Course Schedule: Undergraduate Students | Graduate Students

Course Description

Historians generally refer to the period in United States' history from 1865 through 1920 as the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Personally I prefer a more generic label that highlights these years as the period where many of the issues and infrastructure that defines modern America originated. Whatever it is labeled, the post-reconstruction period (approximately 1877-1920) resulted in dramatic social, cultural, economic, and political transformations that moved the United States from a mostly agricultural and rural nation to a more industrialized and urban world power. The changes involved a new role for national, state, and local governments, as well as an expanded influence for the United States in world affairs. The period witnessed the creation of great wealth and an expanding middle class juxtaposed along side a growing recognition of poverty in an industrializing America. Americans settled "the last west" and ended traditional American Indian lifestyles. The rapid introduction of new technologies changed circumstances surrounding work and everyday life. Newly defined gender roles reshaped family, childhood, and adolescence. These years also witnessed the development of dejuré and defacto racial segregation in the post-slavery era. The burgeoning levels of immigration during this period literally remade the "face" of American society.

Of course, I expect students enrolled in this course to uphold the UMBC Code of Student Conduct for Academic Integrity. In Spring, 2002 the UMBC Faculty Senate adopted the following statement emphasizing the importance of academic integrity for faculty and students:

On-Line Syllabus

• This course has a web-based syllabus that utilizes UMBC's Blackboard software technology. You are expected to check the course Blackboard website each week for the course schedule, updates, and to submit your required weekly essay assignments. Some reading assignments are linked directly to Blackboard and others are housed on the UMBC Library's UCORS online reserve system. The course schedule on Blackboard tells you how to access each reading assignment. http://bb-app6.umbc.edu

***Make-up Policy: I will offer make-up examinations for the midterm and the final examination, but only if arrangements for a make-up are made the day the examination is scheduled or before. If you miss the midterm or final and have not notified me in advance, you may not take a makeup and will earn 0 points for the missed exam. Warning: I am strict about this policy.

Required Texts
All Undergraduate students are required to purchase and read the following texts for this course:

1) Stacy Cordery. Theodore Roosevelt: In the Vanguard of the Modern. Wadsworth Publishing pbk. 2002. pbk. ISBN 0155066102
2) Leon Fink. Major Problems in the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era. 2nd edition. Houghton Mifflin, 2000. pbk. ISBN 0618042555
3) Jeanette Keith. Rich Man's War, Poor Man's Fight. University of North Carolina Press, 2004. pbk. ISBN 0807855626

You will also need to use assigned readings available on the Internet and linked to the Blackboard syllabus. You can access the website from any computer connected to the Internet. The faster the connection, the more efficient your work will be. Be sure to pick up the UMBC Internet CD 2005 from the OIT helpdesk (ECS 20). This free CD includes a variety of software programs that will help you take full advantage of resources and services at UMBC.

All graduate students are required to purchase and read the following texts for this course:

1) Stacy Cordery. Theodore Roosevelt: In the Vanguard of the Modern. Wadsworth Publishing pbk. 2002. pbk. ISBN 0155066102
2) Leon Fink. Major Problems in the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era. 2nd edition. Houghton Mifflin, 2000. pbk. ISBN 0618042555
3) Jeanette Keith. Rich Man's War, Poor Man's Fight. University of North Carolina Press, 2004. pbk. ISBN 0807855626
4) George Chauncey. Gay New York. Basic Books, 1995. pbk. ISBN 0465026214

Grade Requirements:

For Undergraduate Students

• Discussion Board Written Evaluations of Assigned Readings. (100 points, plus 10 possible extra credit points) Each week students are required to participate in an on-line discussion based on the assigned readings for that week. The class is divided into groups of approximately eight students. You will only to the group to which you have been assigned. I will provide a question each week for your Discussion Board assignment. You are expected to use specific examples from the reading assignments to answer each question. You should post your thoughts about the readings to your assigned Blackboard Discussion Board Group by noon on Tuesday of each week. Late postings will not earn points. As stated above, each week's Discussion Board evaluation is worth up to 10 points. There are 13 weeks in the semester and you may earn up to 10 extra credit points in this category. So, the more you participate, the more likely you are to earn a good score for this part of the course.
   

• Formal Paper: Undergraduate students enrolled in this course are required to write an 8-10 page comparative book review on at least 2 books focusing on a topic in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Your paper is worth 100 points and should focus on a single general topic - eg., a major event, aspect, or phenomenon significant to the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. In your paper must also include an evaluation of the books as they relate to a small collection of primary source documents that you examine related to your chosen topic. Newspapers are one of the best sources for finding primary source materials for this period, but don't overlook other resources such as the Library of Congress's American Memory Project http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/  (see the Guidelines)
   

• Examinations. (Midterm, 100 points; Final, 100 points = 200 points). The midterm and final examinations will cover lecture and assigned reading materials, however the final is not comprehensive. Both examinations will be essay format and will be completed during scheduled class time.

For Graduate Students:

• Discussion Board Written Evaluations of Assigned Readings. (100 points, plus 10 possible extra credit points) Each week all students in the class are required to participate in an on-line discussion based on the assigned readings for that week. The class is divided into groups of approximately eight students, and graduate students have group assignments separate from the undergraduates registered for the course. In addition to the students who attend classes at UMBC, there are several students from Martin-Luther-Universität in Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, who will join the online discussion in October.  I will provide a question each week for your Discussion Board assignment. You are expected to use specific examples from the course reading assignments to answer each question. You should post your thoughts about the readings to your assigned Blackboard Discussion Board Group by noon on Tuesday of each week. Late postings will not earn points. As stated above, each week's Discussion Board evaluation is worth up to 10 points. There are 13 weeks in the semester and you may earn up to 10 extra credit points in this category. So, the more you participate, the more likely you are to earn a good score for this part of the course.
   

• Class Discussion Leaders. (100 points) Each graduate student will be assigned to a group assigned to led an in-class discussion based on the assigned readings. Your discussion should last approximately 30 minutes and help your classmates to address the major themes in the articles, books, etc. assigned to provide insights on topics related to each week's topic. Remember, this is a discussion, not a lecture. Be creative. You may use images, supplementary documents, role playing, etc. to help foster discussion. Your Discussion Leader Assignments are linked to this syllabus.
   

• Research Paper or Web Project.

  • Research Paper: (200 points) All graduate students enrolled in this course are required to write a 15-20 page research paper on an approved topic. You are not limited to the suggested topics, but this list should give you some idea what I am looking for.  Submit your topic choice and proposed bibliography via email (lindenme@umbc.edu) by October 5th. Final papers are due on November 29th. Late submissions will suffer a 20 point per day deduction. Be sure to follow the formal paper guidelines under the Assignment section of this website.
    
    OR
     

  • Website Project, an alternative to the Research Paper: (200 points) Some students may wish to complete a website project as an alternative to the Research Paper. Students chose a topic that addresses a GAPE historiographical question. The project must include a 10 page narrative essay (with footnotes or endnotes, and a bibliography) and the posting of 15 primary source documents that provide evidence to support a thesis answering the project's research question. Each document webpage should include a head note placing the material in historical context. The project should also include a bibliography and suggested web links appropriate to the project topic. Use the Women and Social Movements website as a model.  Submit your topic choice and proposed bibliography to me via email by October 5th. Final web projects should be submitted on CD and are due on November 29th. Late submissions will suffer a 20 point per day deduction. Be sure to follow the web project guidelines under the Assignment section of this website.
     

• Examinations. (Midterm, 100 points; Final, 100 points = 200 points). The midterm and final examinations will cover lecture and assigned reading materials, however the final is not comprehensive. Both examinations are an essay format and will be completed during scheduled class time.