Syllabus, Social Protest Literature in America, Spring 2000

Boyer, Richard, and Herbert Morais. Labor's Untold Story. United Electrical Workers Union.

Fast, The Proud and the Free.

Fast, Howard. Freedom Road. M. E. Sharp.

Bontemps, Arna. Black Thunder. Beacon Press.

Reed, Ten Days That Shook The World. On-line.

Salt of the Earth. Screenplay by Michael Wilson. Historical analysis by Deborah Silverton Rosenfelt.

Saxton, Alexander. The Great Midland. Univ of Illinois Press.

In addition, we will be reading – and, in fact, beginning – with another book by Howard Fast, The Proud and the Free. This novel is out of print, so I will provide each of you with a photocopy of it. You must bring me in $6 each to buy the photocopy of this fascinating novel about an important event that took place in New Jersey during the American Revolution. Reading and discussing this novel will help us focus on many important questions that we will deal with in this course.

Boyer and Morais, Labor's Untold Story, is a labor history which provides a historical background for US history since the Civil War. We will use it as a basic text for this course. Reading it will allow us to discuss the biases of "mainstream" history -- what is conventionally taught.

2. Purpose of This Course

The purpose of this course is to read works that reflect the lives of the working class in America. They allow us to see that social protest, as well as great literature, arise from exploitation and the struggles against it.

Many of these works were very widely read when they were first published, and some of them are still widely read. Reading them will also allow us to consider what is conventionally considered "literature" in American education, for these works are seldom studied in High School or college classrooms.

3. Short Paper Assignments on Each Book

You will write a short (3 1/2 to 4 page) paper on each book. This paper will be due on the day on which we begin to discuss the book in class. These days will be listed on a Course Schedule that I'll distribute during the first full week of class.

The main purpose of this paper is to guarantee that you have read the book carefully. Only if everyone has done the reading can we have good group and class discussions! So, this is the single most important requirement in the course, since it makes the entire course possible! Good discussions are impossible if even a small minority of the class has not done the reading.

I will put the requirements for these short papers onto the WorldWide Web (WWW) Page for our course (see below).

4. Attendance and Class Participation.

The classes will be mainly discussions of the reading rather than lectures. Participation by the whole class in discussions is a must if they are to be interesting and worthwhile. In addition, considerable class time will be spent listening to, and commenting upon and discussing, papers written by the students in the class.

Group Discussions: I will divide the class into 4-6 groups for discussion purposes. I will provide suggested topics for discussion, together with passages from the books.

General class discussion of the topic, passages, and related topics and passages.

5. Attendance Policy.

Attendance will be taken each day. Three unexcused absences will lower the final grade by one grade (e.g. "A" becomes "A-"); five unexcused absences lowers it by one letter (e.g. "A" becomes "B").

If you cannot attend class for whatever reason, I expect you to let me know by email; by phone; or in person before class. If this is impossible, leave a message the same day as the class. If you fail, or forget, to do this, your absence will be "unexcused."

If this is impossible, leave a phone message at (973) 655-7305, on the answering machine.

6. Lateness Policy.

If you are late for class -- after I have taken attendance - - I will count it as an "unexcused" absence unless you remember to tell me, at the end of that same class, that you came late. If you forget to do this, your recorded absence will remain. I do this because lateness disrupts the class and group discussions.

The first three times you are late for a class, I will warn you. After that, I will count yur lateness as an "unexcused" absence.

7. Course Requirements.

All books must be read by the date on the course schedule. I will distribute this syllabus by the second week of class. It will give the date discussion of each work will begin.

You will email your essays to me (Furr), and also to the other members of your discussion group. After the first day of class on each book, you will be able to read the papers of everyone else in the group. This will help you in discussing the book with the other members of your group -- you can compare and contrast approaches to the novels.

Completion of the biweekly written assignments. You will generally have two writing assignments every week, one for each class session.

These assignments will put on the Homework Web page shortly after, or usually before, the previous class. They'll be short assignments, typically 300 words.

In them you'll be asked to write about one or two passages in the book or assignment we are discussing, and to email your assignment both to me (Furr) and to the other members of your discussion group.

You'll be asked to do this by the previous evening before class so that you can have time the day of the class, but before the class, to access your account and read the assignments from the other members of your group.

This means every student will have both written on the passages to be discussed, AND read the responses from the other members of his/her group. This greatly enriches the discussions!

Participation in class. You cannot receive a passing grade for class participation if you are absent frequently, no matter what the reason is.

Use of the Internet In This Course

You will use EITHER the campus computer email system, "Alpha", OR another email address, very extensively in this course. All writing assignments will be submitted on-line. This will permit you to send your assignments to everyone in your group, and for you to read their assignments. This, in turn, will make group discussions much better!

As outlined above, you will have one essay on each book. In addition, you will have two shorter writing assignments per week, which you will send me and your group. These will be assigned in advance, and will center on passages which we will discuss at the following class session.

Therefore, everyone in class will have not only read the book in its entirety by the time we come to discuss it. Every student will have reread, and written on, the specific passages under discussion at each class session. This makes class discussions far more fruitful.

Go here to find out about your Internet requirements -- how to set up your e-mail accounts, and other information. Go here to find out about Streaming Audio for this course.

COMPUTER LABS

7. Examinations and Grading.

There will be an optional mid-term exam. A final exam will be due at the time and place in the Course Schedule Booklet for this semester.

All exams will be done by email. I will email you the exam, and give you several days to do it. You must email your answers to me by a deadline.

8. How to Get In Touch With Me.

NOTE: I have several email accounts. This is the one I use for this class. Please email me only at this account concerning this class.

Sometimes you just have a question or comment that can be handled without seeing me personally. If so, email me and I'll get back to you within 24 hours. I check my email at least once a day, usually twice.

1. Required Reading