Hauptstudium: The United States in the Progressive Era
(This syllabus is available online at: http://research.umbc.edu/~lindenme/PE
Student Oral Presentation Schedule

Prof. Dr. Kriste Lindenmeyer
Fulbright Gastprofessorin für Amerikanstudien
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg

This course examines American history from approximately 1900-1920. Reform became the era's primary theme. By the close of the Progressive Era the United States had shifted from a predominately agrarian society to an urban and industrial world power. Theodore Roosevelt became the symbol for the age. The struggle for women's suffrage opened new doors to democracy in politics at the same time that black Americans were increasingly disenfranchised, thereby reversing the limited progress that had been obtained during the years immediately following the Civil War. This is also the period when the  United States firmly established itself as a world power. A close examination of the Progressive Era  exposes the roots of modern American and many of the issues that continue to be most important to Americans. Your final grade will be based on the following criteria:

1) Each class meeting will include lecture and  discussion over readings placed on reserve in the library and/or distributed in class. I have also put much of this material on the internet. It is available through my website located at:
http://research.umbc.edu/~lindenme/PE

2) Students should be prepared to participate in the weekly discussions. Part of your final grade is based on your participation and regular attendance. You may not miss more than two classes. I will ask you write about your thoughts on the week's assigned readings for the first 10 minutes of each class. These will not be graded, but I will use them as part of the participation portion of your final grade.

3) Teilnahmescheine: Students must choose a topic to investigate for a 15 minute oral presentation. Regular attendance and participation in class discussions are also required of all students in this seminar. The student oral reports will serve as the focus for the weekly class discussions. I will ask each of you to choose a topic from the list of suggestions posted below. I am also open to other suggestions. Each topic will have only one presenter. Please write down your top three choices and turn your list with you to our second class meeting (26 October).

4) Leistungscheine (6 credits):  Students must choose a topic to investigate for a 15 minute oral presentation and a 13-page paper due at the end of the semester. The student oral reports will serve as the focus for the weekly class discussions. I will ask each of you to choose a topic from the list of suggestions posted below. I am also open to other suggestions. Each topic will have only one presenter. Please write down your top three choices and bring your list with you to our second class meeting (26 October). Final papers are due by 31.03   I welcome early submissions!

Tentative Weekly Discussion Topics and Readings (These may change throughout the semester):

Suggested Topics for Oral and Written Reports
(These are broad topics that you will need to refine for your paper and oral presentation. I will give you a form to complete that asks what topic what are your top three choices of topics to investigate. I will need the form back from you by 10.26)
Hull House and Reform Politics
Reform Politics and Cities
Reform and American Business
Education Reform
Conservation and the Environment (preservation, planned use, water)
Consumerism and Leisure (focus on a specific aspect such as the history of Baseball, dance halls, etc.)
The Great White Fleet and Theodore Roosevelt
The Panama Canal and U.S. Foreign Policy
Immigration (you will need to narrow your research to as aspect of immigration such as policy, law, or the experience of a particular ethnic group)
Prohibition and Progressive Politics
Theodore Roosevelt and an aspect of his presidency or political life
Woodrow Wilson and an aspect of his presidency or political life
Public Health and Progressive Reform
W. E. B. DuBois and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Ida B. Wells-Barnett and the Anti-Lynching Campaign
Eugene V. Debs and Socialism
Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement
Woman Suffrage
Progressive and the Labor Movement
Child Labor Reform

Suggested General Readings:

1) Cordery, Stacy. Theodore Roosevelt: In the Vanguard of the Modern. Belmont, California:
    Wadsworth Publishing, 2002.

2) Fink, Leon. Major Problems in the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era. Boston, Massachusetts:
    Houghton Mifflin, 2001.

3) Campbell, Ballard. The Human Tradition in the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era. Wilmington,
    Delaware: Scholarly Resources, 2000.

4) Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. 1906 reprint Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing, 2004.

I have also put other books on reserve in the library that you may find useful for researching your individual topics and for a better overall understanding of the Progressive Era in the United States.