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| When: |
01/05/10 - 03/09/10 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM Tuesdays
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| Professor: |
Alice O’Connor
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| TA: | |
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Location: | Seminar 314, Floor 3, Room 314
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Syllabus: |
None Defined
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| Description: |
Barack Obama assumed the presidency facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Invoking the spirit of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Cesar Chavez, and other leading figures in the history of progressive reform movements, he also promised to treat the crisis as an opportunity to pursue an ambitious reform agenda: in economic, health, environmental, immigration, education, civil rights and a host of other policy areas, but also in the name of bringing an end to the era of high-paid lobbyists and well-financed interests with a more trustworthy, accountable, and fully representative style of governance. While contemporary commentators have been quick to weigh in on the successes and failures of the Obama administration’s agenda, this class will be take a closer look at the historical reform traditions it stems from, starting with the early 20th-century Progressives and Depression-era New Dealers, and including the modern civil rights movement, the Great Society of the 1960s, and the cross-cutting tradition of community organizing and community-based reform. In addition to examining some of the major problems and policy issues they took up, we will explore the underlying ideas, values, and ideological commitments that animated these earlier generations of reformers, and the varying approaches they used in pursuit of their goals. Weekly readings will include primary source documents as well as published historical accounts. Students will be expected to participate actively in weekly discussions, to plan and participate in a group presentation, and to complete writing assignments, including a final paper of approximately 8-10 pages. |
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Community