Gwen Kay
429 Mahar Hall      Office Hours: TT 2-3, by appt
312-3418       kay@oswego.edu

Tania Blahitka      taniablah@hotmail.com

For many people, a major problem with a class on women's history is that women seem to be invisible throughout much of history, so what could there possibly be to learn? In this class, we will survey American history, through women's eyes.  Women may not have been blazing new paths in the frontier, as Daniel Boone did, but their presence was critical in establishing new communities along the frontier.  Women may not have been visible in politics or country's economy, but that does not mean that women were not making vital contributions to the economy, and to political thought. Without the power of the vote, without a place in the public eye, women nonetheless significantly affected how and what our country did, talked about, and thought about, from education to slavery; the issues women did not publicly talk about, including childbirth, marriage and love, also affected our country's growth and development. Over the course of the semester, we will examine the ways in which women's lives--black and white, rich and poor, native-born and immigrant--helped shape and define our country, its heritage, and its history.

There are four required texts for this class. They are available at Hewitt Union Bookstore, Kraftees; the first two are also on reserve at the library.  The texts are:
Glenda Riley, Inventing the American Woman, vol 1 & 2
Mary Beth Norton, Major problems in American women's History, 3d ed
Stephen Crane, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets ... ed Thomas Gullason
Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodolaf (ed) Women's Indian Captivity Narratives

Your grade will be calculated as follows: four exams, worth 15% each; class attendance and participation, worth 10% each; final exam worth 20%.  Cheating and plagiarism are unacceptable (refer to sheet handed out in class and/or student handbook).  If you cheat or plagiarize, you will fail this course.  There will be no make-up exams.

Week 1 (Jan 23): Introduction
Riley, Introduction
Norton & Alexander, chapter 1 essays
Captivity Narratives, introduction

Week 2 (Jan 28/30): Early colonial times
Riley, p. 1-36
Norton &Alexander, chapter 2

Week 3 (Feb 4/6): Religion shapes the American colonies
Riley, 179-210
Captivity Narratives, Mary Rowlandson, Hannah Dustan, and "Panther Captivity"
EXAM

Week 4 (Feb 11/13): A colony at war
Riley, 53-78
Norton & Alexander, chapter 4

Week 5 (Feb 18/20): Slavery and life in the South
Riley, 36-48
Norton & Alexander, chapter 6 documents 3, 4, 6 and Clinton essay

Week 6 (Feb 25/27): The cult of domesticity
Riley, 78-88
Norton & Alexander, chapter 5 documents 1-2 and all essays
EXAM

Week 7 (March 4/6): Native American and Spanish women
Riley, 88-98
Norton & Alexander, chapter 8, doc 1-3 and Thrush-Keller essay

Week 8 (March 11/13: Religion and Reform
Riley, 116-136
Norton & Alexander,  chapter 5 documents 3-5 and chapter 6 documents 1-2, 5, Yee, Jeffrey essays

Week 9 (Mar 18/20): Immigration and Migration
Riley, 1-4-116, 136-149
Norton & Alexander, chapter 8 documents 4-6, Yung essay
EXAM

Week 10 (April 1/3): Sex, Children and other reproductive issues
Norton & Alexander, chapter 11 documents 1-2
Maggie, Brace, Talmage, Riis essays

Week 11 (April 8/10): Industrialization and Frontiers
Riley, 172-179, 210-218
Norton & Alexander, chapter 9 documents 1-5
Captivity Narratives, Sarah Wakefield

Week 12 (April 15/17): Sister fighting Sister?
Riley, 226-272
Norton & Alexander, chapter 7
EXAM

Week 13 (April 22/24): Reform and education
Riley, 291-330
Maggie, text of novel plus 3 reviews of your choice (one from each section)

Week 14 (April 29/May 1): The suffrage question
Riley, 341-361
Norton & Alexander, chapter 10

Week 15 (May 6/8): Aftermath
Riley, 362-384
Norton & Alexander, chapter 11 essays

FINAL EXAM