Section outline

  • MON
    8/31
    Introduction
    What stories – and whose stories – matter in understanding and analyzing the past and its meanings for the present and future?
    SLIDES [PDF]
    HANDOUT [PDF]

    NO READINGS FOR FIRST CLASS

    Each day's readings will usually be divided into primary sources (archival sources written at the time we are studying) and secondary sources (articles by scholars looking back at the time we are studying). Please be sure to read these in advance of the class session.

     
    WED
    9/2
    Readjustment and Citizenship After World War II
    How did the G.I. Bill remake the roles and responsibilities of the federal government and the meanings of citizenship?
    SLIDES [PDF]

    Primary Sources

    • Beatrice Berg, “When GI Girls Return,” New York Times, April 22, 1945 [PDF]

    Secondary Sources

    • Robert F. Jefferson, “‘Enabled Courage’: Race, Disability, and Black World War II Veterans in Postwar America,” The Historian 65, no. 5 (2003): 1102–1124. [PDF]

    Optional

    • Joseph L. Locke and Ben Wright, eds., The American Yawp, Chapter 23, “The Great Depression” and Chapter 24, “World War II” (Stanford University Press, 2019), 190–256. [Chapter 23 PDF and Chapter 24 PDF]
    • Suzanne Mettler, Introduction and Chapter 1, Soldiers to Citizens: The G. I. Bill and the Making of the Greatest Generation (Oxford University Press, 2005), 1–23. [PDF]

    Reading Questions

    1. In our primary (archival) source, reporter Beatrice Berg reports on perceptions and expectations of women veterans. While women were not drafted, thousands of women volunteered for women’s auxiliary units of the Army, Navy, and Coast Guard—known as the WACs (Women’s Army Corps), WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), and SPARS. Based on Berg’s article, what were some of the anxieties that circulated around women volunteers and the end of the war? And to what degree do Berg’s interview subjects allay those fears?

    2. For the secondary (scholarly) source: Robert Jefferson looks at the experiences of Black and disabled veterans seeking veterans’ benefits after World War II. In what specific ways did racism and stigma against people with mental and physical disabilities shape who was deemed deserving of government assistance—and in what ways did racism shape perceptions of disability?

    3. For the optional secondary source: The excerpt from Suzanne Mettler’s Soldiers to Citizens discusses the origins and impact of the G.I. Bill, also known as the “Servicemen’s Readjustment Act.” As Mettler notes, while veterans had received pensions and insurance benefits following previous wars, the G.I. Bill provided a much wider array of benefits for veterans—including low-interest loans to purchase a home or start a business, as well as support for college education and vocational training. Based on the excerpt, how did the G.I. Bill reflect changing ideas about the relationship between the U.S. government and its citizens?