Required Book
- Wineburg, Sam. Why Learn History: (When It’s Already on Your Phone). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018.
Featured Resources
- 1619 Project. New York Times Magazine. August 19, 2019. [WEB]
- Aillon, Sarah. “Allen Dulles.” History 282, Spring 2019 [WEB]
- Allison, Graham and Niall Ferguson. “Why the US President Needs a Council of Historians.” The Atlantic (September 2016). [WEB]
- Arguing Over Slavery in the Constitution. History 404. Dickinson College. 2015. [WEB]
- Alterman, Eric. “The Decline of Historical Thinking.” The New Yorker. 4, 2019 [WEB]
- Blakemore, Erin. “James Buchanan Bought and Freed Slaves –But Not For the Reason You Might Think.” History.Com, July 26, 2017 [WEB]
- Conway, Michael. “The Problem with History Classes.” The Atlantic. March 16, 2015 [WEB]
- Cornell, Saul. “Aristocracy Assailed: The Ideology of Backcountry Anti-Federalism.” Journal of American History76 (March 1990): 1148-1172. [JSTOR]
- Dickinson & Slavery. House Divided Project at Dickinson College. 2019. [WEB]
- Digital Scholarship Lab. University of Richmond. 2007-2019. [WEB]
- Donoghue, Amanda. “Discovering Joshua Lippincott.” History 204. Fall 2016. [WEB]
- Foner, Eric. “Confederate Statues and Our History.” New York Times. 20, 2017 [WEB]
- Grossman, James. “History Isn’t a Useless Major.” LA Times. May 30, 2016. [WEB]
- Historical Thinking Matters, George Mason / Stanford [WEB]
- Huebner, Timothy B. “Roger B. Taney and the Slavery Issue: Looking Before –and Beyond—Dred Scott.” Journal of American History 97 (June 2010): 17-38. [JSTOR]
- Koman, Rita G. “The Supreme Court Speaks on Student Rights.” OAH Magazine of History 13 (Fall 1998) 50-55 [JSTOR]
- Lincoln’s Writings: The Multi-Media Edition. House Divided Project. [WEB]
- Macfarlane, Colin. “Henry W. Spradley, Citizen.” History 304, Spring 2011. [YOUTUBE]
- McPherson, James M. “Politics and Judicial Responsibility: Dred Scott v. Sandford.” Great Cases in Constitution Law edited by Robert P. George (Princeton, 2000) [JSTOR]
- Morgan, Rachel. “Mary Dillon’s Carlisle.” House Divided Project. Summer 2017. [WEB]
- Pinsker, Matthew. “Lincoln Theme 2.0.” Journal of American History 96 (Sept. 2009) [WEB]
- Schuessler, Jennifer. “His Martin Luther King Biography Was a Classic.” NYT 6/4/19 [WEB]
- Seefeldt, Douglas and William G. Thomas. “What is Digital History?” Perspectives on History. May 2009. [WEB]
- Sinha, Manisha. “What Those Monuments Stand For.” NY Daily News. 8/18/17. [WEB]
- Sunstein, Cass R. “Dred Scott v. Sandford and Its Legacy.” Great Cases in Constitution Law edited by Robert P. George (Princeton, 2000) [JSTOR]
- Temkin, Moshik. “Historians Shouldn’t Be Pundits.” New York Times, June 26, 2017. [WEB]
- Unofficial Teacher’s Guide to Spielberg’s Lincoln. House Divided Project. [WEB]
- Villotti, Maria. “My Lai Massacre.” History 211. Spring 2018. [WEB]
- Wingert, Cooper. “Fugitive Slave Commissioner.” HIST 311. Fall 2017. [WEB]
- Zraick, Karen. “What is Labor Day?” New York Times, September 1, 2018. [WEB]
Book Review
By Friday, September 27, students will submit a short book review (4 to 6 pages, typed, double-spaced) illustrating (or challenging) a key insight from Sam Wineburg’s Why Learn History (2018) in part by analyzing his claims in light of a personal learning experience (or experiences). Each review should describe Wineburg as a scholar and summarize his latest work before analyzing some of his particular claims with general research and examples from your practical experience in the classroom. Reviews should be formatted in a Word document with title page and Chicago-style footnotes. Late reviews will be penalized up to 5 points per day.
Research Journal
Students will be required to post a total of THREE research journal entries at the course website (October 16, October 30, and November 6), describing their experiences in seeking information and insights relevant to assigned biographical subjects from the Dickinson & Slavery initiative. The first entry should narrate the process of finding basic genealogy from Ancestry.com (due 10/18 –REVISED). The second entry should describe the process of researching assigned record collections at the Dickinson College Archives (due 11/1). The third entry should detail the results from collection searches at the Cumberland County Historical Society (CCHS) (due 11/8). Each journal entry should occupy about 1,000 words (or 4-5 pages). The narrative posts should include properly credited images and (where relevant) hyperlinks to outside sources. Late entries will be penalized up to 5 points per day.
Multi-Media Exhibit
By December 17, students will be required to build multi-media teaching exhibit that addresses a landmark Supreme Court decision of their own choosing. Exhibits must provide compelling biographical insight on the members of the Court and all the key litigants involved, as well as offer concise background, context and analysis about the significance of the decision. Students may approach the topic from almost any perspective, but their goal should be to create an online learning site that can help classroom teachers at the high school or collegiate level to humanize and contextualize a landmark Supreme Court decision. Students should begin the project by submitting an 4 to 6-page essay on the historical significance of the Supreme Court case combined with an appendix that provides concise biographical profiles of all of the key figures involved (court members + litigants). The paper and appendix should be sent via email to Prof. Pinsker no later than FRIDAY December 6 (counting for one-third of the overall exhibit grade). The paper should include a descriptive title, wide-ranging research, thoughtful analysis and careful use of Chicago-style footnotes to identify sources. The online exhibits should then transform a revised version of this paper into an engaging website (built on the free platform of Weebly) with various multi-media elements, such as image galleries, custom-made maps or timelines (using free platforms such as Google Maps, Timeline JS or Storymap), and / or short videos and podcasts. Exhibits may incorporate multi-media elements from external sources, but students must acknowledge and properly credit all of those sources. Late projects will be penalized up to 5 points per day.
Grade Distribution
Class Participation 20 percent
Book Review 20 percent
Research Journal 30 percent
Multi-Media Exhibit 30 percent
| Day | Date | Discussion Topic | Reading Assignment |
| Monday | 9/2 | Methods & Expectations | Labor Day piece |
| Friday | 9/6 | Historical Profession | Grossman + Alterman essays |
| Historical Thinking | |||
| Monday | 9/9 | Teaching American History // SAMPLE: Blind Memorandum | Wineburg, chap. 1-2 [VIDEO] |
| Friday | 9/13 | People’s History | Wineburg, chap. 3 [ZINN VIDEO] |
| Monday | 9/16 | Historical Thinking | Wineburg, chap. 4-5 |
| Thursday | 9/19 | REQUIRED LECTURE: Kwame Appiah | ATS, 7pm |
| Friday | 9/20 | On Complexity | Wineburg, chap. 6 |
| Monday | 9/23 | Search vs. Research | Wineberg, chap. 7 |
| Friday | 9/27 | Heroes & Myth-Making | Wineberg, ch. 8, Afterword, Schuessler |
| Friday | 9/27 | Book reviews DUE | By 5pm via email |
| Monday | 9/30 | NO CLASS | |
| Friday | 10/4 | NO CLASS | |
| Research Practice: Dickinson & Slavery | |||
| Monday | 10/7 | Dickinson & Slavery | Exhibit + report |
| Friday | 10/11 | FIELD TRIP: College Archives | |
| Monday | 10/14 | Slavery & America | 1619 Project |
| Friday | 10/18 | Research Journal (Ancestry) DUE | By 5pm (posted at site) |
| Friday | 10/18 | FIELD TRIP: CCHS | |
| Monday | 10/21 | FALL PAUSE | |
| Friday | 10/25 | Hollywood vs. History | Conway article, Lincoln guide |
| Monday | 10/28 | History vs. Memory | Foner + Sinha op eds |
| Friday | 11/1 | Research journal (Archives) DUE | By 5pm (posted at site) |
| Friday | 11/1 | Historians as pundits | Allison, Temkin essays |
| Monday | 11/4 | Isle of Wikipedia | Course post |
| Friday | 11/8 | Research journal (CCHS) DUE | By 5pm (posted at site) |
| Friday | 11/8 | Future of the Past | Pinsker, Seefeldt articles, DSL |
| Teaching & Learning: Landmark Cases | |||
| Monday | 11/11 | Dickinson & the Constitution | Cornell article |
| Friday | 11/15 | Close reading: Constitution & Slavery | Arguing Over Constitution debate |
| Monday | 11/18 | Dred & Harriet Scott case | Sunstein and McPherson chaps. |
| Tuesday | 11/19 | REQUIRED LECTURE: Jonathan White | Library, 430pm |
| Friday | 11/22 | Roger B. Taney and James Buchanan | Huebner article & Blakemore article |
| Monday | 11/25 | Studying the US Supreme Court
FIELD TRIP: Library (Classroom 2) |
Koman article, Landmark cases |
| Friday | 11/29 | THANKSGIVING BREAK | |
| Monday | 12/2 | Carlisle Indian School and My Lai | Donoghue, Villotti |
| Friday | 12/6 | Draft papers DUE | By 5pm via email |
| Friday | 12/6 | Allen Dulles and Henry Spradley | Aillon, Macfarlane |
| Monday | 12/9 | Benjamin Rush and Richard McAllister | Morgan, Wingert |
| Tuesday | 12/10 | REQUIRED: Honors talks (Sorcia, Wingert) | Denny 317, noon to 1pm |
| Friday | 12/13 | Lessons & Legacies | |
| Tuesday | 12/17 | Multi-Media exhibits DUE
|
By 5pm (via email link) |