History 448-600, Sec. 003

Fall 2016

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Department of History

Course Title: The 1960s

Professor Joseph A. Rodriguez

Class Location: Holton 341

Meeting time: T 12.30-3.10 pm

Class Description

This senior seminar requires that students write a research paper based on primary sources. The paper should include footnotes/endnotes. The paper must make an argument about a historical topic related to civil rights history. Students should think about the paper as potentially a publishable article in a scholarly journal. Students will focus their research on some aspect of the 1960s. The paper can focus on politics, the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, Vietnam War or anti-war movements, feminism, religion, student revolts, counterculture, hippies, and drug experimentation, the sexual revolution, women and other minority movements, rock and roll, movies, television, and many other topics. The paper can focus on conservative responses to the liberal decade. There are many potential primary sources on the decade, including many archival sources in the UWM and area libraries. In UWM we have the James Groppi and Henry Maier papers, Vel Phillips, historic newspapers, oral histories, television and film, and documents related to MPS’s and UWM’s history. You can also borrow materials that cover the upheavals at UW-Madison and the protests of the Vietnam War. Topics that start in the 1950s or bleed into the 1970s are also appropriate. Topics that cover the current understanding of the 1960s, ie the memory of the decade, are also important.

The 1960s was a decade characterized by the efforts by individuals and groups to make the US more socially equal. The effects of the Civil rights movement reverberated in many aspects of life, from housing, school, government access, to feminism, elderly, gay liberation, minority rights movements, language equality, sexuality, sports, entertainment, and religion just to name a few areas. Ideas like affirmative action, environmental justice, immigration rights, all related to civil rights. But the notion of social equality was contested by the rise of conservatism, particularly in Wisconsin, the state of McCarthyism in the 1950s, and the John Birch Society. The rise of conservatism is an underappreciated aspect of the 1960s.

By researching a topic in depth you will learn research rules and techniques, how to utilize online and library sources. In writing the paper you’ll learn how to improve your writing skills and citation formats. The final paper should be around 20-25 pages in length (double spaced, 12 point font, one inch margins).

The class meets once a week for 160 minutes. Class attendance is mandatory. During class we’ll discuss readings and the process of coming up with a viable topic, places to find research materials, developing an argument/thesis (the main point you want the reader to take away from the paper), presentation, writing, and citation styles, and the ethics of honest research (ie how to avoid plagiarism and the unethical nature of plagiarism.

Every week students will make short presentations about the readings and how they relate to their topic or possible topic choice. We’ll also talk about citation styles, plagiarism issues, how to formulate an argument, methodologies (such as oral history). Participation in discussions if fundamental to success in the class.

Course Goals:

Students will learn how to formulate a topic, research, and write a substantial history research paper. Students will learn the location of various archives around Milwaukee. Students will learn professional research and writing standards. Students will immerse themselves deeply into a topic of their own interest.

All assignments must be uploaded to the D2L site on the due date:

Grading:

Attendance: 100 points (includes in-class assignments and reading presentations)

Research topic paragraph including research question: 40 points

Paper proposal: 50 points (4 pages with initial bibliography)

Bibliography: 50 points (5 pages)

Analysis of a primary source: 30 points

Paper Outline: 30 points

Rough draft due (8-10 pages with citations)-100 points

Final paper due December 16—300 points

Total points possible: 700

Grade point breakdown:

A / 700-654 / C / 535-513
A- / 653-630 / C- / 512-490
B+ / 629-606 / D+ / 489-466
B / 605-583 / D / 465-443
B- / 582-560 / D- / 442-420
C+ / 559-536 / F / -419

Required books:

For sale in UWM Bookstore and on reserve in UWM Library (2 hour):

David Chalmers, And the Crooked Places Made Straight Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1996)

David Farber, ed. The Sixties: From Memory to History

William K. Storey, Writing History: A Guide for Students (Oxford, 2007)

Office location and office hours

Anyone who needs special assistance should see me during the first week of classes. This includes anyone who must miss class due to extracurricular activities, military service, or religious observance. My office is 325 Holton Hall; telephone: 229-3963; email address: . Office hours: TR 3.15-4.15 am and by appointment.

Please review university policies on final exams, incompletes, complaints/appeals, accommodations for students with disabilities, absences due to religion and military service, sexual harassment, and academic misconduct (i.e. cheating and plagiarism) at: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf

**NOTE: CLASS SCHEDULE MAY CHANGE WITH SCHEDULING OF ARCHIVAL ORIENTATION AND DETERMINATION OF STUDENTS’ INTERESTS.

Meeting Date / Topic / Assignment
Sept 6 / Why do historic research? What is a research paper? Why research the 1960s? / Storey, ch. 1; Farber, introduction
Sept. 13 / Introduction: Post-war, Prosperity Poverty, and Production / Chalmers, intro and ch. 1;
Sept. 20 / Civil Right movement I / Storey, ch. 3; Chalmers, ch., 2; Farber, ch. 2
Sept. 27 / Civil Rights II— / Chalmers, ch. 3; Farber, ch. 3; Paper topic due, 1-2 pages.
Oct. 4 / War on Poverty / Farber, ch. 1; Chalmers, 4; Storey, ch. 4
Oc.t 11 / Antiwar movement I / Paper Proposal-3-4 pages-
Chalmers, ch. 5; Farber, ch. 5
Oct. 18 / Counterculture / Farber, ch.7; Chalmers, ch. 6; Storey, ch. 6
Oct. 25 / Vietnam War I / Bibliography due; Storey, ch. 5; Chalmers, ch. 7; Farber, ch. 3
Nov. 1 / Antiwar movement II Group Analysis of Primary sources-bring a source to class; explain what kind of source, what is the context, what is left unsaid, how can source be used in paper / Analysis of two primary sources
Chalmers, ch. 8; Farber, ch. 8
Nov. 8 / Liberalism Fractures
Writing Workshop-provide a writing sample for class discussion; learn how to mark corrections. / Storey, ch. 7-9; Paper outline due
Chalmers, ch 9; Farber, ch. 9
Nov. 15 / Women’s Movement
Citation workshop-know where to look for help; discuss how to cite
different sources and why. / Paper rough drafts due;
Chalmers, ch. 10; Farber, ch. 8
Nov. 22 / Discuss rough drafts / Storey, ch. 10
Chalmers, ch. 11.
Nov. 29 / Discuss rough drafts II/or INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS
Dec. 6 / Final Presentations or NO Class
Dec. 14 / Final Presentations or NO Class

Paper Due: Friday, Dec. 16 - hard copy in my box.

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