General Information
Schedule of Classes
Assignment Due Dates
Final Project Options
Class Home Page

Schedule of Classes
History 268
Fall 2002

Tuesday,
September 3

Course Introduction
Thursday, September 5

Public History, Popular History and Local History

Required Reading:

  • Carol Kammen, "Local History and Local Historians," Chapter One in On Doing Local History: Reflections on What Local Historians Do, Why, and What it Means, pp. 13-42 (ERes)
  • Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen, Chapter 1:"The Presence of the Past: Patterns of Popular Historymaking," pp. 15-36, in The Presence of the Past (Eres)

During Class, we will will discuss, among other things,"Participatory Past Questions"

Important Assignment:

For High School Partnership Participants

Getting the School Partnerships Started

It is my firm belief that students enrolled in History 268 will benefit most from the course if they choose to participate in the Oberlin High School Partnership. For Fall Term 2002, students from this course will work with students in one of the classes of American History at the Oberlin High School taught by Mr. Kurt Russell. Oberlin College students will help high school students conceptualize, shape, and research an Oberlin history topic, as discussed in the final project section of this syllabus. If you are unsure about this option, or have other questions, please make an appointment to see me as soon as possible.

Besides enthusiasm, responsibility, and a sense of commitment, this project will require that participating students make a commitment to the project as soon as possible in the semester. I will need to have firm commitments by the drop-add deadline on September 17. Only students taking part in the high school partnership may take the class for four hours of credit.

Like all Oberlin College students who volunteer or work with students in the Oberlin Public Schools, Oberlin College students participating in the History 268 public school partnership need to have TB tests. Testing will be provided for our class by Student Health. The cost of your test will be covered by a special grant to this course. WATCH THIS SPACE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TESTING DATES AND PROCEDURES. TB tests involve one "scratch,"and a follow up one week later. You need to remember to bring your TB test results with you to your first meeting at the High School on Thursday, October 10.

 

ASSIGNMENT FOR ALL STUDENTS:
As soon as you decide to take this course, you should apply for a personal web account so that you will be able to post material on the World Wide Web. This service is FREE to Oberlin students. For more information and for an application contact:
http://www.oberlin.edu/pacct.html
You will not be able to participate in class on Thursday, September 19 you have not made arrangements IN ADVANCE to open your web account!

You will also need a Novell Account. If you do not already have one, please fill out on the online application available at
:http://www.oberlin.edu/cit/acctinfo/account.htm

 

Tuesday,
September 10

Getting To Oberlin: The Essential Documents

Required Reading:

I recommend that you spend some time browsing through some of the other documents listed.

Optional Reading on Reserve:

  • Thomas Fairchild Sherman, A Place on the Glacial Till: Time, Land, and Nature within an American Town, pp. 3-9 and pp. 57-109.
  • John Thomas, "Romantic Reform in America, 1815-1865," American Quarterly 17 (1965): 656-681.(ERes)
     
Thursday, September 12

Doing History with the New Media: The Promise and Problems of the World Wide Web

Meet in Mudd 212, the MAC Lab

Required Reading:

Questions for Evaluating A History Website to report on your exploration of a site that appears on History 268 Web Resources Browsing List and that we have not yet explored in class.

You may also want to look at the "A Lexicon of Critical Questions" developed by Georgetown University Professor of American Studies Randy Bass for use by his students.

Click Here to look at the webpage we used in class

 

ASSIGNMENT FOR ALL STUDENTS:Due Tuesday, September 17

Please see the Questions For Evaluating a History Website, and use these as the basis for an analysis of one of the websites listed on the History 268 Web Resources Browsing List that was NOT discussed in class on Thursday. Your analysis should be 2-3 pages in length, double-spaced. It is due in my office, Rice 313, on Tuesday, September 17. You may, of course, email me your paper.

 

Tuesday, September 17

Oberlin's Commitment to African American Equality: Individual and Collective Achievements

Required Readings

  • Robert Fletcher, A History of Oberlin College From Its Foundation Through the Civil War, 2 volumes, I:236-270 and II:523-536
  • William Cheek and Aimee Lee Cheek, "John Mercer Langston and Oberlin's Antebellum African American Heritage," a talk presented in Oberlin's First Church, September 26, 1998
  • William Cheek and Aimee Lee Cheek, "John Mercer Langston," in Leon Litwack and August Meier, eds., Black Leaders of the Nineteenth Century (ERes)
  • Ellen N. Lawson and Marlene Merrill, "The Antebellum 'Talented Thousandth': Black College Students at Oberlin Before the Civil War," The Journal of Negro Education, 52 (Spring 1983), 142-55. (ERes)

You may be interested in reading my recent local history presentation, "Oberlin and the Underground Railroad: History and Memory"

Also Optional: William Cheek and Aimee Lee Cheek, John Mercer Langston and the Fight for Black Freedom, 1829-65, pp. 278-348; pp. 84-129 and pp. 349-382.

 

To see the questions debated in class, click here

Thursday, September 19

Making Our Personal Histories: Presentation of Self on the World Wide Web

Meet in Mudd 212: the MAC Lab

Remember: You must have your web account and password to participate in this class.

To access your photo for the web page assignment, click here

For the web page creation assignment, click here.

During this class, you will also be introduced to the Index to the Lorain County News and the Oberlin Weekly News, a tool you will use for the completion of the assignment due in class Tuesday, October 1

ASSIGNMENT FOR ALL STUDENTS:
Due: September 23:
Please send the URL for your personal web page to me via email:
carol.lasser@oberlin.edu

 

Tuesday,
September 24
Women at Early Oberlin: Politics and Personalities

Required Readings:

  • Robert Fletcher, A History of Oberlin College From Its Foundation Through the Civil War, 2 volumes, I:290-315 and I:373-385
  • Lori D. Ginzberg, "The 'Joint Education of the Sexes': Oberlin's Original Vision," pp. 67-80 in Carol Lasser, ed., Educating Men and Women Together: Coeducation in a Changing World.(ERes)
  • Carol Lasser and Marlene D. Merrill, SoulMates: the Oberlin Correspondence of Lucy Stone and Antoinette Brown (to be distributed to the class)
Thursday, September 26

Oberlin and The Civil War: Public Documents and Public Monuments

Reading:
Tuesday, October 1

Oberlin's Retreat from Reconstruction

Reading:

  • David Diepenbrock, "Black Women and Oberlin College in the Age of Jim Crow," UCLA Historical Journal 13(1993): 27-51. (ERes)
  • Booker T. Washington, Chapter IV: The Atlanta Exposition," in Up From Slavery
  • W.E.B. DuBois, "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others," Chapter III in The Souls of Black Folk. This text is part of Project Gutenberg; you can learn more about this effort to put texts on line by going to its website at www.gutenberg.net

ASSIGNMENT FOR ALL STUDENTS:
You will use the Index to the Lorain County News and the Oberlin Weekly News to locate an article that addresses issues of race in Oberlin during the years between 1880 and 1930 with respect to churches, politics, segregation, public schooling. You will find the microfilm for the article in the Reserve Room, and photocopy the microfilm. You should be prepared to report on the significance of the article during class today. For more on this assignment, click here

Important Mini Assignment:Our class will visit the Oberlin College Archives on Thursday, October 3. In order to make the most of this visit, we need to prepare in advance. So, unfortunately, this assignment is also due Tuesday, October 1.

Submit to the instructor, electronically, ONE WRITTEN QUESTION that asks about resources and holdings of the Archive. You will probably want to ask about some aspect of Oberlin history that you think you will be researching later in the semester. Questions will be collected after class.
Thursday, October 3

Using Archival Sources:
A Joint Meeting of History 268 and Advanced American History Students from the Oberlin High School at the Oberlin College Archive

Please Note: History 268 will meet in our usual room at 9 am, and walk together to the Archive for the 10 am presentation.

 

Tuesday, October 8
Museums and the Making of Histories
 
Class will meet at the James Monroe House, administrative headquarters for the Oberlin Historical and Improvement Association at 9 am

Readings:

  • Gaynor Kavanaugh, "Making Histories, Making Memories," in Making Histories in Museums, pp. 1-14 (ERes)
  • Anthony Buckley, "Why Not Invent the Past We Display in Museums?" in Making Histories in Museums, pp. 42-53. (ERes)
  • Frederick Blue, "Oberlin's James Monroe: Forgotten Abolitionist," Civil War History 35(1989):285-301 (ERes)
Thursday, October 10
For High School Partnership Participants

High School Partnership Project Meeting at Oberlin High School (OHS). Don't forget your TB test results!
To see the website of the Oberlin Public Schools, click here.

For Independent Projects Only

Students not doing the High School Project will be expected to use class time for project research

 

Tuesday,
October 15
Doing Depression and War
Using Oral History

Readings:

  • Michael Frisch, "Oral History and Hard Times: A Review Essay," and "The Memory of History," pp. 5-27 in A Shared Authority (ERes)
  • Studs Terkel, Hard Times, pp. 56-60, 62-69 and 71-75. (ERes)

In addition, each student will be assigned one of the following readings to report to the class on:

  • Kathryn Anderson and Dana C. Jack, "Learning to Listen: Interview Techniques and Analysis," pp. 157-171 in The Oral History Reader, Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson, eds. (ERes)
  • Charles T. Morrissey, "On Oral History Interviewing," pp. 107-113 in The Oral History Reader, Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson, eds. (ERes)
  • Katherine Borland, "'That's Not What I Said': Interpretive Conflict in Oral Narrative Research," pp. 320-332 in The Oral History Reader, Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson, ed. (ERes)

For a list of Oral History Resources on the Web, click here. For Class, please look at one of these sites.

Please also read the oral histories of Oberlin residents Alice Quinn and Norman Long available at www.oberlin.edu/~classer/History268/QLpages.html (unfortunately, you will need to download each page of these oral histories separately until the technical problems are solved!)

 

ASSIGNMENT FOR ALL STUDENTS:

For this class, please think about the following issues that arise in your general readings and in these transcripts:

  • What information do you need to make sense out of an oral history transcript? How should such background information be supplied?
  • What do you need to know to evaluate the quality of an oral history transcript?
  • How do you evaluate the quality of the information that was conveyed in a transcript?
  • What legal issues are involved in doing oral history?
  • What makes for a good individual oral history?
  • What makes for a good oral history project?

    Please note: originally, the syllabus asked you to write two pages in response to these questions, but you are NOT REQUIRED to submit this assignment; you must do the reading, but a written response is entirely optional.
Thursday,
October 17

High School Partnership Meeting at Oberlin High School. Please use these meetings to think about your plan of work.

OR

Appointments with the instructor 8:45-9:20 for those working on independent projects. Also: see below

 

For Independent Projects Only

You are required to submit to me a research paper proposal on October 18--that is, BEFORE you depart for Fall Break. You must schedule an appointment with me to discuss your proposal between October 28 and November 1.

 

October 19-27: FALL BREAK !
Try to Visit a History Museum Wherever You Go.
 
Come back with comments about the presentations of history you have seen!

 

For High School Partnership Participants

Each research team is required to submit to me, electronically, on October 28 (the day you return from Fall Break): (1) a project description and (2) a plan of work. This submission should be 2-3 pages in length;essentially, it is your "syllabus" for you and your students. You should briefly describe how you intend to use all of your remaining project meetings. You will want to think about methods, sources, and how to access them.

I will read and comment on your descriptions and plans of work, and return them to you, electronically, as soon as possible. You should then make revisions of description and your plan of work as you see fit. Please make a hard copy of the plan of work for each member of your team, with an extra copy for Mr .Russell (and an electronic copy sent to me). You will discuss this plan of work with your high school students during your session on November 5, and you may want to make some further revisions.

Remember that you will have an opportunity to review and revise again when you submit your progress report and working outline on November 14
 

 

Tuesday, October 29
1950s and 1960s:
The Fair Housing Controversy and the Rise of the Civil Rights Movement in Oberlin

Reading:

  • Documents on the Barbershop Controversy: A 1944 Prelude
  • Aaron Wildavsky, Chapters 1, 6, 7, 8, and 17, or pp. 3-13, 83-126 and 236-252 in Leadership in a Small Town (ERes)
  • Donald Reich, "The Oberlin Fair-Housing Ordinance," pp. 105-147 in Lynn Eley and Thomas Casstevens, The Politics of Fair Housing Legislation: State and Local Case Studies (ERes)
Thursday, October 31
History on the Map:
Geography and Local History

Assignment: Please look at the 1874 Map of Oberlin. Think about what kinds of questions maps can help us formulate and address. We will focus on these questions for the first half of the class. In the second half, you will report on your work on your projects.

For Independent Projects Only
Due Monday, November 4
Please submit to me a revised research proposal

 

Tuesday, November 5

For High School Partnership Participants

High School Partnership Project Meeting at MUDD LIBRARY

For Independent Projects Only

Students not doing the High School Project will be expected to use class time for project research.
Thursday, November 7

For High School Partnership Participants
High School Partnership Project Meeting

For Independent Projects Only
Students not doing the High School Project will be expected to use class time for project research.

Partnership meets at MUDD LIBRARY

 

Tuesday, November 12

For High School Partnership Participants
High School Partnership Project Meeting

For Independent Projects Only
Students not doing the High School Project will be expected to use class time for project research.

Partnership meets at MUDD LIBRARY
Thursday, November 14

For High School Partnership Participants
High School Partnership Project Meeting

For Independent Projects Only
Students not doing the High School Project will be expected to use class time for project research.

Partnership meets at MUDD LIBRARY

For High School Partnership Participants

Assignment Due November 15
Each team must submit to me a progress report and a
preliminary outline of their project--that is, what sections will the project have and who will be writing the various sections. Please send me an electronic copy, and provide Mr. Russell with a paper copy.

Tuesday, November 19

For High School Partnership Participants
High School Partnership Project Meeting

For Independent Projects Only
Students not doing the High School Project will be expected to use class time for project research.

 
Thursday, November 21

For High School Partnership Participants
High School Partnership Project Meeting

For Independent Projects Only
Students not doing the High School Project will be expected to use class time for project research.

 

 

Tuesday, November 26

For High School Partnership Participants
High School Partnership Project Meeting

For Independent Projects Only
Students not doing the High School Project will be expected to use class time for project research.

 

Thursday, November 28

No Class--Thanksgiving

 

Tuesday, December 3

For High School Partnership Participants
High School Partnership Project Meeting

For Independent Projects Only
Students not doing the High School Project will be expected to use class time for project research.
Thursday, December 5

For High School Partnership Participants
High School Partnership Project Meeting

For Independent Projects Only
Students not doing the High School Project will be expected to use class time for project research.

PARTNERSHIP will meet in a computer laboratory to post sites. Stay tuned for exact location.

 

Tuesday, December 10 Project Presentations in King 239
Thursday, December 12 Project Presentations in King 239

Assignment: Due December 20
All students will submit their final work.

For High School Partnership Participants

Students involved in the High School Partnership will submit their url, and supporting documents and a their project evaluation. All projects should be posted on the World Wide Web by this date.

Each college student must submit an individual evaluation of the project. The college students on research teams, with or without their high school partners, may also submit a collective evaluation. College student evaluations should include reflections on the following questions:

  • What did your students learn?
  • How successful were you in your participation in the project (your guidance, your ability to work with your group of students, your ability to construct a schedule of work that was effective)?
  • What didn't work for you and/or your group? What were your failures and/or frustrations?
  • What advice do you have for students in "Oberlin History as American History" in Fall 2003?

 

For Independent Projects Only

 

Your project should include your url and any supporting documentation. An evaluation of the project is optional.

 

 

General Information
Schedule of Classes
Assignment Due Dates
Final Project Options
Class Home Page