Syllabus—Modern America

 8 August 2025

us since 1865, fall 2025 @ suny brockport.

Instructor info

Dr. Michael J. Kramer, Department of History, SUNY Brockport, mkramer@brockport.edu

Who is your instructor?

Michael J. Kramer specializes in modern US cultural and intellectual history, transnational history, public history, digital humanities, and cultural criticism. He is an associate professor of history at the State University of New York (SUNY) Brockport, the author of The Republic of Rock: Music and Citizenship in the Sixties Counterculture (Oxford University Press, 2013), and the director of the Berkeley Folk Music Festival Project. He is currently working on a history of the 1976 United States bicentennial celebration and a study of folk music, technology, and cultural democracy in the United States. He edits The Carryall, an online journal of US cultural and intellectual history and maintains a blog of cultural criticism, Culture Rover. His website, with additional information about publications, projects, courses, talks, and more can be found at michaeljkramer.net.

What are we up to?

This course offers you the opportunity to understand the basics of US history from 1865, when the Civil War ended, to the present. We pursue reading, online interactive asynchronous lectures, and in-class worksheets, source analyses, and discussion. As you acquire a better grasp of the particular history of the US since 1865, we also explore historical method, or how history functions as a mode of inquiry by way of evidence-based assessment and interpretation. History turns out not merely to be one person’s opinion, but instead a collective, fact-based mode of investigation that turns to sources (words, numbers, images, sounds, events, biographies, built environments, and more) to ask questions, offer claims based on the evidence, and engage in civil debate with others about competing interpretations of what happened and how to understand it. As we study the US since the Civil War, we will begin to address the key role of argumentation, or how close, careful “readings” of different types of evidence can undergird fact-based arguments about the past. We will also explore six crucial aspects of historical study: (1) change over time (what is the narrative of how people got from one moment to another?); (2) context (how is one source embedded in a particular place and time and setting?); (3) causality (what caused what to happen?); (4) contingency (how do we account for the unexpected and the unanticipated in history?—the past is not about reproducible results, but rather surprises and new forces and forms); (5) complexity (how do we not simplify the thick textures of the past?); and (6) continuity (what particular questions, themes, issues, forces recur even as they take on new forms?). Students are expected to attend class, complete all assignments, and participate in discussions. If they do so, they will leave the class with a better sense of the history of the United States; what it means to study history; and how doing so feeds the development of crucial professional and personal skills of critical thinking and effective communication.

Things you are expected to do this term

By taking this course you are agreeing to do the following:

  • Purchase the online textbook.
  • Register for the WW Norton student set so that your work gets recorded in gradebook.
  • Complete the readings.
  • Complete the assignments.
  • Come to class prepared.
  • Participate in discussions in class through comments, completing worksheets, and listening and responding to others thoughtfully.
  • Be respectful to yourself, your instructor, and your fellow students.

Required books

  • Foner, Eric, et. al. Illumine EBook Give Me Liberty! Volume II Brief 7th Edition. New York: WW Norton, 2023. Be sure to purchase the proper edition of the book: the online “Illumine” version of Volume II Brief 7th Edition and register for the student set.
  • Additional assigned documents and resources on Brightspace course website.

Schedule

Raising the Flag: Introduction

Monday, August 25

Did the Civil War Ever End? The Reconstruction Era

Wednesday, August 27
To do:

  • Read Foner, Chapter 15

Monday, September 01 No Class—Labor Day

Wednesday, September 03
To do:

The Hog Squeal of the Universe: The Arrival of Industrial Capitalism

Monday, September 08
To do:

  • Read Foner, Chapter 16
  • Watch Hog Squeal of the Universe VoiceThread lecture and answer question

Wednesday, September 10
To do:

Expansion and Incorporation: From Settler Colonialism to Formal Colonialism, Indian Wars to the Spanish-American War

Monday, September 15
To do:

  • Read Foner, Chapter 17
  • Watch Expansion and Incorporation VoiceThread lecture and answer question

Wednesday, September 17
To do:

What was the Progress in Progressivism? The Progressive Era

Monday, September 22
To do:

  • Read Foner, Chapter 18
  • Watch What was the Progress in Progressivism? VoiceThread lecture and answer question

Wednesday, September 24
To do:

  • Complete Foner, Chapter 18 “Check Your Understanding” Questions
  • Complete Foner, Chapter 18 Inquizitive

Making the World Safe for Democracy? World War I and Its Aftermath

Monday, September 29
To do:

  • Read Foner, Chapter 19
  • Watch Making the World Safe for Democracy? VoiceThread lecture and answer question

Wednesday, October 01
To do:

  • Complete Foner, Chapter 19 “Check Your Understanding” Questions
  • Complete Foner, Chapter 19 Inquizitive

The Two Roars of the “Roaring Twenties”: Modernity and Antimodernity

Monday, October 06
To do:

  • Read Foner, Chapter 20
  • Watch The Two Roars of the “Roaring Twenties” VoiceThread lecture and answer question

Wednesday, October 08
To do:

Monday, October 13 No Class—Fall Break

A Crisis of Industrial Capitalism: The Great Depression and the New Deal

Wednesday, October 15
To do:

  • Read Foner, Chapter 21
  • Watch A Crisis of Industrial Capitalism Part 01 VoiceThread lecture and answer question

Monday, October 20
To do:

Did World War II Ever End? Mobilization and WWII

Wednesday, October 22
To do:

  • Read Foner, Chapter 22
  • Watch Did World War II Ever End? VoiceThread lecture and answer question
  • Complete Foner, Chapter 22 “Check Your Understanding” Questions
  • Complete Foner, Chapter 22 Inquizitive

Containments and Rebellions of the Cold War: The Fifties

Monday, October 27
To do:

  • Read Foner, Chapter 23
  • Watch Cold War Containments VoiceThread lecture and answer question
  • Complete Foner, Chapter 23 “Check Your Understanding” Questions
  • Complete Foner, Chapter 23 Inquizitive

Wednesday, October 29
To do:

  • Read Foner, Chapter 24
  • Watch Cold War Rebellions VoiceThread lecture and answer question
  • Complete Foner, Chapter 24 “Check Your Understanding” Questions
  • Complete Foner, Chapter 24 Inquizitive

Naming the System and Claiming Rights in the Sixties: Civil Rights, Vietnam, Social Movements, Countercultures, Backlashes

Monday, November 03
To do:

Wednesday, November 05
To do:

  • Watch Naming the System and Claiming Rights in the Sixties Part 02: The Civil Rights Movement VoiceThread lecture and answer question
  • Read the Port Huron Statement (1962)
  • Complete Foner, Chapter 25 “Check Your Understanding” Questions
  • Complete Foner, Chapter 25 Inquizitive

Disco Demolition: The Uncertain Seventies

Monday, November 10
To do:

Revolting Conservatives: The New Right Reagan Revolution in the Eighties

Wednesday, November 12
To do:

  • Watch Revolting Conservatives VoiceThread lecture and answer question
  • Complete Foner, Chapter 26 “Check Your Understanding” Questions
  • Complete Foner, Chapter 26 Inquizitive

The Rise of Neoliberalism: The Nineties

Monday, November 17
To do:

9/11 and the War on Terror

Wednesday, November 19
To do:

No Class—Thanksgiving Break

The Great Recession and Occupy Wall Street

Monday, December 01
To do:

Making America Great Again? Recent US History

Wednesday, December 03

Final

Monday, December 15

  • Any late “Check Your Understanding” Questions and Inquizitives due (lateness penalty may apply)
  • Any late VoiceThread lecture questions due (lateness penalty may apply)

Assignments and evaluations

  • Student Introduction Info Sheet = 5%
  • Illumine Ebook “Check Your Understanding” Questions = 15%
  • Inquizitives = 25%
  • Voicethread Quizzes = 15%
  • In-Class Worksheets and Participation (at least 75% must be completed in-class to qualify for credit) = 40%

Rubric

Yes! = A-level work.

  • on-time submission of assignments
  • for class meetings, regular attendance and timely preparation overall, plus insightful, constructive, respectful, and regular participation in class discussions
  • a thorough understanding of required course materials as expressed in seminar meeting participation
    For writing assignments:
  • accurate, clear, well-written responses to prompts when relevant
  • a credible, persuasive argument of originality
  • argument persuasively supported by relevant, accurate, and clearly explicated evidence
  • persuasive integration of argument and evidence in an insightful overall analysis
  • excellent organization: introduction, topic sentences, coherent paragraphs, use of evidence, contextualization, analysis, smooth transitions, conclusion
  • graceful, clear, logical prose style with effective word choice, avoidance of clichés, and free of spelling and grammatical errors
  • correct page formatting when relevant, with regular margins, double spaced, and 12-point font
  • accurate formatting of footnotes and, when required, bibliography with required citation and documentation using Chicago Manual of Style guidelines

Getting Closer = B-level work, It is good, but with minor problems in one or more areas that need improvement.

Needs Work = C-level work is acceptable, but with major problems in several areas or a major problem in one area.

Needs A Lot of Work = D-level work. It shows major problems in multiple areas, including missing or late assignments, missed class meetings, and other shortcomings.

Nope = E-level work is unacceptable. It fails to meet basic course requirements and/or standards of academic integrity/honesty.

Academic integrity policy

Please refer to SUNY Brockport’s official Academic Integrity Policy. Be sure to follow the guidelines to avoid penalty for plagiarism, improper use of AI, or other violations of campus policies.

Citation and style guide: Using Chicago Manual of Style

Historians generally use Chicago Manual of Style for citation, bibliography, and formatting. Please familiarize yourself with Chicago Manual of Style.

Writing consultation

Writing Tutoring is available through the Academic Success Center. It will help at any stage of writing. Be sure to show your tutor the assignment prompt and syllabus guidelines to help them help you.

Research consultation

The librarians at Drake Memorial Library are an incredible resource. You can consult with them remotely or in person. To schedule a meeting, go to the front desk at Drake Library or visit the library website’s Consultation page.

Attendance policy

You will certainly do better with evaluation in the course, learn more, and get more out of the class the more you attend meetings, participate in discussions, complete readings, and finish assignments. That said, lives get complicated. Therefore, you may miss up to six class meetings, with or without a justified reason, with no penalty. You do not need a note from a doctor, but feel free to notify the instructor of your absence. If you are ill, please stay home and take precautions if you have any covid or flu symptoms. Masks are welcome in class if you are still recovering from illness or feel sick. After six absences, subsequent absences will result in reduction of final course grade at the discretion of the instructor. Please note: the instructor does not offer extra credit in this course.

Disabilities and accommodations

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Brockport Faculty Senate legislation, students with documented disabilities may be entitled to specific accommodations. SUNY Brockport is committed to fostering an optimal learning environment by applying current principles and practices of equity, diversity, and inclusion. If you are a student with a disability and want to utilize academic accommodations, you must register with Student Accessibility Services (SAS) to obtain an official accommodation letter which must be submitted to faculty for accommodation implementation. If you think you have a disability, you may want to meet with SAS to learn about related resources. You can find out more about Student Accessibility Services or by contacting SAS via the email address sasoffice@brockport.edu or phone number (585) 395-5409. Students, faculty, staff, and SAS work together to create an inclusive learning environment. Feel free to contact the instructor with any questions.

Discrimination and harassment policies

Sex and Gender discrimination, including sexual harassment, are prohibited in educational programs and activities, including classes. Title IX legislation and College policy require the College to provide sex and gender equity in all areas of campus life. If you or someone you know has experienced sex or gender discrimination (including gender identity or non-conformity), discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or pregnancy, sexual harassment, sexual assault, intimate partner violence, or stalking, we encourage you to seek assistance and to report the incident through these resources. Confidential assistance is available on campus at Hazen Center for Integrated Care. Another resource is RESTORE. Note that by law faculty are mandatory reporters and cannot maintain confidentiality under Title IX; they will need to share information with the Title IX & College Compliance Officer.

Statement of equity and open communication

We recognize that each class we teach is composed of diverse populations and are aware of and attentive to inequities of experience based on social identities including but not limited to race, class, assigned gender, gender identity, sexuality, geographical background, language background, religion, disability, age, and nationality. This classroom operates on a model of equity and partnership, in which we expect and appreciate diverse perspectives and ideas and encourage spirited but respectful debate and dialogue. If anyone is experiencing exclusion, intentional or unintentional aggression, silencing, or any other form of oppression, please communicate with me and we will work with each other and with SUNY Brockport resources to address these serious problems.

Disruptive student behaviors

Please see SUNY Brockport’s procedures for dealing with students who are disruptive in class.

Emergency alert system

In case of emergency, the Emergency Alert System at The College at Brockport will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the College’s Emergency Information website.