This here is a course on mythology and history, and the complex, varied ways in which the two intersect and contrast with one another. The American West is the ideal setting for such a study because it has produced so much mythology--Homerian in scope--and that mythology continues to shape the United States at the beginning of the new millennium. In History 216, "The American West: Myth & Reality," we will explore the myths that impelled countless Americans from all walks of life to join in westward expansion. More importantly, we will study the variety of myths produced by the experience of westward expansion, including stories of pony express riders, social bandits, Indian fighters, schoolmarms, prostitutes, homesteaders, railroad barons, and so forth. We will contrast this mythology against the backdrop of the "reality" of Western history by looking at the lives of "neglected people" who settled the West (such as women and minorities), the genocidal destruction of Native American societies, and the role of big businesses and capitalism in Westward expansion.
Colin G. Calloway, editor, Our Hearts Fell to the Ground. Richard Etulain, editor, Does the Frontier Make America Exceptional? Lillian Schlissel, Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey.
Assignment 1: February 11: Midterm Exam (25 percent). Assignment 2: Critical primary source review due March 13 in class (40 percent). Assignment 3: Final Exam: Date, time, and location to be announced. (35 percent).
January 7: Mythology and History: The Example of the American West.
January 9: George Armstrong Custer: The evolution of an American West icon.
Reading: Does the Frontier, Part One and Part Two, essays 1-3.January 14: Mini-Lecture: "The Duke-John Wayne-An American West Icon. " Immediately followed by film: Stagecoach (1939), directed by John Ford. Starring John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Thomas Mitchell, John Carradine. Part 1.
January 16: Film: Stagecoach (1939). Part 2.
Reading: Does the Frontier, Part Two, essays 4-6.January 21: Historians Debate the West: The Old Western History & The New Western History.
January 23: "The Black Legend" and other Tales from the Borderlands.
Reading: Women's Diaries, Introductions, Families in Transit I, Families in Transit II, and The Later Journeys.January 28: Early Anglo-American Expeditions and the Ideology of Manifest Destiny.
January 30: Religion and the West: The Example of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a.k.a. the Mormons).
Reading: Women's Diaries, the diaries of Catherine Haun and Lydia Allen Rudd.February 4: Women's West (part one): Schoolmarms and Soiled Doves: Myths about Women in the West.
February 6: Women's West (part two): Women, families, and the Overland Journey.
Reading: Women's Diaries, the diaries of Amelia Stewart Knight and Jane Gould Tourtillott.February 11: MIDTERM EXAM. In class (80 minutes).
February 13: How Violent was the West?
Reading: Women's Diaries, the diaries of Rebecca Hildreth Nutting Woodson and Barsina Rogers French.Winter Study Period, February 17-21.
February 25: The Larger Forces at Work: The role of American Capitalism and Big Business in Westward Expansion.
February 27: The End of the Frontier.
Reading: Our Hearts Fell, Introduction and Chapters 1-5.
March 4: The Conquest of Aztlan (Northern Mexico).
March 6: Chinese-Americans and their West.
Reading: Our Hearts Fell, Chapters 5-10.March 11: NO CLASS: Campus Day. Read your school books by the light of a kerosene lamp.
March 13: The Indian and Popular Culture: Anglo Myths and Legends about Native Americans.
Reading: Our Hearts Fell, Chapters 11-14.
NOTE: Critical primary source reviews due March 13, in class.
March 18"I Never Want to Leave This Country" (the Native American experience, part I).
March 20 "The Sacred Tree is Dead." (the Native American experience, part II).March 25: The Transformation of the Western Landscape.
March 27: The American West & Popular Culture.
April 1: Film: The Western (a documentary on Hollywood Western movies)
April 3: Landscapes of Affluence and Despair: Assessing the Contemporary West.
Course Dynamics
Midterm Exam: On February 11, there will be a midterm exam in class. You'll have the full 80-minute class time to write it. It's the standard Andrew Hunt Format: The midterm exam will consist of one essay question and short answer/identify & explain terms and/or mini-essay question(s). Before the exam, I will distribute a midterm exam study guide in class. Please note: I will expect you to have read Richard Etulain's Does the Frontier Experience Make America Exceptional by the time of the exam, and I will test you on some aspect of it.
Critical Primary Source Review: Due Thursday, March 13. For the critical primary source review, I want you to do one of the following assignments:
1. Select two primary sources from Women's Diaries of the
Westward Journey (edited by Lillian Schlissel). I want you
to read the two sets of diary entries very carefully, then you
should compare and contrast them with one another. Who wrote the
diary entries and when did they write it? What were the conditions
like on the frontier when she wrote it? How do the two different
sources differ and how are they similar?
2. Choose any chapter from Our Hearts Fell to the Ground
between chapters 2 and 14, read the primary sources in it, and
then write an analysis based on the question, "From the vantage
point of Plains Indians, how was west lost?" In the essay,
address the author and/or point of view of each document, the
purpose of each document, how each document enhances your understanding
of the Native American experience.
The Critical Primary Source Review should by 5-6 pages in length.
It is due in class. Please note: I will try to return
the Critical Primary Source Reviews on the last day of class,
Tuesday, April 3, 2002. However, due to time constraints and
the quantity of papers, I may return them when we meet to take
the final exams. Papers must be laser/inkjet/bubblejet (etc.)
printed or typed (in other words, no handwritten), double-spaced,
with MLA-style or some sort of parenthetical references or
footnotes or endnotes immediately following all quoted excerpts.
And the margins should be approximately 1 inch on either side.
If you have any questions about style matters, please do not
hesitate to ask me. Only hard copies will be accepted.
No-I repeat NO-attachments, emails, etc., please. I want you
to avoid merely summarizing the plot of the book. Instead, I
would like you to reflect deeply about what you've read and candidly
share your thoughts and ideas about the book, using examples from
the book to substantiate your arguments.
Final Exam: There will be a final exam in this course. It will, in all likelihood, touch in themes from the entire course (that's a mild way of saying it'll be comprehensive). It will be in class. The date, time, and location will be announced as soon as I get the information from the registrar.
A Word About Extensions and Makeup Exams: I allow extensions and makeup exams for people experiencing serious personal problems or medical problems. I never ask for a doctor's note, because I trust students. But I do ask that you avoid them if at all possible.
Note
on Avoidance of Academic Offenses: All students registered
in the courses of the Faculty of Arts are expected to know what
constitutes an academic offense, to avoid committing academic
offenses, and to take responsibility for their academic offenses.
When the commission of an academic offense is established, disciplinary
penalties will be imposed in accord with Policy #71 (Student Academic
Discipline). For information on categories of offenses and types
of penalties, students are directed to consult the summary of
Policy #71 (Student Academic Discipline) which is supplied in
the Undergraduate Calendar 2002-2003 (p. 1:10). If you
need help in learning how to avoid plagiarism, cheating, and double
submission, or if you need clarification on aspects of discipline
policy, ask your course instructor for guidance. Other resources
regarding the discipline policy are your academic advisor and
the Undergraduate Associate Dean.
Sheriff Hunt's Favorite Westerns
From time to time, I'm asked to list some of my
favorite Westerns. Westerns are so numerous, and many can either
be lousy (try enduring Ronald Reagan and Barbara Stanwyck in Cattle
Queen of Montana) or odd (for example, The Terror of Tiny
Town, 1938, the only all-midget Western musical!). In no
particular order, here are some damn good westerns (asterisks
indicate masterpieces):
Bad Day at Black Rock (a modern Western)
Blazing Saddles
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Dances With Wolves*
Dead Man
Duel in the Sun
El Dorado
A Fistful of Dollars
Fort Apache
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Gunfight at the OK Corral
High Noon*
The Grey Fox (a classic Canadian Western!)
Hud (a modern Western)
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
Little Big Man*
Lone Star* (a modern Western)
The Magnificent Seven
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
My Darling Clementine*
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Outlaw Josey Wales*
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Red River
Rio Bravo
The Searchers*
Shane*
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Silverado
Spirit (animated)
Stagecoach*
They Died With Their Boots On
Thunderheart (a modern Western/suspense film)
Tombstone*
Unforgiven*
Way Out West (Laurel and Hardy)
The Westerner
The Wild Bunch*
Above: The only known photo of Billy the Kid (who figures prominently into History 216).
