This page contains a schedule of readings and major assignments for our class. Other short readings may be recommended or assigned during the course of the semester, but these are the readings that you must complete for this course. Please be sure to complete the readings listed before coming to class on the days for which they are assigned. Links to readings that will only be available on the Rice network are followed by “Rice only” in parentheses.

WEEK 1: AUGUST 24
No assigned readings

WEEK 2: AUGUST 31
Sacagawea

• “Sacagawea” entry in American National Biography (Rice only)
• Thomas P. Slaughter, “Porivo’s Story,” in Exploring Lewis and Clark: Reflections on Men and Wilderness (New York, 2003), pp. 86-113 (available on OWL-Space)
• Donna Barbie, “Sacajawea: The Making of a Myth,” in Sifters: Native American Women’s Lives, ed. Theda Perdue (New York, 2001), pp. 60–76 (available on OWL-Space)
• Scott E. Casper, “Revising the National Pantheon: The American National Biography and Early American History,” William and Mary Quarterly 58, no. 2 (April 2001), pp. 449-463 (Rice only)

WEEK 3: SEPTEMBER 7
George Washington

• Francois Furstenberg, In the Name of the Father: Washington’s Legacy, Slavery, and the Making of a Nation (New York, 2006), pp. 1-145, 233-239 (required book)
• Mason Locke Weems, The Life of George Washington; with Curious Anecdotes, Equally Honourable to Himself, and Exemplary to His Young Countrymen (1840 edition on Google Books), Chapter 2 (pp. 9-20), Chapter 13 (pp. 188-204) and Chapter 16 (pp. 232-242)
• William M. Thayer, The Farmer Boy, and How He Became Commander-in-Chief (1863 edition on Google Books), pp. 41-45

NOTE: Please plan to attend a free lunch with Francois Furstenberg on Monday, September 12 at noon at the Cohen House.

WEEK 4: SEPTEMBER 14
Davy Crockett

• “Davy Crockett” entry in American National Biography (Rice only)
• Randy Roberts and James S. Olson, “King of the Wild Frontier,” in A Line in the Sand: The Alamo in Blood and Memory (New York, 2001), pp. 230-253 (available on OWL-Space)
• Margaret J. King, “The Recycled Hero: Walt Disney’s Davy Crockett,” in Davy Crockett: The Man, the Legend, the Legacy, 1786-1986, ed. Michael A. Lofaro (Knoxville, 1985), pp. 137-158 (available on OWL-Space)

NOTE: By September 14, your group should settle on the historical figure that you will be studying for your small group project.

WEEK 5: SEPTEMBER 21
Davy Crockett

• James E. Crisp, Sleuthing the Alamo: Davy Crockett’s Last Stand and Other Mysteries of the Texas Revolution (New York, 2005), entire (required book)

WEEK 6: SEPTEMBER 28
John Brown

Read these poems, and find out what you can about who wrote them:
• “John Brown of Osawatomie,” by John Greenleaf Whittier (PDF)
• “The Hero’s Heart,” by Lydia Maria Child (PDF)
• Wendell Phillips, “The Burial of John Brown,” in Speeches, Lectures and Letters, pp. 289-293

View these paintings and lithographs:
• Unsigned woodcut illustrating Whittier’s poem (1866)
• Lithograph published by Currier & Ives (b&w | color), after a painting by Louis Ransom (1863).
• Thomas Noble, “John Brown’s Blessing”, print of an oil painting (1867)
• Another lithograph published by Currier & Ives (1870)
• Etching by Thomas Hovenden (1885)

Read these excerpts from early Brown biographies:
• “A Triumphal March,” in James Redpath, The Public Life of Capt. John Brown (1860), pp. 396-404
• Thomas Drew, The John Brown Invasion: An Authentic History of the Harpers Ferry Tragedy … (1860), p. 67
• Richard D. Webb, The Life and Letters of Captain John Brown (1861), pp. 317-318

Now read these historians’ takes on the stories of Brown’s execution:
• Cecil D. Eby, Jr., “Whittier’s ‘Brown of Osawatomie,'” New England Quarterly 33, no. 4 (December 1960), pp. 452-461.
• Paul Finkelman, “Manufacturing Martyrdom: The Antislavery Response to John Brown’s Raid,” in His Soul Goes Marching On: Responses to John Brown and the Harpers Ferry Raid, ed. Finkelman (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995), 41-66 (available on OWL-Space)
• Zoe Trodd, “Writ in Blood: John Brown’s Charter of Humanity, The Tribunal of History, and the Thick Link of American Political Protest,” Journal for the Study of Radicalism 1, no. 1 (2007), 1-29.

WEEK 7: OCTOBER 5
Harriet Tubman

• Milton C. Sernett, Harriet Tubman: Myth, Memory, and History (Durham, 2007), pp. 1-130 (required book)
• Sarah H. Bradford, Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman (1869 edition on Google Books), pp. 1-53

WEEK 8: OCTOBER 12:

• Sernett, Harriet Tubman, pp. 131-319 (required book)
• Find and read a short children’s book on Harriet Tubman any of the historical figures we have read about this semester or about the figure you are researching for your group project

WEEK 9: OCTOBER 19
John Henry

• Scott Reynolds Nelson, Steel Drivin’ Man: John Henry, The Untold Story of an American Legend (New York, 2006), entire (required book)

WEEK 10: OCTOBER 26
Bandits!

• Richard White, “Outlaw Gangs of the Middle Border: American Social Bandits,” Western Historical Quarterly 12, no. 4 (October 1981), pp. 387-408 (Rice only)
• Claire Bond Potter, “‘It’s Death for Bonnie and Clyde’: Romance, Bandit Identity and the Rise of Celebrity Bandits,” in War on Crime: Bandits, G-Men, and the Politics of Mass Culture (New Brunswick, 1998), Chapter 4, pp. 75-105 (Rice only) NOTE: If for some reason you can’t access this chapter online, the book is also on desk reserve at Fondren Library. Ask for it at the circulation desk.
• Elliott J. Gorn, “Re-membering John Dillinger,” in The Cultural Turn in U.S. History: Past, Present and Future, ed. James W. Cook, Lawrence B. Glickman and Michael O’Malley (Chicago, 2008), pp. 153-184 (available on OWL-Space)
• Nancy F. Cott, “Bonnie and Clyde,” in Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies, ed. Ted Mico, John Miller-Monzon, and David Rubel (New York, 1995), pp. 220-223 (available on OWL-Space)

READINGS ORIGINALLY ASSIGNED FOR WEEKS 11 and WEEKS 12 HAVE BEEN SWAPPED.

WEEK 12: NOVEMBER 9 Now Week 11: November 2
William Marsh Rice

• Download assigned readings from OWL-Space and complete before coming to class.
• Also compare the brief biographies about Rice found on the University’s website (here and here), on Wikipedia, and at the Handbook of Texas Online entry by former Rice professor Andrew Forest Muir

NOTE: Please make plans to attend a free evening lecture by author Tony Horwitz about John Brown on November 7.

WEEK 11: NOVEMBER 2 Now Week 12: November 9
Elvis!

• Ron Rosenbaum, “Among the Believers,” New York Times, 24 September 1995 (available on OWL-Space)
• Alice Walker, “Nineteen Fifty-Five,” from You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down: Stories (1981), pp. 3-20 (available on OWL-Space)
• Erika Doss, Elvis Culture: Fans, Faith and Image (Kansas, 1999), pp. 1-31, 163-211 (available on OWL-Space)
• Michael T. Bertrand, “Elvis Presley and the Politics of Popular Memory,” in Southern Cultures 13, no. 3 (Fall 2007), pp. 62-86 (available on OWL-Space)

WEEK 13: NOVEMBER 16
Perspectives on Legendary Americans

• James W. Loewen, “Handicapped by History: The Process of Hero-Making,” from Lies My Teacher Told Me (New York, 1995), pp. 9-27 (available on OWL-Space)
• Sam Wineburg, “Goodbye, Columbus,” Smithsonian.com
• Michael Frisch, “American History and the Structures of Collective Memory: A Modest Exercise in Empirical Iconography,” in Journal of American History 75, no. 4 (March 1989), pp. 1130-1155 (Rice only)
• Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, “How Betsy Ross Became Famous,” Common-Place 8, no. 1 (October 2007)
• Stephanie Simon, “The Culture Wars’ New Front: U.S. History Classes in Texas,” Wall Street Journal, 14 July 2009

NOTE: Your small group must distribute materials for discussion to the entire seminar by November 16. Also, your “mock editorial” assignment is due on Tuesday, November 22, by 4 p.m..

WEEK 14: NOVEMBER 23
Discussion of Materials Prepared by Student Groups

WEEK 15: NOVEMBER 30
Discussion of Materials Prepared by Student Groups

NOTE: Your final reflection post on your small group project is due by 5 p.m. on December 14.