HIST 3822 3 credits/Spring 2000 Tues/Thurs 2:00-3:15 PM 2-213 Carlson

Professor Erika Lee 778 Social Sciences Tower Office Hours: Tues/Thurs 11-12 tel: 612-624-9569 erikalee@tc.umn.edu

  

MIDTERM STUDY GUIDE

The midterm will be organized into two sections. The first will be a long essay, worth 60% of the exam. There will be a choice of two essays. You will write on one. The second section will be two short essays on particular events, people, laws, etc. The second section will be worth 40% total. Blue book exams will be provided. No books will be allowed in class.

ESSAY STUDY QUESTIONS

What were the domestic and international legacies of WW2? How did Americans envision the post-war world at home and abroad?

Explain the origins of the Cold War and the Kennan/Truman policy of containment at home and abroad. How did containment policy manifest itself in actual foreign policy?

Why were Americans "homeward bound?" Explain domestic containment. What did this mean for women, family and gender roles? What does Elaine Tyler May mean when she writes that postwar affluence and the migration to suburbia blurred class lines while consolidating racial ones? Did domesticity live up to Americans¹ expectations? How did the critique of this domesticity and the conformity of the 1950s help usher in the 1960s?

Explain the anticommunist crusades of the 1950s in the context of the "search for internal security." Why was anti-communism so powerful? How did it manifest itself in government investigations, laws, and popular culture? What were the effects on Communists, homosexuals, and racial minorities?

Why did the Civil Rights Movement gain momentum when it did in the 1950s and 1960s? What is the relationship between the Cold War and the affluence of post-war America on the movement? Why is it called the Second Reconstruction?

How did civil rights challenges ­ and southern resistance to them ­ spark the racial consciousness of people like Anne Moody? How did African Americans organize on the local level? What were the goals and strategies of the movement? Who was involved and what were the motivations and strategies behind white southern and federal government resistance to the movement?

What were the reasons behind the change from civil rights to Black Power by the end of the 1960s?

I. HOW TO STUDY FOR THE EXAM

• review lecture notes, web outlines, and readings
• organize into study groups
• answer the essay study questions
• look and define important events/people/organizations/movements
• look for patterns/themes in the readings and pick out specific quotes/examples that you can use in the exams. Also think in the larger historical context.

II. POINTERS ON HOW TO TAKE THE EXAM:

• answer the essay first - it is worth 60% of your grade
• organize your thoughts before writing - perhaps even write up a quick outline
• take enough time to read the exam thoroughly - make sure you understand the directions
• be thorough
• express your thoughts clearly and in an organized fashion
• refer to the readings and use specific examples from lectures/readings whenever possible
• please write legibly!

III. HOW TO ANSWER AN ESSAY QUESTION

• read directions carefully
• place your answer in its historical context and try to look at subject from the inside and outside
• specifically refer to readings/lectures in as much detail as possible - cite specific examples from books

IV. HOW TO ANSWER ID'S (SHORT ESSAY QUESTIONS)

• a straight definition will not be sufficient; you must tell us why this i.d. is historically significant
• each i.d. is worth 20%, so your answer should be more than a few short sentences (try for a page or two)
• refer to specific examples from readings/lectures to add to your answer
• some helpful questions to ask yourself when answering the id's are:
  - what does this person/event/movement, etc. represent?
  - why is it historically significant?
  - what is its historical context? (i.e. what preceded it; what succeeded it; what other events are related to or influenced it?)
  - what did/does it say about America/Asian Americans during that time period?
  - what caused it to happen/evolve, etc.?
  - was it successful or not? why or why not?