AMERICAN WOMEN’S HISTORY

Dr. Karen Manners Smith Fall 1999 (AH 300 B, MWF 11:00)

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is a basic survey of the history of women in the United States from the colonial period to the present. We will be looking at U.S. history from a new perspective: not as a record of wars, presidents, and politics, but as the story of the lives of ordinary women and girls, wives and mothers, workers, slaves, and pioneers, along with the occasional heroine or inspired leader. We will discover that women’s history is the story of a group -- more than half the population -- that has been largely omitted from traditional histories of the United States. We will learn that women’s history is the story of women’s shared experiences on this continent, but that it is also the story of differences between women that are determined by their region, race, religion, ethnicity, and social class. And finally, we shall see that American women’s history is the story of progress for women in education, employment, political and social equality, and in the evolution of their relationship to American men.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
The format of the course includes lecture and discussion. Students are expected to complete assigned readings before the class in which they are to be discussed. Always bring relevant books and readings to class. There will be a midterm and a final exam in this course. Students will also write two papers responding to readings, comparing readings, or analyzing the themes of the course. There will by group projects on the nineteenth century women’s novels listed as “recommended” in the reading list.

REQUIRED COURSE READINGS (Available in campus bookstore or Textbook Corner)

1. Glenda Riley, Inventing the American Woman Vols. I and II Second Edition. Harlan Davidson 1995.
2. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary 1785-1812 Random Vintage 1990.
3. Catherine Clinton, Tara Revisited: Women, War, and the Plantation Legend, Abbeville Press 1995.
4. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland (any edition)
5. Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi
6. Joan Jacobs Brumberg, The Body Project

RECOMMENDED READING (Choose one for the group project. These novels are available for sale or in the library)
1. Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
2. Lillie Devereaux Blake, Fettered for Life
Fannie Fern, Ruth Hall

ADDITIONAL READING
From time to time the instructor will hand out additional readings in the form of articles or copies of historical documents. There will also be articles on reserve in the library. When assigned, these are to be prepared for the next class in addition to whatever other readings are assigned.

For more information, contact:
Professor Karen Manners Smith
phone: (316) 341-5570

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