Assignments

Schedule of lectures and readings

Research Paper topics

Observation Paper topics

Final study questions

Lecture outlines

 HSTAA 353

Class and Labor in American History

 

Prof. James Gregory

Course website:
http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/353

Office Hours: Thursday 3-4:30 and by appointment
118 Smith;  543-7792
email: gregoryj@u.washington.edu

 

READINGS: (all except the course reader are on 24 hour reserve at Odegaard Library)

·         HSTAA 353 Course Reader (purchase at Ave Copy 4141 University Ave.)

·         James Green, Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America

·         Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

·         Carlos Bulosan, America is in the Heart

·         Rick Fantasia and Kim Voss, Hard Work: Remaking the American Labor Movement

 

ASSIGNMENTS:

A midterm; a final; a 2-3 page labor cultural event report; and an 7-10 page research paper. No one may pass the course without completing all assignments. They will be weighted as follows: midterm (25%), final (25%), research paper (30%), labor cultural event report (10%), class participation (10%).  The class participation grade will depend largely on the weekly discussions of assigned readings. Generally we will set aside an hour each Thursday for this purpose.

  • Project proposals (1 page) due April 17 (Thursday)
  • Midterm: April 24 (Thursday)
  • Research paper due: May 27 (Tuesday)
  • Observation paper should be turned in as early as possible. The deadline is June 3.
  • Final exam:  Tuesday June 10,  4:30-6:20

SCHEDULE OF LECTURES & READINGS

Week 1: ( read Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, 1-119)
4/1: Thinking about class
4/3: Thinking about labor

Week 2: (read Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, 120-221)
4/8: Industrial revolutions
4/10: Work and opportunity in 19th century America

 Week 3: (read Green, Death in Haymarket,  1-159)
4/15: Class and race formations (Cancel class?)
4/17: 19th century labor organizations

 Week 4: (read Green, Death in Haymarket,  160-320)
4/22: The Knights of Labor vs. the American Federation of Labor
4/24: Midterm

Week 5 : (readings for research projects TBA) 
4/29: The Socialist Challenge: varieties of radicalism
5/1: Born Red: Washington State’s radical labor heritage

Week 6 : (readings for research projects TBA) 
5/6: Gender at work: sexual divisions of labor
5/8: Managerial Revolutions and the Era of Corporate Capitalism 1890-1930

 Week 7: (read Bulosan 1-151) 
5/13: Labor's giant step: The Wagner Act and the CIO
5/15: Death on the Job: Occupational Health Then and Now 

Week 8: (read Bulosan, 152-327)

5/20: The Age of the CIO

5/22: From social movement to interest group during the Cold War

 Week 9: (read Fantasia and Voss, Hard Work, 1-119)
5/27:  Moving Away from a Middle-Class Society, 1975-2005
5/29: Class and Race Formations in the 21st century

Week 10: (read Fantasia and Voss, Hard Work, 120-75)
6/3: Not your father's labor movement: the new faces of labor
6/5: The jobless future?