Social Class

((Select 4-6 hours/week from the following. You may also choose resources of your own, with instructor approval. Post your reflections in the WebCT discussion topic, citing which resources you have used.)

Required Reading:

Marc Mauer, Race to Incarcerate, New Press, 1999

Required Multimedia:

People Like Us: Social Class in America This web site was created to accompany a PBS film by the same name, and has all kinds of readings, games, video clips and other resources. Explore on your own; read, cogitate and take notes on the parts that most appeal to you.

Other Multimedia:

Virtual Greenbelt, Virtual Greenbelt is a UM-sponsored site where student-created online exhibits on a variety of topics can be researched, created and critiqued. For this unit, use the sections on the planning and construction of Greenbelt, and also Robert M. Shearman's project on the automobile in Greenbelt.

Learning from Langston, a site devoted to the history of Langston Terrace. There are some excellent primary source materials here that can be used to compare with Langston Terrace with Greenbelt.

Working Class Culture in Youngstown, Ohio

Exhibits/Activities:

Greenbelt, MD. Tour a planned community built during the New Deal. What did the “ideal” town look like in 1937? How has it changed over the years? (September 21)

Langston Terrace. Tour a planned community built about the same time as Greenbelt, but for a different population (remember we are below the Mason-Dixon line!). Great comparison if you can do both trips! (Sunday, Oct. 27)

Communities in a Changing Nation (American HIstory Museum)