Embedded Files
HISTORY 2
California Studies
De Anza College
Spring 2013
Christopher R. Jackson, Ph.D. Instructor
Map of California as an island, ca.1650
https://sites.google.com/site/chrisjacksonshistory/Home/history-2
This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to California. Although it emphasizes history, it is organized thematically rather than chronologically, and contains elements of political science, geography, literature, and other scholarly disciplines. A central theme of the course is the importance of the “dream” of California, and the relationship of that dream with reality for the various people who call themselves “Californians.”
Please note: a significant portion of the instructor’s communication with the students is done by e-mail. You must check your e-mail at least three times a week. Not having checked your e-mail will not be accepted as an excuse of any kind.
Textbooks: Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon, eds., California Dreams and Realities (Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2005), 3rd edition.
Lauren Coodley, ed., California: A Multicultural Documentary History (Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009).
Attendance and Grading Policies: Attendance is expected and roll will be taken daily. Students who are routinely absent, late, or playing with their phones will be noted and up to 10% (one letter grade) will be deducted from their final grade. Much of the material on quizzes/exams will be covered in class, so you will need detailed notes from lectures to get a good grade. You must turn in all assigned work to pass the class. All late assignments will be docked a full letter grade for each day it is late. Note that no instructor-initiated “W” grades will be issued. It is your responsibility to drop the course in a timely manner if you choose to do so. The last day to drop the class is April 20th. The last day to withdraw is May 31st.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is intellectual theft, caused by lazy or dishonest students who do not properly cite their sources or quotations. It is a serious academic violation and will not be tolerated in this class. Please see the Student Handbook section on academic integrity.
http://www.deanza.edu/studenthandbook/academic-integrity.html
Course Assignments
Essay: You will write one in-class essay, with the topic distributed ahead of time, and time reserved in class to review and discuss the material, as well as to discuss drafts of your essay. Done in class April 25th.
Worth 20 points.
Quiz: You will have one multiple-choice quiz, based on readings, films, geography, lectures, and discussions. We will review material in class before the quiz.
Done in class May 15th.
Worth 20 points.
Paper: You will write drafts of two analytical papers, based on course readings and films. The topics are listed below, and time will be reserved in class to review and discuss the material, as well as to discuss drafts of your essay. The paper topic will be announced in class May 16th.
The paper is to be e-mailed to instructor May 21st. See instructions below on formatting and sending the paper.
Worth 20 points.
The paper should be double-spaced, with citations and a list of references (formatted according to MLA style), approximately 700-900 words, to be e-mailed as an MS-Word-compatible attachment to the instructor at crjackson81@gmail.com by 11:59 pm on the date due. Note: before sending the assignment, you must rename the file in the following format: LastnameFirstname-papernumber. Example: JacksonChristopher-paper.docx. (The .docx is automatically inserted by MS Word—do not add it.) If the file is not properly named, it will not be accepted. If the file cannot be opened by MS-Word, it will not be accepted. In your e-mail, please include in the subject line your last name, first initial, and course number and paper number. (For example: Subject: Jackson C HIS 2 paper.)
For help with MLA formatting, go to the Purdue Owl website (link on website).
Final Exam: The final exam will consist of two parts: an in-class essay and a multiple-choice quiz. Three essay topics are listed below, and time will be reserved in class to review and discuss the material, as well as to discuss drafts of your essay. The essay question will be picked by the instructor from among the three. There will also be a multiple-choice section of the final. Thursday, June 27 at 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Worth 40 points.
Grade Points/Letter Grade Equivalents
(Please note that there is no “C-minus“ grade at De Anza.)
Class Schedule
Week 1: (April 8-11) Introduction
Introduction and course syllabus; the significance of California history; Film, discussion
Reading: Start reading for Week 2.
Week 2: (April 15-18) California: Land of Dreams
Discuss themes in film; California geography; visit California History Center; discuss essay #1
Reading: Maasik, California Dreams and Realities
“Introduction: California—The Bellwether State” (pp.1-6)
“California Dreaming: Myths of the Golden Land” (pp.19-22)
James J. Rawls, “California: A Place, a People, A Dream” (pp.22-30)
Map of North America Showing California as an island (p.34)
Anonymous, “Notes of a California Expedition” (pp.35-39)
Coodley, California: A Multicultural Documentary Reader
Preface for Students, Foreward (pp.xv, xix-xxi
“Crossing the Panama Isthmus” (pp.61-3)
Excerpt from Daily Alta California, 1849 (p.64)
Foreign Miner’s Tax, 1852 (pp.65-6)
Mary Ellen Pleasant Court Case (pp.79-81)
Joaquin Miller on Environmental Deterioration in the Gold Country, 1890 (pp.81-3)
Bogus Charley, The Future Leader of the Modoc Tribe (pp.83-4)
Week 3: (April 22-25) Analyzing the Gold Rush and the Dream
Discuss views of the Gold Rush and the California Dream (bring reading and notes); visit Environmental Studies Area; Review drafts of essay on gold rush to show instructor and peers; take exam.
Exam: April 25. Bring at least two “blue” books and two pens. The exam will be closed book, and no notes are allowed. You will write an essay of approximately 750 words on the following topic:
Topic: Can the California Gold Rush be seen as a positive or a negative historical event? Make an argument in your first paragraph, and explain why this is historically significant. You will want to draw on three different historical interpretations of the gold rush, using specific examples from two readings and one film to support your argument. You will then explain how the ideals and realities of the gold rush affected three different groups of Californians (based on race, gender, or class), using specific examples from two more readings and the film to support your argument. Finally, you will conclude your essay and restate your main argument in an interesting way.
Week 4: (April 29-May 2) Toward the Golden State: Immigration
Watch films on immigration (“Weedpatch,” “Angel Island”), debate immigration policy, discuss immigrant experiences and essay question for paper.
Reading: Maasik, California Dreams and Realities
“The Great Migration: Immigrants in California History”/”Coming to California (pp.81-93)
Yeh Ling-Ling, “State Needs a ‘Time-Out’ from Mass Immigration” (pp.94-6)
Editors, Contra Costa Times, “Revamp Immigration” (pp.98-9)
Connie Young Yu, “The World of Our Grandmothers” (pp.100-108)
William Langewische, “Invisible Men” (pp.130-140)
PLUS select one more reading from the pieces on immigrant groups (Vietnamese, Latin American, Japanese, Iranian, diverse religions, Rodriguez, “Proofs,” (Mexican American), p..64, or Spooner on midwestern migrants, p.40.
Coodley, California: A Multicultural Documentary Reader
California Census, 1790 (p.27)
Wilma McDaniel, “First Spring in California, 1936; Jack Bryant, “Arizona,” from Voices of the Dustbowl, 1940; Frank and Myra Pipkin at Shapter FSA Camp, 1941 (pp.183-6)
Luis Valdez, Memoir “Envisioning California,” 1989 (pp.328-332)
Possible Essay Question for Paper and for Class Discussion: You will be asked to write a paper, due May 21st. Which of the paper topics will be chosen will be announced by the instructor at the end of class on May 16th.
Paper Topic A: To what extent has immigration benefited California, or not, and why is this historically significant? You will integrate material from your readings, films, and debate.
Week 5: (May 6-9) Education and the California Dream
California education and the Master Plan, film excerpts on free speech movement and school reform; debate on educational testing; discuss possible paper topic.
Reading: Maasik, California Dreams and Realities
“The Best-Laid Plans: Education and the California Dream” (pp.175-7)
Mike Rose, “A Visit to Edwin Markham Intermediate School” (pp.182-8)
Sylvia Fox, “Testing Anyone?” (pp.196-203)
Lesli Maxwell, “Cust Crush College Promise” (pp.207-210)
Ruben Navarrette, Jr., “Well, I Guess They Need Their Minority” (pp.2117)
John McWhorter, “It Shouldn’t be Good to Have it Bad” (pp.218-222)
Chitra Banerjeet Divakaruni, “Yuba City School” (pp.223-225)
Coodley, California: A Multicultural Documentary History
Karese Young, Washington Elementary School, Berkley, 1964 (p.273)
Mario Savio, 1964 (p.275)
Janet Stickmon, “Crushing Soft Rubies” (pp.338-341)
Week 6: (May 13-16) Review/Quiz Due
Quiz May 15: Multiple-choice quiz in class, based on the course materials from all previous weeks. Please bring a Scantron Form No.882-E (the long green Scantron).
Possible Essay Question for Paper and for Class Discussion: You will be asked to write a paper, due May 21st. Which of the paper topics will be chosen will be announced by the instructor at the end of class on May 16th.
Paper Topic B: To what extent has education reform benefited California, or not, and why is this historically significant?
Week 7: (May 20-23) Film on Politics
Film on California politics: The Times of Harvey Milk; discussion of California politics; discussion of gay rights movement; film The Good Society
Paper due May 21st by MS-Word compatible attachment e-mailed to instructor: crjackson81@gmail.com (see guidelines above on how to format and send it).
Week 8: (May 28-30) Politics and Civil Rights in California
(Note: No School May 27—Memorial Day); discuss Harvey Milk and The Good Society; politics and civil rights in California; discuss political process in California and essay question.
Reading: Maasik, California Dreams and Realities
“(Mis)Managing California”/”Recall Madness” (pp.379-80)
Glen Browder, “Guiding the Great Experiment” (pp.435-8)
KQED, “The Castro Q&A” (pp.242-7)
Judith Lewis, “Interesting Times” (pp.293-7)
Coodley, California: A Multicultural Documentary History
Edward Francis Adams, “Speech Against Recall Legislation,” 1911 (p.126)
Information regarding Chinese immigrants, anti-Chinese violence (pp.101-3)
California Suffrage Leaders with Susan B. Anthony; First Women Voters in California—1912 (pp.107, 124)
Maud Young, Labor and Suffrage Organizer, (pp.121-124)
Akemi Kikumara on Japanese internment/Mitusuye Endo court case (pp.213-15)
White women welder, Black Rosie the Riveter, Joseph James on fair treatment (pp.223, 228-30)
Congresswomen Maxine Waters, “Causes of the L.A. Riots” (pp.335-6)
Amy Uyematsu, “The Ten Million Flames of Los Angeles” (pp.337-8)
On the proposition process, see http://www.iandrinstitute.org/
Week 9: (June 3-6) Politics and Civil Rights, cont.
Discussion of politics and civil rights, continued; film “The Forest for the Trees”; discuss film; California’s environmental issues.
Possible essay question for final/discussion
You will be asked to write an essay in your final exam, June 27th based on one of three topics (A, B, and C). You should be prepared to write an essay on any of the three topics. We will discuss all three in class.
Final Topic A: Make an argument about the extent to which California has or has not been a leader with regard to political change and civil rights, and why this is significant.
Week 10: (June 10-13) Environmental Issues in California
Discussion of environment, California Indians; films, Secrets of Silicon Valley, excerpt from “The Struggle in the Fields.”
Reading: Maasik, California Dreams and Realities
“Development the Dream and “The Price of Progress” (pp.380-3)
David Carle, “Sprawling Gridlock” (pp.402-410)
Gerald W. Haslam, “The Water Game” (pp.411-415)
David Mas Masumoto, “As If the Farmer Died” (pp.248-255)
Richard Steven Street, “Battling Toxic Racism” (pp.421-425)
Coodley, California: A Multicultural Documentary History
Introduction, “Seasonal Round,” “Indigenous Crossing San Francisco Bay,” “Tools” (pp.1-2, 7-8)
Introduction and William Boyle, “Excerpt…Modoc War,” photos (pp.85-90)
Helen Hunt Jackson regarding Native Americans (pp.91-93)
John Muir, Muir Woods, and Yone Noguchi, “Pine Tree” (pp.115-116)
Ester Gulick, et al., “Saving the Bay” (pp.297-300).
Alcatraz Occupation (pp.303-6)
Final Topic B: Make an argument about the extent to which California has or has not been a leader with regard to issues of environmental change, and why this is significant.
Week 11: (June 17-20) Economic Issues in California
Reading: Maasik, California Dreams and Realities
J.A. English-Lueck, “Identified by Technology” (pp.236-241)
James D. Houston, “In Search of Oildorado” (pp.274-290)
Andrew Murr and Jennifer Ordonez, “Tarnished Gold” (pp.383-6)
Dana Polan, “California through the Lens of Hollywood” (pp.337-351)
Coodley, California: A Multicultural Documentary History
“Wheat Threshing” and “High-Speed Freight Train,” (pp.99-100)
Cesar Chavez, “The Organizer’s Tale” (pp.278-285)
Cesar Chavez, “Farmworkers at Risk” (pp.333-336)
Maud Younger, Labor and Suffrage Organizer, pp.121-124)
Pam Brooks, “Memoir” (pp.312-314)
Final Topic C: To what extent do California’s industries illustrate the strengths but also economic inequalities of weaknesses in the state?
Week 12: (June 24 review; June 27 Final) Final Examination 11:30-1:30
Need help? The Student Success Center offers free tutoring, workshops and support for many De Anza classes. See http://www.deanza.edu/studentsuccess for details.
• Writing and Reading Center: LC 107 (first floor of the library)
• Listening and Speaking Center: LC 107 (first floor of the library)
• Skills Center: LIB 107A/ 408-864-8253
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