HIST 201- Who Built NYC?
Instructor Information
Name: Samuel Finesurrey, PhD
Email: [email protected]
Course Information
Modality: Online Asynchronous
Credit Hours: 3
Course Description
This course will explore the movements, events, moments, and people who created the city we live in and work in today. The course focuses on breaking traditional historical narratives that trace the wealthy and political class throughout New York’s history by uplifting the voices of a diverse array of immigrants, migrants, and working-class people who enable the city to operate as well as the movements that made New York what it is today.
Student Learning Outcomes:
- Analyze the history of diverse groups who helped create New York City and evaluate their accomplishments and the structures that framed their respective experiences.
- Identify historical patterns that shape and reshape hierarchies, struggles, challenges and triumphs for diverse groups of New Yorkers.
- Illustrate both the evolution of NYC overtime and explain the development of a mythmaking by City elites often whitewashing the more shameful elements of that history.
- Demonstrate academic writing skills through a final research paper, including proposing a research question, outlining, and integrating interviews.
- Model professional communications skills by participating as an interviewer for the oral history project.
Diversity Statement
Diversity at Guttman spans an incredible range of racial, national, ethnic, sexual, gender, linguistic, socioeconomic, and disability dynamics. In this course, from conversations about black and immigrant struggles for liberation, to examinations of movements for women’s, workers’, and gay rights, and with an oral history project that looks to uplift voices too often silenced by exploitative structures, we are deeply dependent on the rich range of backgrounds at Guttman. In this classroom, I will ask you to think about your own experiences and those of your elders and classmates to challenge and complicate dominant discourses and contribute to understanding our collective history.
Accessibility Statement
People learn in all different types of ways. If you need any accommodations, please utilize the office of accessibility and let me know how I can help. The primary goal for me is that you’re able to achieve the course learning outcomes. I’m willing to work with you in whatever way it takes to attain that.
Plagiarism
If you have a question about whether something is plagiarism, always err on the side of caution, or come and ask the professor if it is okay. With new technology like ChatGPT, the rules of cheating are in flux, which makes it even more important to check in with your professors about what’s okay and what’s not okay. Getting caught cheating can negatively impact your grade and your academic career dramatically.
Late Assignments
You will lose a letter grade every week that an assignment is late. Everything except the final exam is revisable for a better grade.
Questions
If you ever need clarification or have a question about anything, please do not be afraid to ask me. I will return your email within 24 hours. I can almost guarantee that turnaround will be quicker, however, there will be times this semester when I may not have access to the internet.
Problems With Course
If you have a problem with the materials, assignments, or the way I am teaching the course, please let me know at your earliest convenience. I am good at taking criticism and more than anything, I want this class to be as enjoyable an experience as possible for you and your classmates.
Mental Health/Personal Issues
If you are feeling overwhelmed by your schoolwork or life outside of Guttman and it is impacting your grades, please inform your professors that you’re facing some challenges and ask about Guttman resources to support you. We have wonderful mental health professionals at the College and the Connect Center in the basement can help out with anything from groceries to emergency housing. The college cannot support you if we do not know you need assistance.
Academic Integrity Policy
Academic dishonesty is prohibited at The City University of New York. Penalties for academic dishonesty include academic sanctions, such as failing or otherwise reduced grades, and/or disciplinary sanctions, including suspension or expulsion.
Academic integrity is at the core of a college or university education. Faculty assign essays, exams, quizzes, projects, and so on both to extend the learning done in the classroom and as a means of assessing that learning. When students violate the academic integrity policy (i.e., “cheat”), they are committing an act of theft that can cause real harm to themselves and others including, but not limited to, their classmates, their faculty, and the caregivers who may be funding their education. Academic dishonesty confers an unfair advantage over others, which undermines educational equity and fairness. Students who cheat place their college’s accreditation and their own future prospects in jeopardy.
For more information, please visit CUNY Academic Integrity Policy
Grading and Assessment
|
Assessment Type |
% of Final Grade |
Frequency |
Scoring |
Feedback |
|
Notes/Discussion |
10% |
10 times |
Completion |
Check Mark |
|
Quizzes |
25% |
10 times |
Completion |
Graded Quiz |
|
Mandatory One-on-Ones |
10% |
3 times |
Completion |
Instructor Comments |
|
Oral History Project |
35% |
6 times |
Completion |
Instructor comments |
|
Final Exam |
20% |
1 time |
Completion |
Instructor comments |
Notes/Responses from Weekly Readings (100 Points):
In this course, you will take notes for each reading and lecture and submit them collectively for a grade.
How to Take Good Notes:
- Take notes in your own words. Do not use my words or those of your classmates.
- Organize your notes in an outline, not a paragraph format.
- Organize your notes with captions or subheadings.
- Focus on what’s most important rather than taking notes on everything.
- Make sure key names and events are covered in your notes.
- Make sure you have notes for the entire video and reading, not just the first half.
Quizzes (250 Points):
Every week after completing the reading and watching the video lecture you will have a short, multiple-choice/short answer quiz.
Mandatory One-on-One Virtual Meeting (100 Points):
There will be Three mandatory one-on-one meetings throughout the course of the semester where we will go over your work collectively. Collectively your meaningful engagement in the meetings will be worth 100 points.
Oral History Project (350 Points):
Over the course of the semester you will conduct, transcribe, and analyze an oral history interview with someone in your social network — a family member, friend, elder, or community member. The project unfolds in five parts, each building on the last, and culminates in a final essay or presentation that weaves your interview together with research from the Voices from the Heart of Gotham archive and outside historical sources. Detailed instructions for each part are on the course site.
Grade Breakdown:
- Oral History Part One: Engage with Voices from the Heart of Gotham (25 Points)
- Oral History Project Part Two: The Interview (75 Points)
- Oral History Project Part Three: The Transcript (50 Points)
- Oral History Part Three and a Half: The Reflection (50 Points)
- Oral History Project Part Four: Annotated Bibliography (50 Points)
- Oral History Project Part Five: Final Essay/Presentation (100 Points)
Your interviewee should be someone whose life experience connects to the themes of this course — immigration, migration, labor, community-building, or resistance in New York City. The interview must be at least 15 minutes and recorded on your phone.
Ideally, you would find someone willing to donate their oral history to the Voices from the Heart of Gotham: Undergraduate Scholars Oral History Collection at Guttman Community College. This can be one of your classmates, one of your family members, a community member, or a friend.
- IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE DONATING YOUR ORAL HISTORY, PLEASE TELL ME. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ADD YOUR INTERVIEW TO THE PUBLIC COLLECTION.
- IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE DOING THE ORAL HISTORY ASSIGNMENT AT ALL PLEASE LET ME KNOW AND WE WILL CREATE AN ALTERNATIVE ASSIGNMENT.
Final Exam (200 Points):
You will have three hours to complete the OPEN NOTES final exam. It will consist of IDs and an essay. YOU CAN ONLY USE CLASS SOURCES – NOT AI.
Weekly Schedule
|
Week |
Module Learning Objectives |
Assessment Activities |
|
Module 0 & 1 March 4–8 |
Analyze how the slave trade and the displacement of Indigenous peoples contributed to the economic and geographic expansion of New Amsterdam. Discuss the influence of Dutch policies and governance on the development of a multicultural society in New Amsterdam, and how this differed from other British colonies. Explain how the need for labor, especially immigrant labor, became crucial for rebuilding New York City after the Revolutionary War and fueling its exponential growth in the 18th and 19th centuries. |
Module 0:
Module 1:
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Module 2 March 9–15 |
Analyze how Irish immigrants rose to political power in New York City, particularly through their involvement in the Democratic Party and their dominance within Tammany Hall, and how this political influence led to their assimilation into city life. Discuss the lasting impact of Chinese immigrant communities in New York City and how they overcame historical challenges to build strong, thriving communities. |
Module 2:
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Week 3 March 16–22 |
Analyze the economic, political, and social factors that drove Italians, particularly from Southern Italy, to emigrate to the United States between 1880 and 1924. Explain how Italian-Americans organized to challenge the structures that oppressed them. Discuss the specific obstacles faced by Jewish immigrants in New York City and how they overcame these challenges to build successful communities. |
Module 3:
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Week 4 March 23–29 |
Summarize how political developments in Cuba, including the struggle for independence from Spain, the Spanish-American War, and U.S. intervention, influenced Cuban migration to New York City. Explain the growth of a powerful Puerto Rican community in New York City, focusing on their contributions to the city’s culture, economy, and political landscape. |
Module 4
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Week 5 March 30–April 5 |
Summarize how political developments on the Island of Hispaniola — including the Haitian struggle for freedom and independence, U.S. intervention and occupation, and U.S.-backed dictators — catalyzed migration to the U.S. Explain the growth of the Haitian and Dominican communities in NYC. |
Module 5:
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Spring Break April 6–12 |
No Work Due This Week |
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Week 6 April 13–19 |
Summarize key moments of resistance by Black New Yorkers and how these events were shaped by systemic racism and oppression. Discuss the gradual process of emancipation in New York, culminating in 1827, and how the city simultaneously became a center for both slave hunters and Black abolitionist organizers like David Ruggles and the Vigilance Committee. |
Module 6:
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Week 7 April 20–26 |
Demonstrate the importance of interview transcription. Compose an interview transcript using best practices. Oral History Reflection: Write a two-page reflection. |
Module 7:
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Week 8 April 27–May 3 |
Investigate the significance of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments in securing rights for African Americans and how Northern military intervention temporarily improved conditions in the South. Examine the contributions of influential Black businessmen like Philip A. Payton and how their efforts, along with the Great Migration, contributed to Harlem’s transformation into a majority Black neighborhood. |
Module 8:
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Week 9 May 4–10 |
Analyze the various strategies employed by African Americans in late 19th and early 20th century New York City to achieve liberation and equality. Discuss the causes and implications of the Harlem uprisings of 1935 and 1943 as responses to systemic racism, situating them within the larger context of Jim Crow laws and tensions between immigrant and Black communities. |
Module 9:
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Week 10 May 11–17 |
Explain how the arrival of new residents contributed to overcrowding in Harlem, negatively affecting the quality of life for existing Black residents and the labor market. |
Module 10:
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Week 11 May 18–24 |
Explain how modern movements for racial justice emerged, were challenged, and yet persisted in NYC, culminating in the BLM protests that swept the city in 2020. |
Module 11:
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Week 12 May 25–31 (Memorial Day May 26 — all work due by Sunday June 1) |
Review and synthesis of all course learning objectives: analyzing the history of diverse groups who helped create New York City; identifying historical patterns that shape hierarchies and struggles; illustrating the evolution of NYC and the mythmaking by city elites. |
Module 12:
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Final Exam — Due June 7 |
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Culminating Assignment |
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Oral History Part V: The Final Project – Due June 10 |
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