HIS410 - California History

• Starr, Kevin. California: A History. New York: The Modern Library. 2007.
  • Read Chapters 6 and 7
• Worster, Donald. "Hoover Dam: A Study in Domination." In Under Western Skies. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992: 
  • Read pages 64-78.
• Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki, and James D. Houston. Farewell to Manzanar. New York: Random House, Inc. 2007.  
  • Continue reading Farewell to Manzanar - should be halfway through the reading. 

To prepare for the second discussion, read the following two required texts and additional resources, and view the videos.  

• Starr, Kevin. California: A History. New York: The Modern Library. 2007. Read Chapters 8 and 9.
• Documenting 1930s California: Class, Depression, and Poverty
  • Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother and California Photography
    • Start with the Migrant Mother background story here. Be sure to click on the images of the Migrant Mother and White Angel photographs.  Read this narrative and essay on Dorothea Lange’s own interpretation of her work.
    • Listen to the two short audio clips explaining this photograph.  
      • Read this essay on Dorothea Lange’s own interpretation of her work.
• Wood Guthrie’s, Dust Bowl Ballads
  • Read over the lyrics and listen to the following song by the Oklahoma refugee turned musician Woody Guthrie, from his experience in California and 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads: Song:  “Do Re Mi”  

Recommended: Second government video, called "Our Enemy: The Japanese," for more context of your writing assignment. Please consider the racist framing of the document – how it treats the Japanese, whether American or foreign, as a racial “other” in a way that dehumanizes an entire group of citizens and people.