Macalester College Spring 2007

Hist 294-05/AMST 294-11: The U.S. in the 1930s MWF 10:50 – 11:50 AM OM 002

Peter Rachleff o:Old Main 306 X 6371 rachleff@macalester.edu

It is a rare treat for an historian or history students to be able to spend an entire semester exploring as short a period of time as one decade. I look forward to sharing this treat with you. The scope of our course will give us an opportunity dig in great depth, to explore layers and the relationships between those layers: economics, politics, class, race, gender, culture, ideas, and more.

The 1930s deserves this sort of treatment. It saw the greatest breakdown in U.S. institutions ever experienced, giving way to opportunities to reconsider the organization of U.S. society and experiments with new political, social, cultural, and economic forms. There were significant developments: the reorganization of the U.S. economy (along the lines of what would be called “Keynesianism”); the organization of politics (the emergence of the “New Deal coalition” within the Democratic Party); the incorporation of mass cultural forms, like radio, into politics; the emergence of new cultural aesthetics in theater, literature, dance, music, and visual art; the questioning of long-standing patterns in race, gender, and sexuality. Much of what resulted from the turmoil of the 1930s led to the institutional arrangements which still shape contemporary society – or have been the subject of criticisms and calls for dismantlement. Why such a fuss? We will often ask: How radical was the 1930s? And I expect we will find very different and complex answers.

There will be a lot of reading in this course, but I trust that you will find it informative and stimulating. We will also view some films in class, and I might make some available for viewing outside of class. You will be expected to come to class having done the reading, prepared to participate in class discussions, and this will be an important element of my evaluation of your work in the class. I will try to email you questions to consider for discussion as often as possible in advance of classes, and I will encourage you to send thoughts to all of us via email. On most Mondays, I will expect you to submit, at the beginning of class, a short, informal “reaction” paper, reflecting in your own way on the past week’s work. Although these will be ungraded, they will be an important part of your class participation. You will be expected to attend the American Studies conference on February 23-24 (“Visualizing Race”) and write a short paper connecting it to our course work. There will be four major papers, mostly relying on assigned readings but requiring you to present and support an argument. You will also be expected to participate in a group oral presentation of a section of Michael Denning’s THE CULTURAL FRONT. Your grade will reflect your work on all of these projects as well as your contributions to the class as a whole.

This course will fulfill the domestic multiculturalism requirement. Some of the material and topics we will deal with will be emotionally as well as intellectually challenging, and it is important that we maintain an atmosphere in the classroom that provides a safe space and mutual respect. You should only take this course if you are seriously interested in this subject matter and comfortable with our groundrules.

The following books are available at the college bookstore and on reserve:

Cohen, MAKING A NEW DEAL [try www.addall.com]

Denning, THE CULTURAL FRONT

Faue, COMMUNITY OF SUFFERING AND STRUGGLE

Gordon, NEW DEALS

Katznelson, WHEN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION WAS WHITE

Kelley, HAMMER AND HOE

Kennedy, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION

[also available as FREEDOM FROM FEAR, PART ONE]

Melosh, ENGENDERING CULTURE

[out of print; you might seek on-line; try www.addall.com]

Daily syllabus

(caution: subject to change)

1/22 Introduction to the course

1/24 screen: “A Job At Ford’s”

Read: Kennedy, Prologue, 1

1/26 Depression: The Early Years

Read: Kennedy, 2 + 3

1/29 Popular Response, Government Response

Read: Kennedy, 4-6

Reaction paper due

1/31 Government Policy and Economic Change

Read: Kennedy, 7 + 8

2/2 Government Policy and Popular Response

Read: Kennedy, 9 + 10

2/5 Setting the Socio-Historical Stage

Read: Cohen, Introduction, 1 + 2

Reaction paper due

2/7 Encountering Mass Culture

Read: Cohen, 3

2/9 Economics, Workers, and the Depression

Read: Cohen, 4 + 5

Hand out paper #1, due 2/21

2/12 Emergence of the Labor Movement

Read: Cohen, 6-8 and Conclusion

Reaction paper due

2/14 Women Workers and the Depression

Read: Faue, Introduction, 1

2/16 Women Workers and the Labor Movement

Read: Faue, 2 + 3

Jacquelyn Hall, “Disorderly Women: Gender and Labor

Militancy in the Appalachian South” [JSTOR]

2/19 Women Workers and the Labor Movement

Read: Faue, 4-7 and Conclusion

Reaction paper due

2/21 screen: “Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind”

Paper # 1 due in class

PM: Bobby Hill lecture

2/23 Race and Radicalism

Read: Kelley, Prologue, 1 + 2

2/23 – 24 American Studies Conference: “Visualizing Race”

2/26 Race and Radicalism

Read: Kelley, 3 – 5

Conference paper due

Hand out paper #2, due 3/7 (book review)

2/28 Race and Radicalism

Read: Kelley, 6 – 8

3/2 Race and Radicalism

Read: Kelley, 9 – 11 and Epilogue

3/5 Race, Racialization, and Labor

Read: Zaragosa Vargas, “Tejana Radical: Emma Tenayuca and the

San Antonio Labor Movement During the Great Depression” [JSTOR]

Eiichiro Azuma, “Racial Struggle, Immigrant Nationalism, and

Ethnic Identity: Japanese and Filipinos in the California Delta” [JSTOR]

Reaction paper due

3/7 Screen: “Strange Fruit”

Paper #2 due in class

3/9 Race, Racialization, and Labor

Read: Moon-Kie Jong, “Interracialism: The Ideological Transformation

of Hawaii’s Working Class” [JSTOR]

3/10 – 3/18 Spring Break

Assignment: Visit a WPA project wherever you go

Take Melosh with you

3/19 New Deal, New Culture?

Read: Melosh, 1 – 3

WPA site visit report due [in place of a reaction paper]

3/21 Gender and the New Culture

Read: Melosh, 4 – 6

3/23 Everyday Life, Art, and Social Change

Read: Melosh, 7 – 10

3/26 Radicalism and Culture

Read: Denning, Part I

Reaction paper due

Set up oral presentation groups

Hand out paper #3, due 4/9

3/28 A Cultural Front?

Read: Denning, Part II, 2

3/30 Aesthetic Ideologies

Read: Denning, Part II, 3

4/2 Formations of the Cultural Front: Group Oral Presentations

Read: Denning, Part III, 4 - 7

4/4 Formations of the Cultural Front: Group Oral Presentations

Read: Denning, Part III, 8 – 11

4/6 Good Friday: No Class

4/9 How Radical was the New Deal: Culture?

Read: Denning, Part III, 12, and Conclusion

Paper #3 due in class (on chapter presented)

4/11 How Radical was the New Deal: Government?

Read: Gordon, Introduction, 1

4/13 How Radical was the New Deal: Government?

Read: Gordon, 2 + 3

4/16 How Radical was the New Deal: Government?

Read: Gordon, 4 – 6

Reaction paper due

Hand out paper #4 (final), due 5/3

4/18 How Radical was the New Deal: Government?

Read: Gordon, 7 + 8

4/20 How Radical was the New Deal: Racial Equality?

Read: Katznelson, Preface, 1

4/23 How Radical was the New Deal: Racial Equality?

Read: Katznelson, 2 + 3

Reaction paper due

4/25 How Radical was the New Deal: Racial Equality?

Read: Katznelson, 4 + 5

4/27 How Radical was the New Deal: Racial Equality?

Read: Katznelson, 6 + Appendix

4/30 Assessing the New Deal

5/3 Final paper due at noon