HIST 152: US History Since 1877 Spring 2026- Online Asynchronous Srishti Dutta Chowdhury

Email: sduttach@purdue.edu Office Hours: By appointment on Zoom

 

Course Description: This course examines the United States from 1877 to the present through the lens of labor and social transformation of the United States. We will explore how the shift from agrarian to industrial to post-industrial capitalism fundamentally reshaped American society, work, and everyday life. Central questions include: How did different groups of people experience and respond to major transformation? How did the relationship between labor and capital evolve? What role did the state play in mediating changes and conflicts? How did race, gender, immigration status, and geography shape peoples’ experiences?

Rather than a traditional political narrative, this course emphasizes the social and economic forces that structured American life: the rise of industrial capitalism in the Gilded Age, the mass production economy of the early 20th century, the New Deal’s labor compact and social promises, postwar deindustrialization, and the emergence of neoliberalism. We will pay particular attention to how ordinary people—workers, farmers, immigrants, migrants—navigated, contested, and shaped these transformations.

  

Course Objectives:

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  • Trace the political and social trajectory of people in the United States—their articulations and aspirations, the conditions and experiences of their lives, and how they strove to shape the society we live in today
  • Analyze the major transformations in American society from 1877 to present
  • Understand the relationship between labor movements and broader social movements
  • Critically assess primary sources documenting everyday experiences of the people of US

 

 

Required Texts

  • Michael McGerr, Camilla Townsend, et , Of the People: A History of the United States, Volume II: Since 1865 with Sources, 5th Edition (Oxford University Press, 2021) : primary textbook

Ebook purchase ($33.29) from https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/of-the-people-9780197586150?cc=us&lang=en&ebcode=STUDENT26&period=6M

  • Melvyn Dubofsky, Joseph McCartin, Labor in America: A History, 10th Edition (Wiley Blackwell, 2025)

: secondary survey text

Ebook purchase from https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Labor+in+America%3A+A+History%2C+10th+Edition-p-9781394208265


Recommended/Additional Readings:

In case it is hard to find the secondary survey text by Melvyn Dubofsky, this website and the open resource textbook is an excellent substitute!

  • Eileen Boris, Nelson Lichtenstein, Major Problems in the History of American Workers, 2nd Edition

(Cengage, 2003): primary source reader

  • James Green, The World of the Worker: Labor in Twentieth Century America (University of Illinois Press, 1998).

 

 

Course Requirements

This course includes ten primary source assignments, from which you must complete and submit five written responses of your choosing, in addition to a final essay.

Weekly Assignments (75% of final grade) You are required to submit any five of the ten weekly assignments. Each assignment is worth 15 points, for a total of 75 points toward your final grade.

Final Essay (25% of final grade) The final essay is worth 25 points and must be submitted by the specified due date.

Expectations All assignment responses should incorporate content from the uploaded lectures, referenced materials, and assigned course books to provide appropriate context and historical analysis.

Submission Deadlines Given the asynchronous nature of this online course, you may submit your five weekly assignments at any time before the April 21st deadline on Brightspace without penalty. However, the final essay must be submitted on its designated due date.

 

Grading Scale:

A+ = 96.5 – 100%

A = 92.5 – 96.5%

A- = 89.5 – 92.5%

B+ = 86.5 – 89.5%

B = 82.5 - 86.5%

B- = 79.5 – 82.5%

C+ = 76.5 – 79.5%

C = 72.5 - 76.5%

C- = 69.5 – 72.5%

D+ = 66.5 – 69.5%

D = 62.5 - 66.5%

D- = 59.5 – 62.5


Please note that FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) prohibits me from discussing students’ grades via email. You are welcome to reach me for non-grade related inquiries at my email, sduttach@purdue.edu.

 

This syllabus is subject to change as required. All updates to assignments will accompany a corresponding notification on Brightspace.

 

 

 

 

Syllabus and Lecture Timeline:

MODULE 1: Rise of Industrial Capitalism (1865-1914)

Week 1.1: Course Introduction and Thematic Outline

 

 

Week 1.2: The Compromise of 1877/The Wormley Agreement and The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 TBA Assignment: Primary Source Analysis

 

Week 2.1: Industrializing Work- From craftsmanship to mass production TBA Assignment: Primary Source Analysis

 

Week 2.2: Big Business vs Labor Unions TBA Assignment: Primary Source Analysis

 

Week 3.1: The Gilded Era State, Corporations and the “labor problem” TBA Assignment: Primary Source Analysis

 

Week 3.2: Progressivism and the Struggle for Civil Liberties TBA Assignment: Primary Source Analysis

 

 

 

MODULE 2: Checks in the Monopoly of Capital (1914-1942)

Week 4.1: WWI and the Great Migration TBA Assignment: Primary Source Analysis


Week 4.2: Wilsonian democracy

 

 

Week 5.1: Consumer America and the Immigrant Act of 1924 TBA Assignment: Primary Source Analysis

 

Week 5.2: The Great Depression and the New Deal TBA Assignment: Primary Source Analysis

 

MODULE 3: A New World Order Impacts Labor Futures ( the 1940s)

Week 6.1: WWII and Concessions by Organized Labor

 

 

Week 6.2: Industrial Strikes and the GI Bill of Rights in Lieu of a “New Bill of Rights”

 

 

Week 7.1: Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 and the AFL-CIO merger TBA Assignment: Primary Source Analysis

 

MODULE 4: New Solidarities and Differences (1950-1980)

Week 7.2: Post-war Liberalism and Civil Rights TBA Assignment: Primary Source Analysis

 

Week 8.1: A Country Newly Divided: The New Right and the New Left in the 1960s

 

 

Week 8.2: Recession Politics to the Advent of Neoliberalism TBA Assignment: Final Essay


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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Plagiarism—reproducing another’s words or ideas without proper attribution—and other forms of academic dishonesty are serious offenses. You are expected to produce your own work and cite all sources accurately. Any instances of cheating, plagiarism, or academic dishonesty will result in severe consequences, likely including a failing grade for the course and referral to the Dean of Students Office. Familiarize yourself with Purdue’s academic integrity policies at: https://www.purdue.edu/odos/osrr/academic-integrity/undergraduate.html

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) USE POLICY

You may not submit AI-generated text as your own work or use AI to complete assignments Submitting AI-generated work as your own constitutes plagiarism and will be subject to the consequences outlined in the Academic Integrity section.

 

GRIEF ABSENCE POLICY

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