Teaching Portfolio

Teaching Portfolio Nancy Morgan Index: Teaching Philosophy Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3 Student Letters: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 6 Sample Course Syllabi: Summer Intensive: Nineteenth Century America . . . . . . . . . . . page 10 The American Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 15 History Capstone Preparation: Writing American Populism . . page 20 American Legacies of Slavery and Colonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 27 American Military History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 33 Editing Student Work with Results Sample #1: with editing notations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 37

Sample #1: completed assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 340 Sample #2: with editing notations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 45 Sample #2: completed assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 51 Sample #3: Weekly reading quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 58 Sample #4: End of week in-class reflection essay . . . . . . . . . . . . page 60

Selected Student comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 62 “The Voice of Experience”: Student advice to new students . . . . . . . . page 72

NMorgan: Teaching Portfolio: January 2015 page 2

“First and foremost I want to thank you for giving me the greatest History class experience I have ever had. As a student in middle school and high school I always felt defeated when learning History. This year was different. You made me feel totally apart (sic) of the class and I learned so much this semester. You are a fabulous teacher and I thank you so much for such a great experience.”

Student letter, Modern Global History


Nancy Morgan Teaching Philosophy Statement One student sent this e-mail to me: “As a student in middle school and high school I

always felt defeated when learning History. This year was different.” Many students believe

that history is incomprehensible because it seems irrelevant to them, just a collection of

wars, leaders and dates. However, history teaches three essential concepts: It explains how

present conditions came to be as they are, and secondly, it tells us that seemingly immutable

situations can change. Finally, history emphasizes human endeavors and so my students

learn the stories of how people influenced events. We study historical questions of origins

and legacies, militarism and violence, gender and nation, American capitalism, labor and

poverty. In my classroom experience, race, gender and sexual orientation issues intersect

with class-cultural divisions and oppositional conservative/liberal value systems. Through

their study of history, students explore their own belief systems, find ways to disagree

respectfully with classmates, and practice the professional demeanor of articulate speech

and academic prose.

Thinking historically can prepare students of all majors for the real world, by

learning how to think and write critically, and formulating reasoned arguments in class. On

the first day of class, I begin with Thomas Andrews and Flannery Burke’s incisive essay,

“What Does it Mean to Think Historically?”1 Students learn to apply the “five C’s of

historical thinking” to their analyses: change over time, causality, context, complexity and

contingency. Through large and small group discussions, class debates, writing

assignments, and student-led conversations, the class analyzes events and the people

involved. They learn to distinguish between an opinion and a position. We construct

positions by defending their opinions with a rationale and examples. By respectfully

1 Thomas Andrews and Flannery Burke, “What Does it Mean to Think Historically?” Perspectives,

January 2007. http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2007/0701/0701tea2.cfm


confronting their own and each other’s positions in the classroom, they deepen their

understanding and develop effective communication skills.

I incorporate technology in the classroom for two reasons: to support Universal

Design of Instruction and secondly, to assess individual student learning continuously

through the semester. As an example of the first, I post in class materials on blackboard to

enable students to process at their own speed. I also offer twitter in class to enable students

with speech impediments to contribute more comfortably and for any student who wants to

add insights without interrupting others who are speaking. As evidence for the second

reason, I require my students to post blogs on their reading assignments before class. I

review their paragraphs early in the day for particularly evocative insights, or to find

evidence of misconceptions specific to the reading assignment. This practice gives me an

opportunity to tailor the day’s discussion and perhaps include a short primary source

reading in lecture. It also holds students accountable for the reading assignments.

By uncovering historic patterns and long-standing ideologies of states’ rights, federal

and individual interests, students discover history’s relevance, and feel empowered rather

than defeated when learning history. One student reminisced at the end of the semester,

“Instead of teaching what happened and when it happened she emphasized that we know

why it happened. History was not just black and white it was a spectrum of colors that were

all interdependent to each other.” Writing is thinking. When students write for each reading

assignment, they process the materials more completely.

Finally, my own research informs my teaching style. My current project connects

Native American and African American legacies of colonization and slavery and the political

history of emerging democracy and sectionalism. I explore these trends through the

influence of well-known figures such as Andrew Jackson with the lesser-known Rev. Samuel

Worcester. Likewise, in the classroom I teach figures who are well known and others who


are not, demonstrating that even those who are unknown to them have provided a vital

impact on American history. My students learn to separate fame and significance,

discovering that everyone, not just heroes and political leaders, holds a civic responsibility.

The study of history enables my students to locate and examine evidence, formulate a thesis

and draw conclusions, to employ critical thinking to write and speak effectively. In short,

history prepares them for their career paths and develops their competency as productive

citizens in a democratic republic.


Sample Student letters:


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Summer Intensive: Nineteenth Century America -Syllabus-

Nancy Morgan Now, and here, let me guard a little against being misunderstood. I do not mean to say we are bound to follow implicitly in whatever our [Founding] fathers did. To do so, would be to discard all the lights of current experience - to reject all progress - all improvement. What I do say is, that if we would supplant the opinions and policy of our fathers in any case, we should do so upon evidence so conclusive, and argument so clear, that even their great authority, fairly considered and weighed, cannot stand; and most surely not in a case whereof we ourselves declare they understood the question better than we. If any man at this day sincerely believes that a proper division of local from federal authority, or any part of the Constitution, forbids the Federal Government to control as to slavery in the federal territories, he is right to say so, and to enforce his position by all truthful evidence and fair argument which he can. But he has no right to mislead others, who have less access to history, and less leisure to study it, into the false belief that “our fathers who framed the Government under which we live” were of the same opinion - thus substituting falsehood and deception for truthful evidence and fair argument. --Abraham Lincoln, Cooper Union Address, New York, 27 February 1860 Course Description and Objectives: This is an advanced level history course aimed at giving history majors and students in other disciplines such as English and Political Science an understanding of the changes in American life during the 19th century. This is truly a “World We Have Lost,” a society dominated by agriculture, but becoming increasingly industrial and urbanized. But even though a visit to the world of 100 years ago is as foreign to contemporary students as the visit by the anthropologist to a non-western culture, the consequence for modern American life is immense. The topics discussed in this course are related to the changes in the United States that promoted its development as a multicultural democracy and an economic superpower. Objectives: Students will create their own narrative of the nineteenth century. Building upon already known stories, students will integrate this knowledge to explore the process of narrative formation. Readings, movies and debates help develop an understanding of the follow subjects:

Societal Divisions: Race/class/gender

Labor Control: Wage labor/slave labor

Sectionalism: North/South/West

Economic Prosperity: Industry/agriculture/trade The blogs help students incorporate new knowledge as they build their narratives. The term paper encourages students to reflect on a nineteenth-century author’s narrative with a critical eye to the subjects under study, as well as their course readings.


Course Readings: Principle Text: Jonathan Daniel Wells, A House Divided: The Civil War and Nineteenth-Century America, (New York: Routledge, 2012). Supporting texts (available on blackboard and on book reserve): Heather Ann Thompson, “Why Mass Incarceration Matters: Rethinking Crisis, Decline, and the Transformation in Postwar American History,” Journal of American History, Dec. 2010, 703-734. David A. Chang, “Parts I & II,” The Color of the Land: Race, Nation, and the Politics of Landownership in Oklahoma, 1832-1929, (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2010), 1-105. Joshua D. Rothman, “The Hazards of the Flush Times: Gambling, Mob Violence, and the Anxieties of America’s Market Revolution,” Journal of American History, Dec. 2008, 651-677. James D. Schmidt, Industrial Violence and the Legal Origins of Child Labor, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010). Visual texts:

New York, 1825-1865: Order and Disorder (Instant streaming, Paley)

“Cooper Union Address: Sam Waterston” (youtube)

Death Runs Riot: The West (Instant streaming, Paley) Term Paper: Narrative Analysis: Harriet E. Wilson, Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, In a Two-Story White House, North. Showing that Slavery’s Shadows Fall Even There. Introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., (New York: Vintage Books, [1859] 2002). Includes afterword by Barbara A. White. Analyze Wilson’s novel and the results of White’s research. Use course readings and class discussion as supporting materials. What does Wilson’s novel indicate about:

Societal Divisions: Race/class/gender

Labor Control: Wage labor/slave labor

Sectionalism: North/South/West

Economic Prosperity: Industry/agriculture/trade Final Exam: Coursework Reflection: “What did you learn about Nineteenth-Century America?” ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING: Reading assignments Blogs: 40%


You will contribute 11 blogs to this class. 2 lowest grades will be dropped Please note: There is no such thing as a late blog. You cannot enter blogs after midnight, the day before class. See Blog rubric Term Paper: 25%

Term Paper Preparation: 2 ungraded drafts required. See Term Paper rubric Student Participation: 25% (includes both participation and attendance) 25% includes:

5% Vicksburg Debates (hand in preparation notes)

10% Reconstruction Debates (hand in preparation notes) Final Exam: 10% Pass/Fail Weekly Schedule: Week 1: Tuesday, July 10:

Syllabus

Blog Rules Classroom Expectations

Self-evaluations

Readings

Review Paper Review Final Exam

What is a historical narrative?

Thompson, “Why Mass Incarceration Matters”

Homework reading assignment: Chang, Introduction and Part I (on blackboard) Thursday, July 12: Blog due (post by midnight, Wednesday, July 11): Chang, Introduction and Part I, 1-69.

Review Chang reading

Lecture: Early Republic and political divisions

Homework reading assignment: Finish Chang, Part II, 71-105; Rothman article. Newspapers: For and Against Vicksburg.

Divide into groups: Prepare for debate. Week 2: Tuesday, July 17: Blog due (post by midnight, Monday, July 16): Chang reading, Pt. 2.

Review Chang reading.

Debate: Vicksburg: Gambling, Lynching, and constitutional authority

Homework: Read Wells, Chap. 1-2, 1-54.


Thursday, July 19: Blog due (post by midnight, Wednesday, July 18): Wells, Chap. 1-2.

Review Wells Reading.

New York DVD, pt. 1. (70 minutes)

Discuss movie.

Lecture: Antebellum Week 3: Tuesday, July 24: Blog due (post by midnight, Monday, July 23): Wells, Chap. 3-5. Blog Summary: Wilson

Discuss Wells and Wilson readings.

Finish New York DVD. (50 minutes)

Discuss term paper.

Writing exercise. Thursday, July 26: Blog due (post by midnight, Wednesday, July 25): Wells, 6-7.

Discuss Wells reading.

Cooper Union Address

Discuss Address.

Lecture: Civil War Week 4: Tuesday, July 31: Blog due (post by midnight, Monday, July 30): Wells, Chap. 8-11. Send to instructor’s address: Draft 1 Term Paper: before class starts.

Discuss Wells readings.

Review Conkling Letter.

Review Liberator page

Compare.

Lecture: Reconstruction Thursday, August 2: Blog due (post by midnight, Wednesday, August 1): Wells, Chap. 12-13.

Discuss Wells readings.

Video: Death Runs Riot: The West Week 5: Tuesday, August 7: Blog due (post by midnight, Monday, August 6): Schmidt, Prologue, Chapter 1. Send to instructor’s address: Draft 2 Term Paper: before class starts.

Lecture: Reconstruction

Sharecropper Contracts


13, 14, 15th Amendments

Set up debate: o Industrialists o Agricultural land owners o Reformers o African American families o European Immigrant families o White working class families o Native American families o Congressional Mediators

Thursday, August 9: Blog due (post by midnight, Wednesday, August 8): Schmidt, Chapter 2.

Debate. Week 6: Tuesday, August 14: Blog due (post by midnight, Monday, August 13): Schmidt, finish book.

Discuss: Narratives of the 19th century Thursday, August 16: Hard Copy, Final Paper due.

Final Exam.


The American Revolution -Syllabus-

Nancy Morgan In this course, we will explore one of the most important events in American history, the American Revolution. Contemporary observers and historians have disagreed ferociously over what caused the Revolution and over what the Revolution caused. We will read works that explore the era from a number of different perspectives and that find in it many meanings, successes, and failures. These works also offer, implicitly or explicitly, competing accounts of which factors shape and transform society, politics, and character. As we investigate the era and come to our own conclusions about its events and people, we will be honing our skills as readers and writers of history and pondering what the Revolution and its many retellings mean for the America we are creating today. Course Texts (available at campus bookstore): Richard Brown and Benjamin Carp, eds., Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760-1791, THIRD EDITION (2012) Royall Tyler, The Contrast: Manners, Morals and Authority in the Early American Republic, Cynthia A. Kierner, ed. (New York: New York University Press, 2007). Grading: 40% Weekly quizzes, debate, and class reflections/class participation (full semester) (2 lowest grades will be dropped) 15% First Paper (due: February 11) 15% Second Paper (due: April 1) 10% Debate: What is Important about the American Revolution? (April 20) 20% Final Exam (May 6) Week One: January 12, 14 Monday: Review Syllabus and class expectations Andrews and Burke, “What Does It Mean to Think Historically?”

Homework reading due Wednesday, January 14: Brown and Carp, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, chapter one: pp. 1-34. Wednesday: Interpreting the Revolution 10 minute quiz on reading assignment:

Hint for quiz: Know the various interpretations as described in the introduction. The

short essay question is: Briefly, what is your position on the significance of either Gordon

Wood or Alfred Young’s essay? Remember: position = opinion + rationale + example(s) Historic Document discussion: “The New Republics,” The Camden Journal, Camden, South Carolina, March 7, 1829.


Week Two: January 21 NO CLASS MONDAY, JANUARY 19TH Homework reading due Wednesday, January 21st: Brown and Carp, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, chapter two: pp. 36-76. Historic Documents #1, 3, 5, plus essays. Blackboard reading: Wim Klooster, Revolutions in the Atlantic World: A Comparative History, Introduction, American Revolution, Conclusion, pp. 1-44, 158-174. Wednesday: Anatomy of Land Speculation Reading Quiz George Washington to William Crawford, September 17, 1767 Week Three: January 26, 28 Homework reading due Monday, January 26th: Brown and Carp, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, chapter three: pp. 78-115. Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy, An Empire Divided: The American Revolution and the British Caribbean, pp. xi-xii, 3-33. Historic Documents #2, 3, 4, 5, 7, plus essays. Monday: Geography and the Atlantic World Reading Quiz Historic Document discussion Wednesday: From Mercantilism to Profit-motive John Dickinson Rallies the Colonists to Opposition, 1767-1768 Week Four: February 2, 4 Homework reading due Monday, February 2nd: Brown and Carp, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, chapter four: pp. 117-170. Historic Documents # _____, plus essays Blackboard reading: Woody Holton, Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves & the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia, pp. xiii-xxi, 3-38. Monday: Reading Quiz Historic Document discussion Wednesday: Political Cartoon analysis 1st Paper preparation discussion and exercise Week Five: February 9, 11 Homework reading due Monday, February 9th: Brown and Carp, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, chapter five: pp. 172-211. Historic Documents #_____, plus essays


Blackboard reading: Carol Berkin, “George Washington and the Newburg Conspiracy,” 33-50. Monday: The Making of a President: George Washington Reading Quiz Historic Document discussion Wednesday:

First Paper due, before class starts.

In class video and discussion: Segment from Liberty!: The American Revolution Week Six: February 16, 18 Homework reading due Monday, February 16th: Brown and Carp, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, chapter six: 213-245. Historic Documents #______, plus essays. Blackboard reading: Theda Perdue on Nancy Ward, in Portraits of American Women: From

Settlement to the Present, pp. 83-100. Monday: Reading Quiz Historic Document discussion Wednesday: Playing Indian Revolutionary-style Week Seven: February 23, 25 Homework reading due Monday, February 23rd: Brown and Carp, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, chapter seven: 247-285. Historic Documents #______, plus essays. Blackboard reading: David Waldstreicher on Phillis Wheatley, in Revolutionary Founders, pp. 97-113. Monday: Reading Quiz Historic Document discussion Wednesday: Benjamin Banneker and Thomas Jefferson Week Eight: March 2, 4 Homework reading due Monday, March 2nd: Brown and Carp, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, chapter eight: 287-325. Historic Documents #______, plus essays. Blackboard reading: Carol Berkin, “It was I who did it,” 135-147, and “Sybil Ludington: An Unheralded Patriot Girl” (7 pp.)


Monday: Reading Quiz Historic Document discussion Wednesday: Historic document vs. text: Abigail Adams’s writing March 9, 11

Spring Vaca! Enjoy! Week Nine: March 16, 18 Homework reading due Monday, March 16: Brown and Carp, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution,

Chapter nine: documents only!

Historic Documents #______, Readings for George Washington and Benedict Arnold Monday: Morality, Religion and the American Revolution Reading quiz Historic Document discussion Wednesday: The Southern Campaign Week Ten: March 23, 25 Homework reading due Monday, March 23rd: Royall Tyler, The Contrast: Manners, Morals and Authority in the Early American Republic, Cynthia A. Kierner, ed. (New York: New York University Press, 2007). Monday: Reading Quiz: Analyze Text Wednesday: 2nd Paper preparation discussion and exercise: Week Eleven: March 30 and April 1 Homework reading due Monday, March 30: Brown and Carp, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, chapter ten:

essays only: pp. 387-407.

Historic Documents (blackboard):

James Madison, Federalist 10

James Madison, “Rule of Representation in the Senate,” [29 June], [30 June] 1787 Blackboard reading: Scott Nelson, Nation of Deadbeats, pp. vii-xvi, 3-34. Monday: Reading Quiz Historic Document discussion


Wednesday:

Hand in paper at beginning of class: In class video and discussion: Segment from

Liberty!: The American Revolution Week Twelve: April 6, 8 Homework reading due Monday, April 6th: Brown and Carp, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, chapter eleven: pp. 409-487. Historic Documents # _____ Blackboard reading: Herman Husband, anti-federalist, from Revolutionary Founders Monday: Reading quiz Historic Document discussion Wednesday: Your Constitutional Rights Week Thirteen: April 13, 15 Homework reading due Monday, April 13th: Brown and Carp, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, chapter twelve: pp. 489-539. Historic Documents #______ Blackboard Reading: John Larson, Presidential Address, SHEAR 2014. Monday: Reading Quiz Historic Document discussion Wednesday: Significance of the American Revolutionary War Era: Discuss Debate and assign groups Week Fourteen: April 20, 22 Monday: Making an Argument: What is Important about the American Revolution?

Discussion and hand in assignment.

Wednesday:

American Revolution Debate: What is Important about the American Revolution?

Week Fifteen: April 27, 29 Semester in Review Final Exam: Wednesday, May 6, 2014: 12:10-2PM


History Capstone Preparation: Writing American Populism

-Syllabus- Nancy Morgan Ink means love and research is forever! Course Description and Objectives: Essentially, this seminar teaches how to think like a researcher, not a student. We will begin this transition through a study of American Populism. Historians interested in this topic will start by studying the current scholarship on the subject. We will consider the insights historians bring to the emergence and characteristics of American Populism. We will explore the skills historians need to consider the topic further and look for areas that might benefit from further study. Through this example of American Populism, students will be encouraged to develop their own research questions and topics. We will employ speed reading techniques to course readings, writing exercises and research visits to at least two of the world class archives in the Philadelphia area. As a writing intensive seminar, students will regularly write, and edit their own work and each others. Finally and perhaps most importantly we will practice the historian’s craft of deep reading primary source texts. The seminar prepares the student for their eventual capstone project. It is divided into three sections, which includes the literature review, archival research, and the historical question. These are the fundamental components of a research proposal. Through these three exercises, students look for compelling gaps in current historiographies and primary sources, as they are related to American Populism or preferably their own research interest. The goal is not to explain American Populism, or any other research question, but to consider the types of questions historians ask in order to understand a topic of interest. This seminar encourages you to develop your own historical questions, find resources through writings, materials, and experts in their fields and to learn from and assist your academic peers. It involves finding and reviewing the pertinent literature, exploring archival sources, and creating questions which make an evocative, significant and fund-worthy prospectus. In this seminar, you will learn to think, write and speak like researchers. Through this process you will learn the freedom, responsibility, and power of research. Principle Goals for this course:

Practice speed reading to find the academic arguments within texts.

Build writing skills, for yourself and your academic peers.

Build editing skills, for yourself and your academic peers.

Create a literature review.

Practice archival research.

Build resource finding skills, for yourself and your academic peers.

Find the gaps in the literature and develop your own compelling and significant historical question.

Grading:


Participation: Attendance, class engagement and Blogs: 25%: Students are expected to contribute weekly to the Blog on readings. Three lowest grades will be dropped. Note: Blog closes midnight on the due date, which is the day before class. You cannot submit to the Blog 5 minutes after midnight. Late assignments do not exist on Blog. Blog assignments (review Blog rubric):

Pick three significant points within your readings. Explain why they are significant and how they relate to the history of American populism. If you are reading from more than one text, pick at least one point from each reading.

Please cite any quotations: reading and page number.

Do not respond to an earlier student’s comment on the Blog. Reserve comments for class discussion.

Each response must be able to stand alone, and be unique to the collection. Do not paraphrase an earlier entry. Pick something else to write about.

Each analytical comment must be in complete sentences, in one or two fully developed paragraphs. See the paragraph rubric for acceptable paragraphs.

Literature Review: total: 25%: (Précis: 5%, Lit Review 20%) Demonstrate some level of familiarity with ten to twenty pertinent scholarly books or articles. 5-7 pages. Final Copy due Monday, March 12. Archival Research: 25%: Demonstrate familiarity with the primary source and its place within the surrounding literature. Consider the quality of your primary source and its relevance to your topic. 5-7 pages. Final Copy due Monday, April 9. Proposal Question: 25%: Describe a historical question based on your understanding of the pertinent literature and your primary source analysis. Give necessary background information to explain the historical context of the question, the question itself, and why this question is important to explore further. 5 pages. Final Copy due Monday, May 9. Two ungraded drafts are required before students hand in final assignments: the literature review, archival research paper, and proposal question. Students cannot hand in draft two, until they have handed in an approved draft one. Students cannot hand in a final paper, until they have handed in and adequately edited draft two. Late assignments for the literature review, archival research paper, and proposal question will receive lower grades (which included late drafts). Assignments are due before class begins on due date, and will be graded late if handed in even 5 minutes after class has started. Required Readings: Texts: James Buchan, The Authentic Adam Smith: His Life and Ideas, (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006). Matthew Hild, Greenbackers, Knights of Labor, and Populists: Farmer-labor Insurgency in the Late Nineteenth-century South, (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2007).


Sven Beckert, The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie, 1850-1896, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001). Articles and Chapters: William Hogeland, “Whiskey, Rebellion, and the Religious Left,” Tikkun (San Francisco: Jul/Aug 2007) 22:4, 48-52. Chapters from: Peter Charles Hoffer, The Historians’ Paradox: The Study of History in our Time, (New York: New York University Press, 2008). Joseph Fracchia, book review for: Moishe Postone, Time, Labor and Social Domination: A Reinterpretation of Marx’s Critical Theory, (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1993). History and Theory (34:4 1995) 355-371. Linda R. Hirshman, book review, The Rape of the Locke: Race, Gender, and the Loss of Liberal Virtue Liberal Purposes: Goods, Virtues, and Diversity in the Liberal State by William A. Galston; Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights, and Taxes on American Politics by Thomas Byrne Edsall and Mary D. Edsall, Stanford Law Review, 44:5 (May 1992), 1133-1162. David F. Labaree, “Progressivism, Schools and Schools of Education: An American Romance,” Paedagogica Historica, 41: 1&2, Feb. 2005, 275-288. Robert T. Schatz, Ervin Staub, and Howard Lavine, “On the Varieties of National Attachment: Blind Versus Constructive Patriotism,” Political Psychology, Vol. 20, No. 1, 1999, 151-174. Bill Moyers, “This is Your Story—The Progressive Story of America: Pass It On,” text of speech, Take Back America Conference sponsored by the Campaign for America’s Future, 4 June 2003. Bill Moyers, “Our Politicians are Money Launderers in the Trafficking of Power and Public Policy, text of speech, Public Citizen's 40th Anniversary Gala, 20 October 2011. Special Events: As a class, we will meet outside the classroom at approximately two local archives in the Philadelphia area, accessible through public transportation. If you anticipate any trouble meeting at the archives during class time, please let the instructor know in advance as soon as possible for alternate arrangements. Weekly Schedule: Week 1: Jan. 18: Review:

Syllabus.

Blog.

Self-Assessment.


Analysis breakdown. o Paragraph rubric.

Write paragraph on Blog for Friday: “Why should Americans understand American Populism?” Jan. 20: Blog Assignment Due: “Why should Americans understand American Populism?” Remember to submit Jan. 20th assignment by midnight: Jan 19th: Review assignment. In class speed reading practice: Bill Moyers, “This is Your Story” Weekly self assessment (every Friday). Week 2: Topic Development Jan. 23: Blog Assignment Due:

Hogeland on Husband

Moyer’s “Populist History.” Jan. 25: Topic development In class speed reading practice: Loewen, Teaching What Really Happened, “Introduction.” Jan. 27: Blog Assignment Due:

Buchan, Adam Smith, Introduction and chapter 1. Topic Development continued. Bring Preliminary reading list to class. Week 3: Researching Literature Jan. 30: Blog Assignment Due:

Finish Buchan, Adam Smith. Feb. 1: Building Reading Lists (visiting history research librarian, David Murray) Bring laptops! Feb. 3: Blog Assignment Due:

Postone, Review Essay: Time, Labor and Social Domination. Bring to class: Hild, Greenbackers: Discuss Literature Review Essays. Week 4: Researching Literature Feb. 6: Blog Assignment Due:

Hild, Greenbackers, Introduction, Chapters 1 & 2. Feb. 8: Discuss reading lists. So, what’s an “annotated bibliography”? Feb. 10:


PLAGIARISM LECTURE: ATTENDANCE REQUIRED Blog Assignment Due: Post Annotated Bibliography Pick books for Précis Week 5: Writing Précis for Literature Feb. 13: Blog Assignment Due:

Finish Hild, Greenbackers. Review Précis writing rubric Feb. 15: Bring Précis book to class. Feb. 17: Assignment Due: Hard Copy

Bring sample précis to class (picked from individual reading lists). Week 6: Archival Research: Interrogating the Sources Feb. 20: Assignment Due: Electronic submission: Draft 1: Literature Review. Review Electronic archives Bring laptops! Feb. 22: Archivist visit: Margery Sly: Meet at Urban Archives! Feb. 24: Blog Assignment Due:

Barton: “Primary Sources” and Archives introduction reflection Archives, primary and secondary source review Week 7: Archival Research Feb. 27: Assignment Due: Electronic submission: Draft 2: Literature Review. Feb. 29: Assignment Due: Hard Copy: Paragraph: Archival interest and why. Discuss possible archives. Mar. 2: Archival Explorations continued Spring Break! Week 8: Visit the Archives! Mar. 12: Assignment Due: Hard copy brought to class: Literature Review. Mar. 14: Speed read practice: Jimerson on: what makes material archival? Mar. 16: FIRST OFF-CAMPUS ARCHIVES VISIT MEETING AT Historical Society of Pennsylvania! 10AM


Week 9: Visit the Archives! Mar. 19: Blog Assignment Due:

Assessment of HSP Archives and research strategy Mar. 21: SECOND OFF-CAMPUS ARCHIVES VISIT MEETING AT Eastern Penitentiary! 10AM Mar. 23: Blog Assignment Due: Assessment of Eastern Penitentiary (or other) Archives, and research strategy Week 10: Picking a source Mar. 26: Transcriptions Mar. 28: Getting biographical context Mar. 30: Blog Assignment Due: post own journal of archival research and discovery (Counts as first draft) Week 11: Historical Questions: Mind Mapping Week Apr. 2: Assignment Due: electronic submission directly to instructor: Archive Report Draft 2 Apr. 4: Class discussion: Classmate sample primary sources. Practice deep reading the texts. Apr. 6: Practice seminar discussions Week 12: Apr. 9: Assignment Due: Hard copy due at beginning of class: Archive Report due. Apr. 11: Class discussion: Classmate sample primary sources. Practice deep reading the texts. Apr. 13: Class discussion: “2 sentences” compare and re-write Week 13: Apr. 16: Class discussion: Classmate sample primary sources. Practice deep reading the texts. Apr. 18: Practice seminar discussions Apr. 20: Deep reading practice Week 14: Apr. 23: Class discussion: Classmate sample primary sources. Practice deep reading the texts.


Assignment Due: electronic submission directly to instructor: Draft 1 Due before class starts. Apr. 25: Deep reading practice Apr. 27: Practice seminar discussions Week 15: Apr. 30: Assignment Due: electronic submission directly to instructor: Draft 2 Due before class starts. May 2: Seminar: ask the author! Final Paper Due: Hard Copy: Final paper under door: by 9PM


American Legacies of Slavery and Colonization

-Syllabus- Nancy Morgan This course studies the intersections of African American history and American Indian history through nineteenth-century literature, turn of the century literature, and contemporary literature. Students will consider the similarities and differences between these legacies, their historic patterns, and the increased visibility of white supremacist ideology. Through compelling stories of people’s lived experiences, this course encourages understanding and empathy for American diversity and America’s multiple histories. In this course, students will be expected to build conceptual understandings of the legacies of slavery and colonization. Students will be expected to analyze and evaluate the impact of these legacies on people and the nation, as well as recognize their historic patterns and intersections. Expectations for the Course: Learning Goals: Students in the class will be expected to work on the following:

1) Develop historical perspectives 2) Express themselves clearly, both in writing and in discussion 3) Locate relevant information 4) Identify key historical issues and debates 5) Support plausible historical arguments

Race is a sensitive and personal topic. To facilitate respectful, productive class discussion, we will collectively establish some “Ground Rules” during our first session together. Materials for the Course: Texts: Harriet E. Wilson, Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, In a Two-Story White House, North. Showing that Slavery’s Shadows Fall Even There. (1859). Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins, Life Among the Piutes; Their Wrongs and Claims (1883). W.E.B. DuBois: The Souls of Black Folk (1903) Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul of the Indian (1911) Sherman Alexie, Indian Killer (1996) Sapphire, Push: A Novel. (1996) Additional readings:


On Samson Occom, “An ornament to the Christian Religion and the Glory of the Indian nation,” David J. Silverman, Red Brethren: The Brothertown and Stockbridge Indians and the Problem of Race in Early America, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010), 53-60. On Phillis Wheatley, David Waldstreicher, “Phillis Wheatley: The Poet Who Challenged the American Revolutionaries,” Alfred F. Young, Gary B. Nash, and Ray Raphael, Revolutionary Founders: Rebels, Radicals, and Reformers in the Making of the Nation, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011), 97-113. Douglass S. Massey and Nancy A. Denton, American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993) Philip J. Deloria, Indians in Unexpected Places, (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2004). Jodi A. Byrd, “Been to the Nation, Lord, But I Couldn’t Stay There,” Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, 13:1, (2011) 31-52. Term Paper Readings:

1. Cherokee Freedmen Controversy News articles

2. Douglass S. Massey and Nancy A. Denton, American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993)

3. Philip J. Deloria, Indians in Unexpected Places, (Lawrence: University Press of

Kansas, 2004).

4. Mark Rifkin, “Representing the Cherokee Nation: Subaltern Studies and Native American Sovereignty,” Boundary 2 32:3, 2005.

5. Bethany R. Berger, “Red: Racism and the American Indian,” 56 UCLA Law

Review 591 (2009).

6. Plus a news article of your choice. Assignments and Grading: Reading assignments Forums: 40%

3 lowest grades will be dropped See Forum rubric Term Paper: 25%

Term Paper Preparation: 2 ungraded, but required, drafts required See Term Paper rubric


Student Participation: 20% (includes both participation and attendance) Final Exam: 15% See Final Exam Question Weekly Schedule: Week 1: January 22: Review:

Getting started

Discuss in Class: o Thomas Andrews and Flannery Burke, “What Does it Mean to Think

Historically?” AHA Perspectives, 2007. January 24: Forum Assignment Due: Samson Occom and Phillis Wheatley. On Samson Occom, “An ornament to the Christian Religion and the Glory of the Indian nation,” David J. Silverman, Red Brethren: The Brothertown and Stockbridge Indians and the Problem of Race in Early America, 53-60. On Phillis Wheatley, David Waldstreicher, “Phillis Wheatley: The Poet Who Challenged the American Revolutionaries,” Alfred F. Young, Gary B. Nash, and Ray Raphael, Revolutionary Founders: Rebels, Radicals, and Reformers in the Making of the Nation, 97-113. Phillis Wheatley, “Letter to Samson Occom,” 11 February 1774. Contribute to Forum no later than one hour before class starts: Discuss readings. Week 2: January 29: Forum Assignment Due: Harriet E. Wilson, Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, In a Two-Story White House, North. Showing that Slavery’s Shadows Fall Even There. (1859). January 31: Forum Assignment Due: Afterword by Barbara A. White, from Harriet Wilson Week 3: February 5: Forum Assignment due: Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins, Life Among the Piutes; Their Wrongs and Claims (1883), Preface, Chapters 1-5. February 7:


Forum Assignment due: Testimony of Benjamin Singleton, Washington, D. C., April 17, 1880 before the Senate Select Committee Investigating the "Negro Exodus from the Southern States" http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/seven/w67singl.htm Week 4: February 12: Forum Assignment due: Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins, Life Among the Piutes; Their Wrongs and Claims (1883), Chapters 6-8. February 14: Forum Assignment Due: “The Killings at Lightning Creek,” Philip J. Deloria, Indians in Unexpected Places, pages 15-51. Week 5: February 19: Forum Assignment due: W.E.B. DuBois: The Souls of Black Folk, The Forethought, Chapters I-VIII. February 21: Forum Assignment due: “The Construction of the Ghetto,” Douglass S. Massey and Nancy A. Denton, American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass, 17-59. Library Review for Research papers Review Term Paper Assignment. John R. Trimble, Writing with Style: Conversations on the art of writing, “How to write a critical analysis” and “Openers.” Week 6: February 26: Forum Assignment due: W.E.B. DuBois: The Souls of Black Folk, Chapters IX- The Afterthought. February 28: In Class: Term Paper Exercise: Bring news article of choice to class. Forum Assignment due: Jodi A. Byrd, “Been to the Nation, Lord, But I Couldn’t Stay There,” Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, 13:1, (2011) 31-52. Week 7: March 5: Forum Assignment due: Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul of the Indian March 7: Forum Assignment due: Charles Alexander Eastman Charles Alexander Eastman, “The Soul of the White Man,” From the Deep Woods to Civilization, (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1916), 182-195.


Spring Break! March 11-15 Week 8: March 19: First Draft due Term Paper. Send electronically to e-mail address. (Before class starts!) Forum Assignment due: Douglass S. Massey and Nancy A. Denton, American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass, Chapters 4-7. March 21: Forum Assignment Due: “Indian Wars, The Movie,” Philip J. Deloria, Indians in Unexpected Places, 52-108. Week 9: March 26: Forum Assignment Due: Sherman Alexie, Indian Killer, chapters 1-19. March 28: In Class Term paper editing exercise Week 10: Sherman Alexie, Indian Killer April 2: Second Draft due Term Paper. Send electronically to e-mail address. (Before class starts!) Forum Assignment Due: Sherman Alexie, Indian Killer, chapters 20-23. April 4: Week 11: April 9: Forum Assignment Due: Sherman Alexie, Indian Killer, chapters 24-31. April 11: Video: During Class time: Smoke Signals Forum Assignment Due: Movie Reflection: by Friday, April 12. Week 12: April 16: Forum Assignment Due: Sapphire, Push, pp. 1-97. April 18: Term Paper due, hard copy brought to class (beginning of class) Week 13: April 23:


Forum Assignment Due: Sapphire, Push, pp. 98-140, and “Life Stories.” April 25: Week 14: Semester in Review April 30: May 2: Week 15: Reading Period Days Final Exam: Thursday, May 9, 2-4PM


American Military History

-Syllabus-

Nancy Morgan

The War of a community—of whole Nations, and particularly of civilised

Nations—always starts from a political condition, and is called forth by a

political motive. It is, therefore, a political act. . . . [I]f we reflect that War has

its root in a political object, then naturally this original motive which called it

into existence should also continue the first and highest consideration in its

conduct. Still, the political object is no despotic lawgiver on that account; it

must accommodate itself to the nature of the means, and though changes in

these means may involve modification in the political objective, the latter

always retains a prior right to consideration. Policy, therefore, is interwoven

with the whole action of War, and must exercise a continuous influence upon it,

as far as the nature of the forces liberated by it will permit. . . . We see,

therefore, that War is not merely a political act, but also a real political

instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by

other means. All beyond this which is strictly peculiar to War relates merely to

the peculiar nature of the means which it uses. That the tendencies and views of

policy shall not be incompatible with these means, the Art of War in general

and the Commander in each particular case may demand, and this claim is truly

not a trifling one. But however powerfully this may react on political views in

particular cases, still it must always be regarded as only a modification of them;

for the political view is the object, War is the means, and the means must

always include the object in our conception.

General Carl von Clausewitz, On War

Course Description: When studying American military culture, this course examines the cultural history that produced the American armed forces that became the most powerful and most expensive military establishment in the world. This course challenges the impression that the American military has been an objective response to national security threats, and argues that it has more accurately represented the strengths and weaknesses of American society. Covering conflicts from the 19th to the 21st century, this course traces the evolution of a defense system originally based on the idea of universal military obligation to an all-volunteer military that reflects the fragmentation of American society and increased outsourcing to mercenary (contractor) security forces. We will also explore the effects of inter-service rivalry and civil-military relationship in a military establishment that is intended to be unified and subject to civilian control. The course culminates in a debate over the benefits and shortcomings of the national


reliance on the citizen soldier vs. the contracted security force, in which students will work in groups to defend an assigned position. Readings for the Course: William G. Durden, “A Liberal-Arts Home for the Military,” Commentary, The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 25, 2013 William T. Allison, American Military History: A Survey from Colonial Times to the Present, 2nd edition, (New York: Pearson, 2013). James M. McPherson, This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009). Earl J. Hess, The Union Soldier in Battle: Enduring the Ordeal of Combat, (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1997). Jerome A. Greene, Washita: The U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyennes, 1867-1869, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004). Andrew J. Bacevich, The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). Jodi Byrd, “Living My Native Life Deadly”: Red Lake, Ward Churchhill, and the Discourses of Competing Genocides,” American Indian Quarterly, 31:2, Spring 2007. Videos for the Course: Dror Moreh, The Gatekeepers Errol Morris, Fog of War Laura Poitras, My Country, My Country Vice News: Military Grade Weapons and the American Police Force Assignments and Grading: Reading assignments Forums: 35%

2 lowest grades will be dropped See Forum rubric Term Paper: 25%

Term Paper Preparation: 2 ungraded, but required, drafts required See Term Paper rubric Student Participation: 25% (includes both participation and attendance) Final Exam: 15% See Final Exam Question Weekly Schedule: Week 1:


January 23:

Getting Started

Discuss in Class:

o Movie: Moreh, The Gatekeepers o William G. Durden, “A Liberal-Arts Home for the Military”

Week 2: January 30: Forum Assignment Due: William T. Allison, American Military History, Chapters 1-5. Week 3: February 6: Forum Assignment due: American Military History, chapter 6 McPherson, This Mighty Scourge, chapters 1-8. Week 4: February 13: Forum Assignment due: American Military History, chapter 7 McPherson, This Mighty Scourge, chapters 9-16. Week 5: John R. Trimble, Writing with Style: Conversations on the art of writing, “How to write a critical analysis” and “Openers.” February 20: Forum Assignment due: American Military History, chapter 8 Hess, Union Soldier in Battle, Preface, Chapters 1-5. Week 6: Term Paper Exercise: Bring 2-3 soldier experience reports to class. February 27: Forum Assignment due: American Military History, chapter 9 Hess, Union Soldier in Battle, Preface, Chapters 6-9, Conclusion Week 7: March 6: Forum Assignment due: American Military History, chapter 10 Greene, Washita, Chapters 1-5. Spring Break! March 11-15


Week 8: March 20: Forum Assignment due: American Military History, chapter 11-12 Greene, Washita, Chapters 6-9. Week 9: March 27: Forum Assignment Due: Bachevich, New American Militarism, Introduction, Chapters 1-4. Week 10: April 3: Forum Assignment Due: Bachevich, New American Militarism, Chapters 5-8, Epilogue. Week 11: April 10: Forum Assignment Due: Jodi Byrd, ““Living My Native Life Deadly”: Red Lake, Ward Churchhill, and the Discourses of Competing Genocides” Week 12: April 17: Forum Assignment Due: Movie: McNamara, Fog of War Week 13: Set up the debate. April 24: Forum Assignment Due: Movie: Poitras: My Country, My Country Week 14: May 1: Debate Week 15: Reading Period Days Final Exam: Tuesday, May 14, 2-4PM


Editing Student Work:




History 3104 Summer II 8/13/2012 The Rise of the Nation: How Harriet Wilson’s “Sketches from the Life of a Free Black” Shows the Change in American Society and Economy Final Harriet E. Wilson’s 1859 Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black tells

the story of how Frado, a free black born in New Hampshire, who was left by her white

mother and her husband because they could no longer support her. The book goes

through her experiences from first being left with the Bellmont’s at age six, until leaving

and going on her own at eighteen and further. Wilson’s novel delved into how the North

looked at itself, with the abolition movement and ideals, and how well these ideals were

followed. Complementary to this text is Barbera White’s “Afterword”, which explores

the motivations and the fact-based experiences written by Wilson in her novel. In this

afterword, White uncovers the historical Bellmont’s, the Haywards, and how history

corresponds with the way Harriet Wilson penned Frado’s life throughout the novel.

Wilson’s novel is set within the fast paced changes of the 19th century, including

how America was becoming an economic leader in the world along with a growing

population and industry. Even though America would make great gains through the

beginning and middle of the century, difficulties would arise, mainly with the institution

of slavery and where it would fit within the future of the country. As discussed in Wells’

A House Divided, the early Republic that was taking shape would be mostly situated

with agriculture as the main economic force, especially in the South, helping to bring

forth and solidify the use of slavery as the century went on. The North, in contrast,

would experience a huge influx of population, making small towns into large cities


within a short period of time. With this leap in population would come an increase of

industry. Increase of new modes of transportation, such as railroads and canals would

revolutionize the way people and goods could be moved from place to place, increasing

trade and further continuing the move from farms into cities. As Wells states, “Other

transportation and communication advances, especially the telegraph and postal system

helped to spur the rapid industrialization of northern and Midwestern states” (Wells,

35). With these new advances and the gradual abolition of slavery by 1804, however,

the North would not escape the slave trade, or the growing dependence of slavery in the

South and the idea of blacks as inferior.

This is where Wilson’s novel, and White’s subsequent research, comes in, demonstrating

how some Northerner’s would view blacks as inferior, even with the Abolition

movement being centered in the region. It is shown that through White’s “Afterword” in

Wilson’s novel there is strong evidence Wilson based her novel off of her real

experiences she had growing up. With Wilson’s birth and death between 1816 to the

1860’s (White xii-xx), White’s information would put the experiences told through

Wilson in perfect synchronicity with the emergence of the industrial north, the

sectionalism occurring within the country, and the great move westward. In other

words, Wilson’s novel gives a stark overview of the changing American societal and

economic landscape, and how this affected the societal, labor, and economic differences

and divisions that would culminate in the secession of the South and the Civil War.

Societal divisions can be seen from the very beginning of the book. Mag (Frado’s

mother) of how she was “expelled from companionship with white people” because of

“her union with a black” (Wilson, 15). Through this quote one can see that the idea of

whites and blacks within this time was not permitted, and to be romantically linked


together would be removal from the white community at large altogether. This action

holds true with the times as in the beginning of the 19th century; there were still slaves

that were held in the North. This idea of the inferiority of African Americans would not

be an idea that would be easily changed within the country as a whole. Another example

of this is further in the story, where it states how Frado was “under [Mrs. Bellmont] in

every sense of the word” (41). Even though racism and slavery were ideas that

undoubtedly the topic through the 19th century, other divisions within society were

present as well.

One of these was the division between men and women. Men were the only ones

allowed to vote at the time, and also the only ones expected to make a living through

work. However, this would mean that the work and running of the household would fall

to the women, giving a unique balance of power between the social power held by men

and the domestic power held by women. This is demonstrated between Mr. and Mrs.

Bellmont. It is written in Wilson’s novel that to do anything “in opposition to Mrs.

Bellmont’s wishes, would be like encountering a whirlwind charged with fire, daggers,

and spikes” (24). This does not sound like a description of a woman without power. In

contrast, however, when later in the book when the idea of Frado going to school is

argued, it is written “Mr. Bellmont declared decisively that she should go to school . . .

The word once spoken admitted of no appeal” (30). With this we see that even though

Mr. Bellmont did bend to his wife on issues, once he had made a decision on a certain

topic, it was agreed upon at the time. These societal divisions of the time were made to

seem very clear, but the actions of these characters show that sometimes these lines of

division were muddled. Other divisions were made to look clear as well, but were

blurrier then perceived. This was the division between slave and wage labor.


On the surface, slave labor and wage labor are divided, however, through

Wilson’s book, it is clear that these two are more similar then different. Slave labor uses

the labor of forcefully subjugated people, while wage labor gives money for the work that

is provided. However, this was not the case. As abolition movements increased in the

North, cries of the inhumane conditions of work of the slaves rose as well. This did not

sit well with Southerners, who said the same of wage labor in the North. Wells states

that “Southerner were right northern laborers lived and worked under abominable

conditions and “wage slavery” was not far from the mark” (37). Even more of a blurring

of these divisions was that of Frado, who at fourteen “was now able to do all the

washing, ironing, baking, and the common et cetera of household duties” (63). These

duties were done all the while of beatings that came from Mrs. Bellmont if a task was

not completed to her satisfaction. Even though slavery was abolished in the North, the

treatment of Frado seems to mimic the way plantation slaves were treated. This

“inhumane” treatment of workers would continue through the 19th century. Within the

realm of economics, there was also the struggle of resource control.

The resources that were trying to be controlled are not ones that an individual

would think of, such as land or goods for trade. The resources were people themselves.

As White writes in her afterword, “Mrs. Bellmont is also portrayed as greedily pushing

her children to marry into affluent families” (xxii). This was so that the position of the

family could be advanced, and also to incorporate the resources (i.e. wealth) to the

family. This example shows that within the 19th century, even people had monetary

value, which is also apparent in the case of Frado. As Wilson writes, “just think how

much profit [Frado] was to us last summer” and “I’ll beat the money out of her, if I can’t

get her worth any other way”(90). This shows that a person not only had value as just a


partner to another, but also through the work that a person was capable of. Here

someone can also see the parallel how the South viewed their slaves, and how Mrs.

Bellmont, the wife of a supposed abolitionist, views the colored person living with her.

This is compared to how southerners viewed northerners anti-slavery sentiments as

hypocritical.

Through taking the narrative presented by history and combining them with the story

and experiences conveyed through Wilson’s novel, the straight story of the abolitionist

North against the Cotton Kingdom South is blurred and construed into a personal

narrative which shows that there was more similarities in the idea and treatment of

blacks in both the North and South during the time leading up to the Civil War. As

Wilson writes of how she was, “maltreated by professional abolitionists, who didn’t want

slaves in the South, nor niggers in their own house, North” (129). It can be asserted

through this statement that divisions between the North and the South concerning

African Americans were not so far off from each other. A hypocritical North with anti-

slavery notions was no more an ally then a kind plantation owner, neither would help

blacks rise from obscurity and into first-class citizeship. Through combining this novel

with the historical narrative presented, there were also issues that were concerning

other then race were present, just below the idea of slavery and its place in America.



















Student Comments

Nancy Morgan Sample Reviews as Instructor Arizona State University: Dickinson College: La Salle University reviews: Modern Global (course outside research area) Temple University reviews: Nineteenth Century America.

Arizona State University, Spring 2015, The American Revolution


Dickinson College, Spring Semester 2013



Transcribed letters from Fall Semester 2012: LaSalle University: History

251: Modern Global History:

“First and foremost I want to thank you for giving me the greatest History class experience I have ever had. As a student in middle school and high school I always felt defeated when learning History. This year was different. You made me feel totally apart of the class and I learned so much this semester. You are a fabulous teacher and I thank you so much for such a great experience.” “Throughout my academic career I have noticed that there have been times where I have covered the same material more than once. This pattern of redundancy was especially apparent when it came to the subject of history. This is easy to see because of the fact that once an event has taken place there was no way it could possibly be altered by a future event. Thus making history one of the most concrete subjects taught in school, so I though. This semester I was enrolled in a global history course which I assumed to be the same as the three or four others I have taken in the past. However, the way in which my new professor taught the information would open my eyes to a more complete picture of history that I otherwise wouldn’t have known existed. Instead of teaching what happened and when it happened she emphasized that we know why it happened. History was not just black and white it was a spectrum of colors that were all interdependent to each other. What I have come to value the most from this class was the empathetic view of modern global history that was instilled in my mind. This has led me to have a better understanding of why and how past events shape the world we live in today. Major globally altering events such as both of the World Wars cannot be chalked up to a single cause, rather there is a cascade of events that have lead up to these global conflicts.”


Summer 6-week Intensive: Temple University: History 3104: Nineteenth Century America:







“The Voice of Experience”: Student advice to new students






Teaching Portfolio

Documents

assignment page

new students page

american revolution

editing notations page

class reflection essay

greatest history class

study of history

american military history