American Cities
(History 263)

Michael H. Ebner
Lake Forest College
Lake Forest, Illinois, USA
Spring 2000

Field Study information for Spring 2000.
Field Study information for Spring 2001, including a Spring 2000 field trip photo.

Professor Ebner's comments on teaching this course for 25 years in:
"Nurturing Romance Between Now and Then,"
Common-Place, The Interactive Journal of Early American Life 3:4 (July, 2003)
http://www.common-place.org/vol-03/no-04/school/

  1. THE COURSE

    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.

  2. ITS FORMAT

    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 imperil those on a borderline between grades.

    • PARTICIPATION in discussion is encouraged. Sessions are designated on the course schedule. No grade is assigned for participation.

    • FIELD TRIP. We shall take a Saturday Field Study to Chicago, scheduled for (Saturday) April 15.

Evaluation ...

Quizzes (5) 10% listed on daily schedule
Research Project 20% due on February 14 at 11:00 am
Mid-Term Examination 20% Mar 1 (W) and March 3 (F)
Research Project 20% due on April 21 at 11:00 am
Final Examination 30% April 28 (F) at 8:00-11:30 am
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 [YH-514]

Regularly scheduled office hours are held.
No appointment needed. Just stop in!

Mondays: 4:00-5:00 PM
Tuesdays: 10:30-11:30 AM
Wednesdays: 3:00-4:00 PM
Fridays: 1:30-2:15 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 contact me via e-mail at ebner@lfc.edu.



ASSIGNED READINGS TO BE PURCHASED

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).

 

URL'S FOR STUDYING CITIES ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB
[URL = Uniform resource locator]

*American Memory Project of The Library of Congress
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/

*Maps for studying major American cities
http://130.166.124.2/library.html

*Census data, 1790-1990, for studying 100 largest US cities
http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027.html#tabA

*US government statistical sources available on the WWW
http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/stats.html

*Portraits of Black Chicago commissioned by Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.nara.gov/exhall/americanimage/chicago/white1.html

*Comprehensive guide to mass transit systems worldwide
http://www.reed.edu/~reyn/transport.html

*Hundreds of links to railroading and its history
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/rail_archives.html

*On-line Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
http://ech.cwru.edu/

*Images of Chicago
http://www.uic.edu/depts/ahaa/imagebase/

*Historic Pittsburgh
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/mainpage.html

*Chicago Historical Society
http://www.chicagohistory.org

*Illinois Railway Museum (Union, IL), the nation's largest
http://www.irm.org/

 

TWO (FREE) ON-CAMPUS RESOURCES
FOR HELPING YOURSELF SUCCEED
ACADEMICALLY
  • 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. ADVICE: SCHEDULE YOUR VISITS WELL IN ADVANCE.


  • 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 extension 5167.

 

Day-by-Day Schedule for American Cities

WEEK 1

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
W - January 12 Introduction
F - January 14 The Century of Cities Material distributed in previous class session

WEEK 2

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
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

WEEK 3

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
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)

WEEK 4

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
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

WEEK 5

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
M - February 7 Smelling the Pre-Civil War City Rosenberg, 1-98
W - February 9 Disorderly Pre-Civil War Cities Rosenberg, 101-72
F - February 11 Physical Shape of Pre-Civil War Cities Rosenberg, 175-212

WEEK 6

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
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

WEEK 7

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
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

WEEK 8

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
M - February 28 Review session + Quiz #2
W - March 1 Mid-term Exam: Part A
F - March 3 Mid-term Exam: Part B


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

WEEK 9

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
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 +
Distribution of Research Project		 Chudacoff/Smith, 137-56
Riis, 3-50

WEEK 10

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
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

WEEK 11

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
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.

WEEK 12

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
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,

WEEK 13

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
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


CHICAGO FIELD STUDY
ATTENDANCE MANDATORY
APRIL 15 (Saturday)

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.

LOC Photo of Chicago newsstand April 1941 - 26343 Bytes

To see photographs of the field trip, go to this website at http://www.lfc.edu/community/chialliance/students/photogallery/neighborhoods.html.



WEEK 14

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
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

WEEK 15

DATE TOPIC ASSIGNED READING
M - April 24 Retrospect and Prospect
Quiz # 5
F - April 28
FINAL EXAMINATION: 8:00-11:30 A.M.
This date has been established by Registrar. ATTENDANCE MANDATORY.



H-Urban Teaching Center | H-Urban Home
H-Urban Syllabus Use and Submission Policy