reading material. Weekly practice tests are required and the score counts toward your final grade. The practice tests are for practice so they are open book and within the one-week time frame you may retake the testsin order to improve your score. The score on the final time that you take the practice test will be the score that goes into the grade book and will count toward your course grade. Practice tests are part of the weekly assignment so will close on Sunday night along with the rest of the week’s work.
5)Discussion Board: Each week I will also post a question that the class will discuss throughout the week. You are required to participate in at least 10 discussions that I will initiate (10 pts/discussion) throughout the semester. Participation means that you will respond to my question and interact with at least two other students’ posts. Weekly discussions must be completed within the week that they are assigned. There are no make-ups on the Discussion Board. I monitor the discussions throughout the week then record the points after the discussion has closed. I will keep a separate record of the discussion participation and add those points at the end of the semester. All students must participate in the first four weeks of discussion or they will be excluded from the class. After the first four weeks you have some flexibility in terms of when you will complete the other six postings before the end of the class.
6)Essays: Three 4-page analyses of primary sources are required (40 pts. each). Detailed instructions for each of the essays are given at Modules. It is very important that you read the essay instructions carefully. All essay assignments will be given two weeks in advance of the due date to give you adequate time to complete the assignment. Written assignments will be submitted to turnitin.com where they can be checked for grammatical errors and plagiarism. According to LACCD and Harbor College policy, copying another person’s work or ideas without giving them credit is illegal and will not be accepted. If you have questions about plagiarism, please see or ask me any question you may have.
7)Examinations: There are two examinations (true-false, multiple choice, and chronology-40 pts. each) and a final (50 pts.) in the course. The examinations will be taken online at the Etudes site but, unlike the practice tests, the exams will be timed and may not be retaken. The schedule for reading assignments, exams, and essays are listed in the schedule below.
More specific instructions for all assignments will be given each week so it is very important that you carefully read and follow each week’s instructions at the Assignment, Tests, and Surveys icon.
8)Extra Credit: 15 points of extra credit is available if you choose to complete a Service Learning civic participation project. The project is explained at Modules-Service Learning Project. If you choose to do the project you need to register for Service Learning 100 by the end of the first week of class. All History 82 assignments (including the Discussion Board) must be completed in order for you to receive extra credit.
The course requirements for online History 82 are not that different from the face-to-face version. The primary difference is that within the time frame of each week you are able to decide when you will complete the assignment and can work on this class according to your schedule. This is not a self-directed class. You will have specific assignments each week that will need to be finished by the Sunday night (11 p.m.) deadline. After the deadline, the assignment will close and you will not be able to access it. Essay assignments will be given at least two weeks in advance in order to give you time to work on them. Essay instructions and assignments are explained at the Modules section of Etudes. I hold a weekly “office hour” on Wednesday evening at 8 p.m. when I will be in the Chat Room to directly answer questions that you may have. If you have other questions contact me through Private Messenger and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Don’t hesitate to also post questions in the Chat Room or at Questions? on the Etudes site. Other students in the class are very willing to help.
Grades for History 82 are determined on a percentage of the total points. The total points for the practice tests, exams, and essays will be available to you at the Etudes grade book. I will keep a separate record of the discussion participation and add those points at the end of the semester. If at any point throughout the semester you would like to know your grade just ask me via Private Messenger. Grades are private information so I won’t discuss your grade in an open forum of the Discussion Board or Chat Room. 90% of the total course points = A, 80%=B, 70%=C, 60%= D.
Class Schedule: Consult Assignments, Tests, and Surveys each week for assignment details.
Week / Topic / Assignment
Week 1 Feb. 9-15 / Nuts and Bolts of History 82 / Listen to Introduction
PART I / Monopoly and Upheaval, 1877-1914
Week 2
Feb. 16-22 / Reconstruction and Labor’s “Great Uprising / Listen to Prologue
**Reading Prologue not required
Week 3
Feb. 23-March 1 / Industrial Capitalism in the Gilded Age- 1877-1893 / Read and Listen - c.1
Primary Sources: “The Duty of the Man of Wealth”-46; “All Must Work Under my Direction”-55
Week 4
March 2-8 / Community & Conflict, 1877-1893 / Listen to Community
** Reading c. 2 not required
Week 5
March 9-15 / Transforming the Workplace and Society, 1900-1914 / Read and Listen c. 3
“We Are Starving to Death”-127
“An Ulcer on the Body Politic”-132
“Monopoly is the Master” A Populist Speech-136
“Our Condition is Precarious in the Extreme”-146
“The Colored Citizens Desire that Some Action be Taken”-147
& Listen Analyzing Primary Source
Week 6
March 16-22 / The Progressive Movement / Read and Listen -c.5
“Settlement Houses and New Immigrants”-230-231
“Debs Attacks the Monstrous System of Capitalism”-247
“It Was a Murder and Nothing Less”-254
“Give the Property Owner a Fair Show”-256
Exam 1 (c.1,2,3,5)
PART II / War, Depression and Industrial Unionism, 1914-1946
Week 7
March23-29 / Global Involvements-World War I, 1914-1920 / Read and listen- c.6
“Let the Capitalists Do Their Own Fighting”-286
“I Didn’t Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier”-287
Essay 1 due
Week 8
March 30-April 5 / The “New” Economy, 1920-1929 / Read and listen - c.7
“They Raised the People’s Children”-34 “Let’s Stand Together Workers-350-351
April 6- 12 / Spring Recess / No Assignment
Week 9
April 13-19 / The Great Depression, 1929-1935 / Read and listen -c. 8
“I’m Going to Fight Like Hell”-410 “Weren’t No Use Under God’s Sun to Treat Colored Folks Like We Been Treated”-412-413
Week 10
April 20-26 / Industrial Unionism / Read and listen -c. 9
“We Done It!”-463
“Made in the U.S.A.”-468
“It Was a New idea for Office Workers to Organize…
“A Very Unusual Idea”-471
Week 11
April 27- May 3 / The U.S. and World War II, 1939-1946 / Read and listen -c. 10
Exam 2 (c. 6- 10)
PART III / Cold War America and After, 1946-2010
Week 12
May 4-10 / Cold War America, 1946-60 / Read and listen -c. 11
“You Couldn’t Have Elections”-569 “Asking No Favors”-574
“White People Wake Up”-575
Essay 2 due
Week 13
May 11-17 / The Rights-Conscious Sixties, 1960-1973 / Read and listen -c. 12
“We Were Prepared”-619
“I Just Have To”-620
“Fight Them and You’ll Get Your Freedom”-635
Week 14
May 25-31 / The Shifting World Economy, 1973-1989 / Read and listen -c.13
“They Have Largely Destroyed the Pride of Craft”-689
“I Have Very Little Hope”-694 “Liberate Us from the Liberators”-701
“You Don’t Have to Know How to Cook”-716
Essay 3 due
Week 15
May 25-31 / America in the Age of Global Capitalism, 1989-2001 / Read and listen -c.14
“You Work Your Hardest, Then the Next Thing You Know, You’re on the Street Looking”-744-45
“These Workers Were in Tears”-751
“There is Blood in Every Dollar I Make”-756
“Contract with America”-771
Week 16
June 1-7 / 9/11and After, 2001-2007 / Read and listen -c. 15
“We Had Our Goose Cooked”-805
“Like We Was All Fugitives”-812
Exam 3 (c. 11-15)

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