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History 263-American Cities Spring 2002
Focus Expectations On-Campus Resources Texts World Wide Web Resources Day by Day Schedule
»Focus
We examine American cities in historical perspective, from the colonial era to the present day. Emphasis on matters physical, technological, social, economic, and political. Comparisons also will be drawn with cities of other nations. While rooted in the past, this course also lends itself to understanding contemporary cities.
»Expectations

We meet three times per week. Class sessions will be discussion-based. READ THE ASSIGNMENT PRIOR TO THE SCHEDULED SESSION.

»Attendance is required. Students missing more than three sessions (except in circumstances of a legitimate nature) may be penalized a letter grade in their final average. This could prove especially perilous for those on a borderline between grades. Attendance is taken at the start of every class meeting.

»Participation in discussion is encouraged, but no grade is assigned.

»Field Trip. We shall take a Saturday Field Study to Chicago, scheduled for (Saturday) April 15.
Evaluation
Exercises
Percentage
Due Dates
Quizzes (5)
10%
as listed below
Research Project
20%
February 14 at 11:00 am
Mid-Term Examination
%
March 1 and March 3
Research Project
%
April 21 at 11:00 am
Final Examination
%
Dec. 12 (F) at 8:00 AM
PLEASE NOTE EARLY STARTING TIME.

The five announced quizzes will be given on the designated dates (see above) during the semester. I will discuss this assignment in further detail in advance of the practice quiz.


Penalties for late papers will be specified on the particular assignments. Make up dates for missed quizzes or examinations will not be scheduled, except in instances when circumstances are extenuating.

Office Hours- Young 514

No appointment needed; please stop in during the following times ...
MONDAYS: 4:00-4:45 PM
TUESDAYS: Noon-12:30 PM
FRIDAY: Noon-12:30 PM

If you wish to schedule an appointment at another time, you are encouraged and welcomed to do so.

You may call me at Ext. 5135 or e-mail me at ebner@lfc.edu.
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»On-Campus Resources
These are two free on-campus resources to help you achieve academic success

»The Campus Writing Center is situated in Room # 14 of Carnegie Hall (Lower Level). A peer tutor can consult with you--only by advanced appointment--at any point in the writing process--from analyzing an assignment and formulating ideas to revising and editing a rough draft. To schedule your appointment, please call x 5233.

»The Learning and Teaching Center, situated in Room # 2 of the Science Library, assists students (individually and always confidently) wishing to develop strategies or build skills for more effective learning. To schedule your appointment with the Center’s director--Professor Goluboff--please call x 5167.

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»Assigned Texts
Jane Addams. Twenty Years at Hull-House: With Autobiographical Notes, Edited with an introduction by Victoria Bissell Brown. (Bedford Books, 1999).
Roger Biles. Richard J. Daley, Politics, Race, and the Governing of Chicago, (Northern Illinois University Press, 1995).
Howard P. Chudacoff & Judith F. Smith. The Evolution of American Urban Society, Fifth edition (Prentice Hall, 2000).

James R. Grossman. Land of Hope, Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration, (University of Chicago Press, 1989)
Primis Custom Book for History 263, (McGraw-Hill, 2000)
Jacob Riis. How the Other Half Lives, Studies Among the Tenements of New York, Edited with an introduction by Daniel Leviatan. (Bedford Books, 1996)
Charles Rosenberg. The Cholera Years, (University of Chicago Press, 1987)
William Julius Wilson. When Work Disappears, The World of the New Urban Poor, (Vintage, 1996).
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»World Wide Web Resources
Professor Ebner's web page
A powerful, all-purpose search engine
American Memory Project of The Library of Congress
Maps for studying major American cities
Census data, 1790-1990, for studying 100 largest US cities
US government statistical sources available on the WWW
Portraits of Black Chicago commissioned by Environmental Protection Agency
Comprehensive guide to mass transit systems worldwide
Hundreds of links to railroading and its history
On-line Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Images of Chicago
Historic Pittsburgh
Chicago Historical Society
Illinois Railway Museum (Union, IL), the nation's largest
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»Day by Day Class Schedule
Week 1
Week 3
Week 5
Week 7
Week 9
Week 11
Week 13
Week 15
Week 2
Week 4
Week 6
Week 8
Week 10
Week 12
Week 14
  
Week 1
Day
Topic
Readings
W January 12
Introduction
  
F - January 14
The Century of Cities
Material distributed in previous class session
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Week 2
Day
Topic
Readings
M January 17
Cities in Global Perspective
 Wilson, ix-50
W January 19
American Cities and Suburbs in 2000
 Wilson, 51-146
Primis (Harrington)
F January 21
DISTRIBUTION AND DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH PROJECT #1
 Wilson, 149-206
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Week 3
Day
Topic
Readings
M January 24
GUEST LECTURE:
"Buying and Selling Real Estate in Chicago"
Louis G. Conforti LFC '86
Executive Vice-President of
Prime Group Realty Trust
 Wilson, 206-38
W January 26
Colonial Cities in North America
 Chudacoff/Smith, 1-37
Primis (Harrington)
F January 28
Cities in the New Nation
Practice Quiz
 Chudacoff/Smith, 38-46
Primis (Federalist Paper #10)
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Week 4
Day
Topic
Readings
M January 31
Creating Lowell, Massachusetts
 Primis (Amelia, A Lowell
Factory Worker)
W February 2
Cities Take Hold in the New Nation
Chudacoff/Smith, 46-54
F February 4
Transportation Revolution: Canals and Railroads
Quiz # 1
 Chudacoff/Smith, 54-64
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Week 5
Day
Topic
Readings
M February 7 Smelling the Pre-Civil War City Rosenberg, 1-98
W February 9 Disorderly Pre-Civil War Cities Rosenberg, 101-172
F February 11 Physical Shape of Pre-Civil War Cities Rosenberg, 175-212
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Week 6
Day
Topic
Readings
M February 14

Discussion of Rosenberg's
The Cholera Years


Please bring book to class today!
Research Project due at 11 AM today.

 Rosenberg, 212-42
W February 16
 These two class sessions will be devoted to student reports on Research Project .
Instructions on the reports provided when this project is distributed to class on January 21.
F February 18
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Week 7
Day
Topic
Readings
M February 21
 Earning a Living in Pre-Civil War Cities Chudacoff/Smith, 65-72
W February 23
 Metropolis Chudacoff/Smith, 72-80
F February 25
 Government/Politics Chudacoff/Smith, 80-85
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Week 8
Day
Topic
Readings
M February 28
Review session
Quiz #2

»PLEASE READ THIS MESSAGE«

As you make your travel plans for spring break,
be sure that you note the dates for the mid-term exam!

»No exam make-up dates.«
W March 1
Mid-term Exam: Part A
F March 3
Mid-term Exam: Part B

 

SPRING BREAK
March 4 (Saturday) through 12 (Sunday)

 

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Week 9
Day
Topic
Readings
M March 13
Industrialization
 Chudacoff/Smith, 86-117
Primis (Brooklyn Bridge)
Primis (Pullman Company)
W March 15
Giant Magnet
 Chudacoff/Smith, 118-37
F March 17
Giant Magnet and
Distribution of Research Project
 Chudacoff/Smith, 137-56
Riis, 3-50
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Week 10
Day
Topic
Readings
M March 20
Jacob Riis, photographer
 Riis, 52-155
W March 22
The New Immigration
 Riis, 155-254
F March 24
Bosses and Political Machines
 Grossman, 1-37
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Week 11
Day
Topic
Readings
M March 27
African Americans
 Grossman, 38-160
W March 29
Black Chicago
Quiz # 3
 Grossman, 161-246
Primis (Lincoln Steffens)
F March 31
No class today
 LOOKING AHEAD:
COMPLETE YOUR READING OF
Twenty Years at Hull-House for next week.
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Week 12
Day
Topic
Readings
M April 3
Jane Addams and Hull-House
 Addams, 1-257
Primis (Chicago, 1893)
W April 5
Urban Politics
 Chudacoff/Smith, 157-82
F April 7
The Great Depression
 Chudacoff/Smith,
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Week 13
Day
Topic
Readings
M April 10
Creating Chicago's North Shore
 Primis (Mercantile Business)
Chudacoff/Smith, 183-211
W April 12
Suburbanizing
 Chudacoff/Smith, 212-62
Primis (Levittown)
F April 14
Richard J. Daley's Chicago
Quiz # 4
 Biles, 3-118

 

FIELD STUDY

»Attendance required«
Saturday, April 15

In cooperation with the College's Chicago Outreach Program, we depart from the parking lot adjacent to Commons at 8:45 A.M. promptly, rain or shine. Tour includes:


* a walk in the Six-Corners neighborhood on Northwest side of Chicago;
* a walk in the Southside's Bridgeport neighborhood of the Daley family;
* the site of the former Chicago stockyard district;
* the Robert Taylor Homes of the Chicago Housing Authority;
* Hyde Park, home of the University of Chicago;
* a group luncheon in Chinatown;
* a walk along the Gold Coast on the near Northside;
* a visit to The Chicago Historical Society; and
* Devon Avenue to study the city's changing ethnic population.


We return to campus no later than 4:30 P.M. Wear comfortable walking shoes and dress appropriately for the weather. Cameras encouraged. Guests welcomed.


No charge for transportation; you are responsible for the cost of your lunch.
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Week 14
Day
Topic
Readings
M April 17
Considering Chicago
Biles, 119-241
W April 19
Regional Shifts
  Chudacoff/Smith, 263-96
F April 21
Technology Revolution
Research Project Due Today
  Chudacoff/Smith, 297-320
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Week 15
Day
Topic
Readings
M April 24
Retrospect and Prospect
Quiz # 5
  

 

FINAL EXAMINATION: 4/28 (Friday)
8:00-11:30 AM
»Please note earlier than usual starting time for this exam.«
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Site Created By Rebecca Roberts '06, July 2003 Last Updated 6.15.2004 by Aayush Sakya '06 Contributors: Rebecca Miller, A manda MacKinnon '03, and Aayush Sakya '06.