WEEK 15: the end!!

Congratulations to each of you on getting to the end of the fall semester! I know there’s still a lot to do but you got this! Stay focused, stay organized, and just take it one step at a time.

Our class wraps up with one more class meeting this week and then one more assignment due next week. On Tuesday we’ll come together one last time in Crookshank 10 for a final lecture, an open conversation, and course evaluations. And that’s it! You don’t have any reading for Tuesday and no more “prep sheets” to write.

Your final assignment——due no later than Friday, December 14 at 5:00 p.m. via Sakai——is the Reflection Essay. It is a type-written essay (of no specified length) that conforms to our “Writing Guidelines” and addresses the following prompt:

I’d like you to reflect on your semester research project (from start to finish) and on our partnership with Roosevelt High. What did you learn (from the research process and the partnership)? How did the partnership shape your work? What is the lasting impact of this on you?

If you have any questions on the assignment, bring them with you to Tuesday’s class.

Be well until then!

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WEEK 14

This will be the last “full” week of our class. It’s also the conclusion of our semester-long project and our partnership with Eleanor Roosevelt High School.

On Tuesday, December 4 we will discuss the history of Central American migration in the Reagan Era. Your reading is only one chapter from the the book Seeking Refuge: Central American Migration to Mexico, the United States, and Canada (2006), by María Cristina García. You should read chapter 3, which is provided to you as DR 21 on Sakai. We’ll have our seminar and a short lecture. Be sure to bring your final “prep sheet” to class!

On Thursday, December 6 we will turn in our digital history projects. Bring your completed mp4 film to class on a flash drive (or choose some other way to get it to me by 9:35AM). I will then upload our films to YouTube in preparation for our class trip.

Finally, we will visit Eleanor Roosevelt High School on Friday, December 7. If you can NOT attend this trip, let me know immediately so I can make the necessary changes in our viewing schedule that day.

It’s all about the movies right now. If you have any questions, ask them below in the comments. If you have resources and advice to share with other students, please do so in the comments below. This is our chance to support each other and do what we can to create a successful film festival for us all.  Please reach out to each other to make that happen.

Be well until then!

WEEK 13

We’re almost there! I know coming back from the break is a challenge. I also know many of us are struggling with other challenges. If you need help, reach out and ask for it. Everyone who works here is here because of you. We want you to succeed and we want to do what we can (within reason) to make that possible.

On Tuesday we’ll read and discuss chapters 6-9 in our course book Harvest of Empire. These chapters relate to later 20th century migrations of Latinx peoples, one of the focuses of our remaining weeks together. As always, write and print out your “prep sheet” in preparation of your discussion. We’ll follow-up that discussion with a short lecture.

On Thursday we’ll talk about the impact of the Vietnam War on US Latinx communities. There’s no reading for the day. Just come to class ready to learn.

As we discussed before the break, we’re in the final stretch of our movie assignment. I strongly encourage you to work in groups as you start to put together the final versions of your movie. Utilize resources online about how to work in iMovie. Also look at resources like Hoonuit (available to most students via their campus portal) which can carry you through almost every aspect of making your film. As we discussed, the main challenges are recording a clean audio narration track; finding copyright free materials to include; and assembling the final product. The first part of that list is the hardest. Give yourself the time you will need to be successful.

WEEK 12

This week we’ll continue our discussion of Chicanx/Latinx racial justice movements of the 1960s.

We’ll start class by discussing two readings: chapters 7-8 from the book Racism on Trial: The Chicano Fight for Justice, by Ian F. Haney López (DR 19); and chapter 5 from the book From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth Century America, by Vicki L. Ruiz (DR 20). Before you read them, look up each book and learn a little bit about the larger projects of which these readings are a part. As always, bring your “prep sheet” to class. We’ll follow-up our discussion with a short lecture and a discussion of a primary source, which I will provide you in class.

We have only one class this week because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Have safe and restful break.

WEEK 11

Your RESEARCH SCRIPTS are due NO LATER THAN Sunday, November 11 at 2:00PM. You should upload your assignment as a PDF file to Sakai. It must reflect the guidelines described and shown in our “Writing Guidelines” (one of the appendices to our syllabus). Please name your file your last name, underscore, your first initial, dot pdf (“.pdf”). For example, mine would be saved as: SummersSandoval_T.pdf

This Tuesday we’ll talk about post war movements for rights, focusing our discussion on Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers’ movement. We’ll read two chapters from two different books——chapter 5 from Why David Sometimes Wins, by UFW organizer Marshall Ganz (DR 16); and a chapter from the book From Out of the Shadows by Vicki Ruiz (DR 17). As always, bring your “prep sheet” to class.

On Thursday we’ll discuss the birth of the Chicano Student Movement, via a documentary on the 1968 student walkouts and a primary source document. The source is provided to you as DR 18.

Be well until then!

WEEK 10 and Research Scripts

This week we move into the post World War II period of our class. As we discussed last time, this is both a period of large scale migration and diversification of the Latinx population in the US, as well as a period marked by integration, assimilation, and movements for rights.

On Tuesday we will start our class with a seminar discussion on chapters 8 and 9 in the book Migra! by Kelly Lytle-Hernández. This is the end of our time with the text so we’ll try to set aside enough time to discuss it. Come prepared with at least two discussions questions that can focus our analysis of the text. As always, write your “prep sheet” and bring it to class. It might be useful to focus your writing on one of your questions. We’ll follow up our seminar with a short lecture on postwar politics and culture.

On Thursday we’ll watch a documentary on the Bracero program. We’ll have time to discuss what we watched, too.

Later that day——at 4:15 in Carnegie 107——I am hosting a speaker. Professor Mario T. Garcia (UC Santa Barbara) will be delivering lecture on Father Luis Olivares and his involvement in the Central American sanctuary movement of the 1980s. I ask you kindly to attend and, if you can, bring a friend. Details are in the flier below.

Finally, we will turn in our RESEARCH SCRIPTS this week. As we discussed in class, they are due NO LATER THAN Sunday, November 11 at 2:00PM via Sakai. The file you upload must be saved as a PDF. It must reflect the guidelines described and shown in our “Writing Guidelines” (one of the appendices to our syllabus). When you upload your assignment, I ask that it be named your last name, underscore, your first initial, dot pdf (“.pdf”). For example, mine would be saved as: SummersSandoval_T.pdf

WEEK 9

Thanks to all of you for your help with last week’s visit by Eleanor Roosevelt High School.  The morning went by fast but the students had a really amazing time meeting you and getting to hear your stories.

This week we get back to work as we discuss the history of Latinx folks in the US during the World War II period.  We begin our discussion of migration and identity histories that have shaped our present context in important ways.

On Tuesday we’ll begin class with a seminar on this week’s readings: chapters 6 and 7 in the book Migra! by Kelly Lytle Hernández and chapter 3 in the book Harvest of Empire by Juan Gonzalez.  As usual, bring your “prep sheets” to class.  Remember: the goal with “prep sheets” is to pick ONE important idea and use the text (quotes and examples) to TEACH us about that idea in ONE page.  You want to do that in a clear way that is understandable to a high school audience.

On Thursday we’ll have a lecture in class.  We’ll also discuss a documentary video called “The Longoria Affair.”  You can watch it on Sakai.  Click on the “Video 47” tab on the menu and it should work.  If it does not, be sure you are on a Claremont Colleges network.

Be well!