US History Project Proposal

This document outlines the requirements for a US History project, emphasizing the study of minorities. Students must propose a theme, detail two assignments, and identify at least three sources, one of which cannot be the textbook or lectures. The project offers options like writing an article, a research paper, or a time-travel narrative, all requiring specific source usage and citation styles. The document also provides a list of potential topics and required resources, including textbooks, monographs, and online materials.

The Proposal: In at least 250 words, tell me your plan. 1) What is your theme of topic? 2) Why
did you select that theme or topic? 3) Describe, in detail, the two assignments, to include at least
three specific sources (One of which cannot be the textbook, American Perspectives, or my
lectures). Be detailed. Potential themes of topics can be found in Attachment A. You must focus
your theme sufficiently so that you can cover the topic in the relatively short assignments.
Attachment A: Themes and Topic ideas
This list is not exhaustive. Ultimately you need to select a theme that most interests you. You are
only limited to your interests and imagination within the time covered in the class. As this class
is US history with an emphasis on minorities in the US, your assignments must emphasize
minorities (women, ethnic, racial, gender, disabled, for example).
Step 1. Select your topic from the list below. If you would like to do something not on the list,
contact me so we can discuss your idea.
Step 3. Using the Zinn textbook, any of the E-Textbooks, and/or any of the resources under the
“Women and Ethnic Studies” module or maybe just your own interests, narrow your topic into
something that can readily be examined in two relatively short assignments. If you have an idea
but that idea for a focused topic which is not covered in the textbook or the other sources in the
class, contact me and I will help you. Your topic cannot be too broad.
For example, the topic “Women and Music” is too broad while “African American Female Do-
Wop groups from the 1950s” or “Diana Ross” are well-focused topics. “First Ladies” is too
broad of a topic. “Eleanor Roosevelt” is a well-focused topic. “The 1964 Civil Rights Act” is too
broad. “Title VII” is sufficiently focused. “Women and Health Care” is too broad while “Well
Mom/Well Baby and the Affordable Care Act” is well-focused.
19th Amendment
1964 Civil Rights Act
1968 (the year)
1984 election
2008 election
2016 election
AIDS
Affirmative Action
Afghanistan
American Association of University Women
American Female Moral Reform Society
Americans with Disabilities Act
Any decade
Any Constitutional Amendment

Any woman
Any state
Any year
Black Panthers
Blacksplotation
Brown Berets
Brown decision
Bussing
Chicana Movement
Civil Rights Movement
Cold War
Daughters of the American Revolution
Disabled/Disabilities
Domestic Violence
Education
Emily’s List
Equal Rights Amendment
Espionage
Evangelism/Evangels
Family
Feminine Mystique
First Peoples
Flappers
Gilded Age
Girl Scouts
Great Depression
Grunge
Gulf War 1990-1991
Health care
“Hello Girls”
Housework
Houston
Hip Hop
Hull House
"Illegal Aliens"
Immigration/Immigrants
International Ladies Garment Workers Union
Iraq War (George W. Bush)
“It Girls” (Gibson Girls)
June Cleaver, Harriett Nelson, and Margaret Anderson: TV Moms of the 1950s
Korean conflict
Latinas
League of Women Voters
LGBTQ
Lily Ledbetter Act
Loving Decision

Mexican Americans
Motherhood
“Mother’s Little Helper”
Movies
Muckrakers
Music
National American Woman’s Suffrage Association
National Association of Colored Women
National Organization of Women
New Woman
Our Bodies, Ourselves
Pill, The
Planned Parenthood
Police
Popular Culture
Populism
Presidents
Progressive Era
Prostitution
Punk
Queer Theory
Roe v. Wade
Rap
Rape culture
Reform Movement (any)
Religion
“Rosie the Riveter”
September 11
Sports
“Stay at home moms”
Stonewall
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Supreme Court
Teenagers
Terrorism
Texas
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
TV
United Nations Decade of the Woman
Violence Against Women Act
WACs
WAVES
Vietnam
War
Watergate
Women and the KKK

Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labor
Women’s Christian Temperance Union
World I
World II
Young Women’s Christian Association
Youth
US-Middle East
Vietnam
War
Watergate
Women
World I
World II
Youth
Resources
Required resources: First and Second Assignments will use a variety of evidence from the textbook, the e
reader (American Perspectives), the monograph(s) you have selected, and appropriate articles, essays
and/or documents from the Ethnic and Gender Studies Resource module in the Canvas classroom. See
Appendix B below for specific sources.
Optional resources: Once you've exhausted the required resources, you may, if you chose to do so, use
any of the optional resources. Optional resources are anything I have placed in our classroom such as
links and documents. You are not required to use optional resources but you will not use any optional
resources until you have exhausted evidence from the required resources. If you locate a source that you
wish to use that I have not identified as a source, please contact me. If approved, you may use that as an
optional source.
Prohibited resources: Everything that is not required and not optional is prohibited. Never, ever use
prohibited resources. If you use a prohibited source (even “just once”) your grade will be 69 or below.
See the definitions of grades below.
Citations: For the majority of assignments you will use is the Chicago Manual of Style. CMS is a footnote
style used in History classes. An e handout entitled “How to Cite” is part of your reading assignment in
the “How to Pass”
E Reader:
American Perspectives: Readings in American History, Vol II, 6th ed.
http://www.pearsoncustom.com/tx/hcc_hist1302/ (Purchase the Self-Study E-text only.)
Monograph (select one to be used in your assignments)
Addams, Twenty Years at Hull-House.
ISBN-10: 1619491583
ISBN-13: 978-1619491588
Anderson Brower, Kate. First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies.
ISBN-10: 0062439650

ISBN-13: 978-0062439659
Coontz, Stephanie. The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap.
ISBN-10: 0465090974
ISBN-13: 978-0465090976
Coontz, Stephanie. The Way We Really Are: Coming to Terms with America's Changing Families.
ISBN-10: 0465090923
ISBN-13: 978-0465090921
Krakauer, Jon. Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town. Anchor
ISBN-10: 0804170568
ISBN-13: 978-0804170567.
Leeds Craig, Maxine. Ain’t I a Beauty Queen?
ISBN 9780195152623
Mohammad, Fatimah. Young Black Women & HipHop Culture: Everywhere & Nowhere.
ISBN-10: 0990690806
ISBN-13: 978-0990690801
Patterson, Martha. Beyond the Gibson Girl: Reimagining the American New Woman, 1895-1915.
ISBN-10: 0252075633
ISBN-13: 978-0252075636
Ruiz, Vicki. From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America.
ISBN-10: 0195374770
ISBN-13: 978-0195374773
Steward, Sue. Signed, Sealed and Delivered: Of Women in Pop.
ISBN-10: 0896082407
ISBN-13: 978-0896082403
Tyler May, Elaine. Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era.
ISBN-10: 0465010202
ISBN-13: 978-0465010202
Comprehensive Assignment
Step 1. Select the comprehensive assignment from the list below. You will submit the first draft
for the First Assignment and a final draft for the Second Assignment.
Article for Fronteras Unidas (e-journal on student work)
Four times a year I publish Fronteras Unidas. Each edition contains short essays written by
students around a central theme. For this assignment, you will draft an essay on any topic of your
choice (the topic does not have to be a topic covered in that edition) either about history or about
college. The essay will be at least five (5) double-spaced pages long, citing using footnotes in
accordance with Times New Roman, and will use at least two sources in addition to the textbook
and American Perspectives for a total of four different sources.

Research Paper
Research and write a five (5) page double-spaced paper on your topic. You must use at least five
different sources to include at one primary source, my lectures, the textbook (or any of the e
textbooks located in the Canvas classroom) American Perspectives plus one other source of your
choosing, for a total of at least five (5) different sources. Cite as footnotes using CMS.
Time Traveler
You are aware of an English writer named H.G. Wells. As you know, in 1895 Wells will publish
a book entitled Time Machine. He indeed built a time machine and his book is the story of the
places in the future he visited to include the people and their cultures. By the way, the historical
significance of that book is that the book launches the science fiction genre in general and time
travel fascination in particular. You too built a time machine but your time machine can only go
to 12/24/1894. So, you use your time machine to go to the house of Wells’ and invite yourself
into his home and to his dinner. At that Christmas Eve dinner, Wells shares copies of his
manuscript with all those in attendance –including you. At the end of the evening, you linger and
soon discover that you are the last guest. At which point you bonk Wells over the head, run into
his laboratory, jump into his time machine and zip back to your favorite period in US history
covered in this class. Upon your return, you find Wells, now fully conscious and rather upset at
what you’ve done. However, as an academic Wells forgives you when you hand over a paper
you’ve written that explains: 1) Why you selected the time you visited; 2) A description of what
you witnessed such as their politics, religion, and culture (to name a few); and 3) An explanation
as to why you would or would not want to permanently live in that region and time period?
Wells will accept no less that a five-page paper (double spaced), citing as footnotes in CMS, and
using evidence from the textbook, American Perspectives, plus any three other sources.