Class Information for Spring 2008:
Section: TuTh 11:15-12:40, SOCS 207, Section 2392
Office: 202G Social Sciences Building
Phone: (310)660-3751
Email: cgold@elcamino.edu
Office Hours: Monday 9:30-10:30; 12:00-1:00; 2:30-3:00
Tuesday 3:30-4:00
Wednesday 9:30-10:30; 12:00-1:00
Syllabus for Spring 2008:
Course Description: This honors course surveys the contributions of ethnic groups and racial minorities to United States history. Emphasis is placed on these groups’ cultural interaction with the American way of life from colonial times to the present. We will begin by learning relevant basic theory and terminology and will proceed to chronologically study the topic, focusing on the ways that race and ethnicity shaped personal lives, communities, the nation, and international relations. This course emphasizes critical thinking and historical methods. As an honors course, you will be expected to complete all the assigned readings before class, to participate actively in class and group discussions, and to write papers that reflect critical thinking about the topics and reading materials. The class is designed as a seminar with a substantial discussion component. Your last assignment is to submit a portfolio of your course work, including a final self-reflection paper that assesses your performance in the course and discuss how the course impacted your personal opinions about race and ethnicity in America.
Grading
Vocabulary Test 10%
Midterm 15%
Essay #1 25% (5% thesis/outline, 20% essay)
Essay #2 20%
Final Exam 15%
Participation 10%
Course Portfolio 5%
Textbooks
Reid Luhman. Race and Ethnicity in the United States: Our Differences and Our Roots. Wadsworth, 2002. Chapters 1-3. On Reserve in the El Camino Library.
Ronald Bayor, Ed. The Columbia Documentary History of Race and Ethnicity in America. Columbia University Press, 2004.
Course Reader. For sale in the El Camino book store.
Lectures
Students are responsible for all the information conveyed in the lectures. Students should take notes during lecture and should borrow someone’s notes for days that they are absent.
Essays
Students will write two 5-7 page essays based upon the secondary and primary document sources in Bayor’s textbook. An outline and thesis are required prior to submission of the first essay. Essay topics and the grading rubric are included in the course reader.
Midterm and Final Exam
The midterm and final exam include identifications, a primary document analysis, and an essay question. You will be given study questions to help you prepare, and you must write your answers in a blue book. Blue books are available for sale in the student store.
Participation
Active participation in class discussion is essential to success in the course. Assigned readings must be completed in order to effectively participate. Your final participation grade is based on your attendance, group discussions and class participation.
Group Discussion
In this honors course, students will participate actively in small groups that discuss primary document sources in Bayor’s textbook. Complete all document readings before coming to class. There will not be time for you to read the documents in class before the group discussion begins. Bring the Bayor textbook with you to class everyday. Group answers will be graded and will form part of the participation grade. In the event of absence, students are permitted to make-up two group discussions.
Attendance
Attendance will be taken at the beginning of every class. More than 3 absences in the semester will adversely impact your grade. One percentage point will be deducted per absence over 3 unless written notification of a medical or other extraordinary reason is provided.
Classroom Etiquette, Cheating, and Late Policy
Students are expected to treat each other and the Professor respectfully. Disruptive behavior interrupts learning and creates a tense classroom environment. Please contribute to a positive learning experience for yourself and the other students. Arrive on time, prepared to participate in class. If you need to leave early, please notify the Professor before class. Out of respect for all the students’ hard work, cheating and plagiarism will absolutely not be tolerated. Plagiarism occurs when you take credit for the original ideas and/or words of another person. Plagiarism or cheating on any assignment or exam will incur a 0 for the grade, making it difficult to pass the course. For late assignments, the grade will be reduced by one full grade for each class meeting it is late.
Reading Assignments
Students should complete the assigned reading before coming to class. Do not fall behind in the reading, as it will be difficult to catch up. Try to make it a habit to do your class reading in the evening or day before we meet.
Portfolio
Students will submit a course portfolio in the last week of class. The portfolio contains all of the semester’s work and a brief concluding self-assessment of the student’s performance in the course and a discussion of how the course impacted the student’s ideas about race and ethnicity.
Weekly Topics and Assignments
Week One
Feb 12 Introduction
PBS Documentary: African American Lives: Beyond the Middle
Passage
Homework Due: Conduct an internet web search for the origin and
meaning of your last name. Write this on a blank piece of paper, along with the country or countries from which your family first immigrated from to the United States. If you aren’t certain, make an educated guess.
Feb. 14 The Historical as Personal
PBS Documentary: African American Lives: Beyond the Middle
Passage.
Week Two
Feb. 19 Theory: Basic Concepts about Race and Ethnicity
Reading Assignment: Luhman, Chapt. 1
Group Discussion: Monterey Park, California
Feb. 21 Theory: Social and Ethnic Stratification
Reading Assignment: Luhman, Chapt. 2
Group Discussion: “Imagine a Country”
Week Three
Feb. 26 Theory: Theories of Discrimination and Prejudice
Reading Assignment: Luhman, Chapt. 3
Video: The Dave Chapelle Show
Feb. 28 17th century America, 1600-1700
Reading Assignment: Bayor, Chapt. 1, pp. 1-15
Bayor, documents starting on p. 41 (Winslow); p. 50 (Powhatan); p. 55 (Rolphe).
Week Four
March 4 Vocabulary Test
17th century America, 1600-1700
Group Discussion: The British Colonists and the Indians
March 6 18th century America, 1701-1788
Reading Assignment: Bayor, Chapt. 2, pp. 89-103
Bayor, docs. p. 124 (Crevecoeur); p. 133
(Jefferson).
Group Discussion: Race and Colonial America
Week Five
March 11 1780-1836: The New Republic
Reading Assignment: Bayor, Chapt. 3, pp. 151-167
Bayor, docs. p. 177 (Livingston); p. 184
(Dwight); p. 191 (Walker); p. 215 (Morse)
Group Discussion: Anti-Immigrant Sentiment
March 13 Film: PBS, Destination America
Week Six
March 18 1837-1877: Westward Expansion
Reading Assignment: Bayor, Chapt. 4, pp. 223-247.
Bayor, docs. p. 260 (O’Sullivan); p. 276
(Dana)
Group Discussion: Manifest Destiny and the Californios
March 20 1837-1877: Slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction
Reading Assignment: Bayor, docs. p. 288 (Northrup); p. 290 (Jacobs)
Class Discussion: Enslaved Women
Week Seven
March 25 Midterm #1
(Covers Bayor, Chapts. 1-4)
March 27 Race Relations in the South, 1878-1900
Reading Assignment: Bayor, Chapt. 5, pp. 309-336.
Bayor, docs. p. 351 (Wells), p. 355
(Washington), p. 359 (DuBois)
Group Discussion: African American Reformers
Week Eight
April 1 Paper #1 Thesis and Outline Due
1878-1900: American Imperialism
Reading Assignment: Bayor, docs. p. 400 (Liliuokalani), p. 403
(Thurston), p. 405 (Kipling), p. 407 (Bryan),
p. 408 (Aguinaldo), p. 409 (Consent).
Group Discussion: Debating Imperialism
April 3 1878-1900: Immigration
Reading Assignment: Bayor, docs. p. 388 (Ferrari), p. 392 (Riis),
p. 398 (Immigration)
Group Discussion: Immigrant Experience and Restriction
SPRING BREAK – April 7-11
Week Nine
April 15 1878-1900: Immigration
Film: Hester Street
Paper #1 Due
April 17 Film: Hester Street
Week Ten
April 22 1901-1929: The Critical Period
Reading Assignment: Bayor, Chapt. 6, pp. 413-437
Bayor, docs. p. 463 (Covello), p. 471 (Kennan),
p. 479 (Roosevelt), p. 497 (Kallen)
Group Discussion: Americanization, Pluralism, and Exclusion
April 24 The Great Depression and World War II
Reading Assignment: Bayor, Chapt. 7, pp. 599-618
Bayor, docs. p. 620 (Perkins), p. 623 (Montagu),
p. 657 (Internment), p. 658 (Covenant),
p. 659 (Memorandum)
Group Discussion: Wartime Racial Awareness and Intolerance
Week Eleven
April 29 Film: The Defiant Ones, 1958
May 1 Film: The Defiant Ones, 1958
The Civil Rights Movement: The Early Years
Reading Assignment: Bayor, Chapt. 8, pp. 667-703
Group Discussion: The Defiant Ones
Week Twelve
May 6 The Civil Rights Movement
May 8 The Civil Rights Movement: Radicalization
Reading Assignment: Bayor, docs. p. 707 (Malcolm X), p. 718
(Carmichael), p. 733 (Newton), p. 793 (Kerner)
Group Discussion: Radicalization of the Civil Rights Movement
Week Thirteen
May 13 Paper #2 Due
The 1970s: The Expansion of the Civil Rights Movement
Reading Assignment: Bayor, docs. p. 783 (Jackson), p. 810 (Novak),
p. 884 (One Nation)
Group Discussion: The Rainbow Coalition
May 15 The 1970s
Week Fourteen
May 20 Multiculturalism
May 22 The 1980s & 1990s
Reading Assignment: Bayor, Chapt. 9, Docs. p. 906 (Understanding),
p. 919 (Corwin), p. 921 (Chavez)
Group Discussion: Los Angeles Riots
Week Fifteen
May 27
Film: Crash, 2005
May 29 Film: Crash, 2005
Group Discussion: Crash, 2005
Week Sixteen
June 3 Final Exam and Course Portfolio Due
(Covers Bayor, Chapts. 5-9)
June 5 Pick up graded final exam and course grade consultation
| 
