THE END

And just like that, we find ourselves at the end of our time together. There’s just two more things you have to complete in order to wrap up our class–and one of them is in two parts. Please read the below instructions carefully and if you have any questions, ask them as a comment to this post.

1. DIGITAL HISTORIES
Your Digital History assignments are due by Friday, December 4 at 11:00 p.m. (Pacific). The film should begin with some version of the language I used in my sample film; include “credits” for your sources; and avoid the use of any copyrighted music.

Completing and turning in this assignment means doing two things:

a. Submitting the Movie
Turn in your movie as a movie .mov, .mpeg4, .mp4, .avi, or .wmv file. You can try to turn in your movie to Sakai but it’s likely the file size will be too big for the “dropbox” function. If that’s the case, you will need to use a file sharing system (Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, MS OneDrive, or the like) to share the movie file with me. Whatever solution you choose, make sure you give me permission to download the file. Email the link to me at tfss@pomona.edu.

b. Submitting your Metadata
I will upload your movie to the YouTube channel for the Intercollegiate Department of Chicanx-Latinx Studies. To do that, I need you to provide me the metadata for your film. You do that by filling out the following form after you have turned in your movie file.

2. FINAL FLIPGRID
Your very last assignment is a reflection assignment which you will submit via Flipgrid. The link to our last Flipgrid assignment can be found here. Again, it is due no later than Friday, December 4 at 11:00 p.m. (Pacific). And, as with our last Flipgrid, you will be able to record and submit your video but it will only become visible by my action. Accordingly, this final Flipgrid requires no engagement with your classmates.

Once you turn in your movie file, complete the metadata online form, and submit your reflection response to Flipgrid, you’re done! Have a wonderful break as you celebrate your achievements and recharge for the semester ahead. Be safe and be well…

WEEK 14: Nov. 23

We’re at the finish line! Just a few more steps before we collectively cross it.

We’ll meet for our final class on Monday, November 23. We’ll begin the class with a discussion of our last reading, “Central American Child Migration: Militarization and Tourism” (27_Briggs.pdf). It’s a recent piece inspired by recent events and, I hope, a constructive end to our collaboration this semester.

I will finish assessing your Research Scripts by Tuesday. I’ll send you my feedback, which you can take under advisement as you work on your digital movie, due by Friday, December 4. More information about how to turn that in will be posted this week. I’ll also let you know about our final Flipgrid assignment, one that’s related to you completing your Digital History.

See you soon!

WEEK 13: Nov. 16 & 18

Your RESEARCH SCRIPTS are due by Sunday, November 15th at 5:00 p.m. (PST). This entails turning in both the written narrative (formatted according to our writing guidelines) and an audio recording of you reading the narrative aloud. There are two ways you can turn these in:

OPTION 1
As described in last week’s post, you can upload your written script to Sakai as a PDF (named “SCRIPT-LastName.pdf”) and the audio file as an MP4, MP3, WMA, or WAV file (named “AUDIO-LastName.pdf”). The naming part is important if you use Sakai because it allows me to download all the files all at once and ensures yours doesn’t get overwritten by another with the same file name.

OPTION 2
If you’re willing, I’d prefer it if you shared your written script with me using Google Docs. This way, I can make edits and type comments directly. To do this, you must make sure the shared link gives me EDITOR privileges, and not just the ability to be a viewer. If you choose this route, then you’ll turn in both assignments via EMAIL. Just email me the link to your Google script and include the audio file as an attachment.

The standard policy on extensions applies.

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Welcome to week 13! We’re just about at the finish line of this most unusual semester and I couldn’t be prouder of the work you all have done. This hasn’t been easy, but each of you have demonstrated grace, persistence, and a wonderful amount of learning in the work you’ve submitted. I’m so grateful for you and your effort. Now let’s wrap this semester up!

MONDAY
For our last full week of our class we’ll turn our gaze toward the 1970s and 1980s and focus on the ways US foreign policy shaped Latinx America at the end of the 20th century. Since you’re turning in your scripts on Sunday night, you don’t have to do anything to prepare for Monday.  We’ll have a presentation and discussion in class.

You do have to submit your second-to-last Flipgrid assignment. This one is a little different, asking you to think broadly about what you’ve learned in class.  You can access the question (Q7) here. Please submit your response no later than the start of class on Monday, November 16.

The Flipgrid settings we’re using for the last two assignments are different than what we’ve been doing up to now. You will still be able to record and submit your video, but you won’t be able to make it “live.” I’ll be able to do so, after you turn it in. This will let each of you address the question on your own time and allow me to make everyone’s response to it available at the same exact moment.

WEDNESDAY
We’ll continue our learning on the same themes on Wednesday, this time with the aid of some sources—one reading and one documentary.

The reading is the introduction to the 2017 book U.S. Central Americans: Reconstructing Memories, Struggles, and Communities of Resistance. You can access it on Sakai (26_CentralAm.pdf). The documentary is called Testimony: The Maria Guardado Story. It is available on YouTube in three parts: part1; part2; and part3. The quality is less than optimal, but it is what it is. The entire film is less than 30 minutes long.

CONTENT WARNING: The film does discuss some graphic instances of war and violence. Please exercise appropriate care and caution for yourselves, as you see fit.

Finally, no later than Friday, November 20 at 5:00 p.m. (PST), please engage with at least five of your classmates’ responses on Flipgrid.

That’s it for now. Keep being you and keep moving forward, as best you can. We’ll see you soon. Until then, as always, be well and take care.

WEEK 12: Nov. 9 & 11

This is a big week in terms of our semester research project, as you write and turn in your Research Script assignment. More on that below.

In our MONDAY class we’ll learn a little bit more about Latinx movements in “the Sixties” as we discuss the Young Lords. You have two short readings to do for that class. The first is drawn from the 1971 book ¡Palante! Young Lords Party (24_Lords.pdf). Published as a collection of writings about the Young Lords and by the Lords themselves (most of the pieces are drawn from their newspaper, of the same title), the work is more like a primary document of the organization and their vision.

The second short reading will compliment the first. It’s the organization’s “13 Point Program and Platform” (25_Platform.pdf). We’ll discuss both as we close out our discussion of race movements of the era.

On WEDNESDAY we’ll spend our class discussing our Visible Knowledge Project. Broadly, we’ll talk abut how to make our movies, but that will include how we strategically write our “research scripts” too. You don’t really have to do anything to prepare for that class, but a set of new resources will be posted to our Resources page in advance. Just look under the heading “Making Your Movie.”

No later than Sunday, November 15 at 5:00 p.m. (PST) you will turn in your Research Script assignment. Both the PDF of the script and the audio file (mp3, mp4, wav, or wma) of you reading it should be uploaded to our Sakai Drop Box.

The assignment (and all it entails) is described in detail on our Assignments page.

NOTE ON SCRIPT FORMAT: The script should follow our “Writing Guidelines” document (which can be found as Appendix 2 in our syllabus). Even though it’s a script, it should look like every other essay style assignment you’ve turned in for our class. It should also include footnotes, even though those will be “invisible” to the listener.

NOTE ON FILE NAMING: So that I can download each file, and so they don’t overwrite each other during download, please name the files SCRIPT-LastName.pdf and AUDIO-LastName.mp3 (or whatever file format it is) before uploading them to Sakai. [Mine would be named SCRIPT-SummersSandoval.pdf and AUDIO-SummersSandoval.mp3].

I had originally planned to make a video on the technology of how you make your movie. Instead, on the Resources page, you’ll find various options for doing that. Each one of those options has a bunch of “how to” videos you can find online. So instead, here’s a video for you to watch to learn a little more about the way to design your script.

WEEk 11: Nov. 2 & 4

Welcome to November! As we start the eleventh (out of fourteen) week of the semester I just want to say how proud I am of each of you. This has been anything but a “normal” semester but there’s not one of you that hasn’t shown dedication, collaboration, and effort. We’re a stronger colectiva as a result, and I’m so appreciative of all of you and your hard work.

This week we turn our discussion and analysis to the period collectively known as “the Sixties.” We’ll begin that inquiry on MONDAY (November 2) as we delve into the complicated history of the “Chicano Movement.”

Our in-class discussion will focus on a documentary and a reading. The documentary is the first episode of the 1996 four-part series (produced by PBS) Chicano! A History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement. Episode 1 is titled “Quest for a Homeland,” and it is viewable on YouTube.

The reading is chapter 7 from the book Racism on Trial: The Chicano Fight for Justice (2003), by in Ian F. Haney-López. Because the chapter is hard to fully understand out of context, I’ve also included the introduction to the book for you to read (22_HaneyLopez.pdf).

After you’ve watched the documentary and read the reading, go visit our class Flipgrid and post a response to Q6. We’ll build from your Flipgrid responses in our in-class discussion. We’ll also cover some topics to help us better understand the 60s, with a short in-class lecture.

On WEDNESDAY (November 4) our goal will be to discuss the 1968 “Chicano Walkouts,” one of the inciting events of the so-called “Chicano Movement.” To prepare, you should WATCH another episode of the Chicano! series—this time episode 3, “Taking Back the Schools”—and you should READ a newspaper article in which the demands of the walkout are presented (23_Demands.pdf).

That said, we’ll also play it by ear on Wednesday. If we need to talk about other things in this world and nation, then we can do that, too.

Be well and be good. We’ll see you soon.

WEEK 10: Oct. 26 and 28

Our class story begins it’s final transition this week as we begin our discussion of the post-WWII history of Latinx America. This modern history has shaped our present in so many important ways, from politics to society and culture.

We’ll begin our discussion on MONDAY by reading two academic articles. The first is by Charles Wollenberg and it’s titled “Mendez v. Westminster: Race, Nationality and Segregation in California Schools” (20_Wollenberg.pdf). The second—“The Crimes and Consequences of Illegal Immigration: A Cross-Border Examination of Operation Wetback” (21_Hernandez.pdf)—is by Kelly Lytle Hernández, the author of the book Migra! A History of the U.S. Border Patrol. Before class you should also watch our video lecture (the link to which is posted on our course Schedule page).

On WEDNESDAY we’ll have an in-class discussion on the Bracero Program, as we also learn a bit more about Latinx life in the 1950s. You don’t have any reading to do but I do ask you to watch a documentary film titled Harvest of Loneliness (2010). Produced and directed by acclaimed Chicano historian Gilbert Gonzalez, the film can be viewed through Sakai by clicking on the “VIDEO47” tab on the lefthand menu. If you experience difficulties streaming the movie, it will help if you use your campus VPN before entering Sakai. You can find out how to do that by visiting your campus IT website. Sorry for the error. Instead, you can access the film through YouTube.

Take care and be well until we see each other next time…

WEEK 9: Oct. 19 and 21

**The Primary Source Identification assignment is due this week.**

This week we’ll continue learning about Latinx America and the Second World War as we discuss some readings, respond to a new Flipgrid prompt, and turn in the first part of our Visible Knowledge Project—the Primary Source Identification assignment.

On MONDAY we’ll learn more about the Sleepy Lagoon incident and Zoot Suit riots as we think about some of the ways wartime fostered some of the worst in tendencies in US society. We’ll start that discussion with two readings: chapter 1 from the book From Coveralls to Zoot Suits by Elizabeth Escobedo (17_Escobedo.pdf) and an article by Frank Barajas, “The Defense Committees of Sleepy Lagoon” (18_Barajas.pdf).

Our in-class discussion will begin online when you post your video response to Q5 on our class Flipgrid (question 5). Sometime after class (and no later than Friday) you should return to Flipgrid to engage with a few of your classmates’ responses.

On WEDNESDAY we’ll finish learning about the war by using our class time to work with a some primary sources. The only one you need to read before coming to class is the short newspaper article titled “Mrs. Roosevelt Blindly Stirs Race Discord” (19_Roosevelt.pdf), a response to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s outspokenness related to the anti-Mexican racism.

This week we’ll also move forward on our Chicanx/Latinx Visible Knowledge Project (VKP) when you complete and turn in your Primary Source Identification assignment.

The assignment is described on our Assignments page; there are resources to support your success on our Resources page; and we’ve talked about the assignment in class, too. The only thing left is for you to do it!

Your Primary Source Identification assignment is due on Wednesday, October 21. Since we have a free no cost extension, that means no later than Thursday, October 22 at 11:59 p.m. (Pacific time). If you need more time after that, contact me via email.

The assignment requires you to type up some information and attach a full copy of your primary source document (if possible). Please turn in both as a SINGLE PDF DOCUMENT using the Drop Box folder on Sakai. So that I can download them with ease, please name your PDF “LastName_PSI.pdf” (in my case, SummersSandoval_PSI.pdf).

WEEK 8: Oct. 12 & 14

Over the next two weeks we’ll discuss two major historical events: the Great Depression and World War II. Both redefined life for Latinx Americans and set patterns in place that would characterize the rest of the 20th century.

On MONDAY we’ll join each other on Zoom to discuss two articles. The first article is written by Charles Wollenberg and discusses on a 1933 labor strike by berry pickers in Southern California (15_Wollenberg.pdf). The other is an examination of the “illegal alien” written by acclaimed immigration historian Mae M. Ngai (16_Ngai.pdf). We’ll discuss both readings in our class.

To provide you some context for the readings, and to give you some of the history they don’t discuss, we have some lecture videos to watch as well. The links for the four parts of “Lecture 7” can be found on the course Schedule page.

On WEDNESDAY we’ll begin discussing the history of World War II. You don’t have to read anything for class but I do ask you to watch an episode of the 2013 PBS documentary Latino Americans. The episode is “War and Peace” and it should be viewable online from this PBS website. (If you’re out of the country you may experience access issues. If so, please let me know.)

We’ll discuss the film in class and also start to learn about some of the ways the war reshaped life for non-white populations. Be well until then.

WEEK 7: Oct. 5 and 7

Welcome to week 7! While it doesn’t feel like it, we’re at the halfway point of our semester together. This week we’ll learn more about immigration restriction in the early 20th century as we watch some lecture videos; discuss a reading; share understanding on Flipgrid; and write & turn in our next DBA assignment.

In preparation for class on MONDAY, you’ll do some reading and watch some video lectures. The reading—chapter 7 from the 1994 book Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California—can be found on Sakai (13_Almaguer.pdf). Links to the three videos for Lecture 6 can be found on our course Schedule page. Also before class, you’ll talk a bit about the reading by responding to the prompt (Q4) on  our class Flipgrid.

On WEDNESDAY we’ll discuss some documents together as we learn more about life in Latinx American in the 1920s. You’ll also turn in your next your second Document Based Analysis assignment.

The document you’ll write about is a newspaper column titled  “Hands Off!” (14_LATimes.pdf). While the author of the opinion piece (published in 1928) is not given, you can easily tell they are a representative of a grower’s cooperative for one of California’s agricultural industries. Your DBA 2 assignment should be written in relation to this article.  For guidance, you can read the Assignments page, consult the post from Week 4, or review the feedback I emailed you after your first DBA assignment.

This time the assignment is due by the start of class on Wednesday, October 7 at 11:00 a.m. (Pacific time).  As always, if you need it and you communicate with me before the due date, you have a free 24-hour extension to turn it in (until Thursday, October 8 at 11:00 a.m.).  After that you can choose to take another 24-hour extension, but at the cost of an automatic 10% deduction.  Any assignment not turned in by Friday, October 9 at 11:00 a.m. will receive a ‘0.’ If there is any reason that you cannot meet that final deadline, please reach out to let me know.

Also as before, you should turn in your DB 2 using the Drop Box on Sakai. Please save the assignment as a PDF  and name it “DBA2_LastName.pdf” (in my case, “DBA2_SummersSandoval.pdf”).

Finally, no later than Friday, October 9 at 8:00 p.m. (Pacific), return to Flipgrid to engage with your classmates and their ideas.

You’re all doing amazingly great! Thanks for all the hard work. Be well until we see each other next.

WEEK 6: Sept. 28 and 30

This week we’ll continue our discussion of the 20th century as we begin a two week period focusing on migration. You’ll do the following work: read; prep for discussion; post on Flipgrid; watch lecture videos; and comment on Flipgrid.

Monday, 9/28
In Monday’s class, we’ll continue talking about our Visible Knowledge Project (VKP) by learning how we can find scholarly secondary sources related to a topic in Latinx history. We’ll spend most of our class time discussing chapters 1-2 of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945 (12_Sanchez.pdf). Written by George J. Sánchez, the book is one of the most widely-read works in Mexican American history.

To prepare for our discussion, I’m asking you to do an activity called “Claim, Support, Question.” It’s really easy to do, and it only take three steps:

1. underline/transcribe an “analytical claim” made by the author;
2. identify the evidence he provides to support that claim; and
3. write a discussion question related to the claim (one you can ask in class).

You don’t have to turn anything in, just be sure to come ready to share your “Claim, Support, Question” thoughts when asked. To get you started, our Flipgrid for the week involves the first two parts of the activity. Be sure to post your response before class time on Monday.

Finally, sometime before class, be sure and watch the videos for LECTURE 5. Links to each are posted on the course schedule page.

Wednesday, 9/30
We’ll use our class time to talk about immigration, race, and the lived experience. We’ll even look at some first-person accounts of early 20th century immigrants to the U.S. Finally, we’ll set aside some of our class time for our VKP, when we learn about finding historical primary documents online.

You don’t have any readings for that day but you should engage with at least five of your classmates on Flipgrid.  The easiest way to do that is to click the COMMENT button beneath their original post. That’ll let you record a short video for them and others to see.

Be well and take care!