HIS 206 Week 3 Assignment

WK3 Final Project Framework Worksheet

This worksheet will help you prepare for your final project by organizing the information that you’ll need for your Final Project (paper or PowerPoint presentation) and walking you through the process of defining your topic, researching and analyzing primary and secondary sources, crafting a thesis, and creating an annotated bibliography. Once you have completed the worksheet submit it to the online classroom for grading.

After your instructor has graded the worksheet, please be sure to use it and the feedback provided to you by your instructor as you construct your final project.

Statement of Topic:

What topic will you be researching for your final project? You have the choice of:

African Americans
Native Americans
Women
Immigrants

You must choose only ONE of the above groups. Which group have you chosen?

Women

Events

You will need to choose at least 4 specific events that you plan to discuss in your final project. You should choose events that show how life in the United States changed over time for the group that you chose. Two events must be from the period between 1877 and 1945 and two events must be from the period 1945 to the present. On this worksheet and in your final project, be sure to discuss the events you’ve chosen in the order that they happened. This will help you put together a project that makes historical sense.

Event 1: 1877 to 1945

Name of the event:

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

When it took place:

March 25, 1911

Where in the US:

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City

Who was involved:

The 500 young immigrant workers, many of whom were women. 146 died and many others were injured. Progressive Era workplace reform activists and the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, who had been fighting for safer working conditions.

What circumstances contributed to the event:

Unsafe working conditions created by the existence of few workplace safety laws and lax enforcement of building codes. The workers had been locked into the building to prevent them from taking breaks or stealing and so when it caught on fire, they had no way out. Many jumped to their death from the ninth floor rather than burn. The New York District Attorney tried the building owners for manslaughter but they were acquitted.

How this event was historically significant:

This event demonstrated the danger that many industrial workers faced during the early 1900s and supported the case made by Progressive reformers for improving working conditions.

Event 2: 1877 to 1945

Name of the event: Women’s participation in World War II

When it took place:

1941 to 1945

Where in the US:

Throughout the United States and overseas.

Who was involved:

American women throughout the nation contributed to the war effort during WWII by volunteering for female branches of the military (WAAC, WASP, etc.) and serving in a number of positions, like nursing, cryptology, and communications. In addition, women worked in defense factories producing war material. They sold war bonds and led drives to collect metal, rubber, and silk.

What circumstances contributed to this event:

During WWII all parts of American society contributed to the war effort. How this event is historically significant:

Women had stepped up to take men’s places at home in other wars, WWII presented unprecedented opportunities for American women and gave them the chance to show that their capabilities. Although women were encouraged (and sometimes forced) to leave their positions when the war ended, the experiences that they gained during the war opened the door to women moving into the workplace and into traditionally male professions in the 1950s and 1960s.

Event 3: 1945 to the present

Name of the event: Baby Boom

When it took place:

Immediately after WWII, from 1946 to 1964.

Where in the US:

It happened throughout the United States. However, the Baby Boom was a major factor in the spread of the suburbs.

Who was involved:

The Baby Boom was immediately affected adults of childbearing age. However, the major increase in the number of new families put a strain on American infrastructure, leading to housing shortages and over-crowded schools, which meant that many communities all over the

nation expanded, building new homes and schools. However, this building boom was focused mostly in the suburbs, so the rural and urban communities often lost population to the suburbs.

What circumstances contributed to this event:

Many Americans put off marrying and having children during the Great Depression and World War II so when the war ended, there was a rush to start families. In addition, the post-war economy created a significant increase in the middle class, so more Americans could support larger families and more Americans began to marry at earlier ages to have more children throughout their lives.

How is this event historically significant:

During the Great Depression and World War II, Americans often put off getting married and having children but a huge increase in the number of marriages as well as the number of children born. The average age of marriage for both men and women dropped while the average number of children increased.

While this increase was caused in part by Americans waiting for better times to start families, it was also caused by the improved economy of the post-war period, which increased the size of the American middle class significantly, so Americans could support larger families. The sudden increase in the number of new families and children put a significant strain on American infrastructure, resulting in housing shortages and severely over-crowded schools. Many of these families, at least the white families, moved to the rapidly expanding suburbs, where they found bigger houses and yards, plentiful parks, and new schools. Non-white families were generally excluded from suburban life by housing covenants, which restricted the owners from selling to non-white families and so non-white families were often left with little choice but to remain in urban or rural areas, with older and smaller housing and fewer amenities and older schools.

After the war ended, there was An additional historical significance of the Baby Boom is that it created a huge generation that affected the economy and politics throughout their lives.

Products have been designed and marketed specifically to them. Political movements addressed their concerns to the exclusion of the concerns of other generations. Social norms changed to better reflect the views of this generation.

Event 4: 1945 to the present

Name of the Event: FDA approval of the birth control pill

When it took place:

June 23, 1960

Where in the US:

FDA approval of the birth control pill affected women throughout the United States.

Who was involved:

The development and approval of the birth control pill was culmination of fifty years of work by Margaret Sanger to get reliable birth control and reproductive information in the hands of American women. She was aided in this effort by Katharine McCormick, who provides much of the funding for research and by Dr. Gregory Pincus, the biologist who actually developed the pill.

What circumstances contributed to this event:

Before the availability of the birth control pill, women had no reliable way of preventing pregnancy that they controlled; previous reliable methods (like condoms) relied on men to implement them, which left women unable to control the size their families or the birth of their children. Especially before World War II, many women died as a result of childbirth, either due to complications of pregnancy or due to having too many children too closely spaced. In addition, women struggled to care for large numbers of children so closely spaced together and for poor women, each additional child meant less food and attention for all of them. In addition, the inability to control family size and spacing limited educational and professional opportunities for women.

How this event was historically significant:

Although medical knowledge and technological improvements had improved obstetrical and gynecological care for women, which lowered the mortality rate associated with childbirth by the 1960s, the availability of the birth control pill gave women (and families) the ability to plan their families more effectively. This allowed women greater access to education and professional opportunities.

Sources

You will need to locate two primary sources and two secondary sources related to your topic. Use the primary source analysis tool for help with analyzing primary sources.

Primary Sources

APA Citation for Primary Source 1:

Provide the APA citation for your source. Here are some examples of APA citations.

Domsky- Abrams, M. Reminiscences of the Triangle Fire [Personal interview] in Stein, L. (1977). Out of the sweatshop: The struggle for industrial democracy. New York: Quadrangle/New York Times Book. Available http://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/primary/survivorInterviews/MaryDomskyAbrams.html _

Annotation for Primary Source 1:

Provide an annotation explaining what the source is, where it came from, what this source can tell us about your topic, what questions it raises, and how this source will help you prove your thesis. Be sure to clearly identify which specific event this source relates to. Here are some examples of annotations.

This is the transcript of an interview with one of the survivors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. In the interview, Mary Domsky-Abrams discusses her memories of the fire and the aftermath, including the trial of the building owners. This source will be used in the section of the paper on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

APA Citation for Primary Source 2:

Provide the APA citation for your source. Here are some examples of APA citations.

Dorsett, L. N. (1999) Oral History Interview. Women Veterans Historical Collection. University of North Carolina Greensboro. Available at

http://libcdm1.uncg.edu/cdm/ref/collection/WVHP/id/4197

Annotation for Primary Source 2:

This is an oral history interview with Loreen Nash Dorsett, who served in the WAVES during World War II. In the interview, she discusses her experiences during the war and life after the war. This source will be used to discuss the section on women’s participation in World War II.

Secondary Sources

APA Citation for Secondary Source 1:

Provide the APA citation for your source. Here are some examples of APA citations.

Goldin, C. (1991). The role of World War II in the rise of women's employment. American Economic Review, 81(4), 741-756. Retrieved from JSTOR.

Annotation for Secondary Source 1:

Provide an annotation explaining what the author's thesis is, how they prove their thesis, and how this source will help you prove your thesis. Be sure to clearly identify which specific event this source relates to. Here are some examples of annotations.

This article discusses how women’s participation in World War II contributed to the increase if in the numbers of women working after the war. It looks at how the rates of employment for different women changed after the war. Of particular note was the rate of married women with children who held jobs after the war. This source will support the section of my paper about the women’s participation in World War II.

APA Citation for Secondary Source 2:

Provide the APA citation for your source. Here are some examples of APA citations.

May, E. (2008). War and peace: Fanning the home fires. In Homeward bound: American families in the cold war era (pp. 58-88). Retrieved from the ebrary database.

Annotation for Secondary Source 2:

This scholarly book looks at American women in late 1940s and 1950s. The author looks at trends in marriage and childrearing as well as the increasing number of women in the

workforce during these years. This source will be used to discuss the effects of women’s participation in World War II as well as the section of the project on the Baby Boom.

Thesis Statement

Once you have analyzed your sources, consult the AWC’s “Thesis Statement” and use the writing center's Thesis Generator to craft a thesis on your topic, based on your findings from your sources.

Please remember that there are primary listed in the Week3 Discussion Board 1. You are free to use one or more of those primary sources or you may find your own. You are also welcome to use the secondary sources throughout the course listed as “recommended sources.”

Thesis:

Since 1877, American women have progressively gained rights and freedom by pushing boundaries to prove their abilities.