Past Forward

Articles from the Journal of American History, Volume 2: From the Civil War to the Present

James Sabathne and Jason Stacy

Over the last fifteen years, undergraduate U.S. history courses have made great progress in incorporating primary sources and diverse voices into the survey. However, teachers still struggle to find professional writing by working historians in a format useful to undergraduates. Also, in 2014, the College Board redesigned the AP U.S. History curriculum and assessments to require students to demonstrate a critical approach to historical writing by professional historians. These facts have increased demand among teachers for access to high-quality secondary material by professional historians in a single, convenient publication.

Past Forward

Articles from the Journal of American History, Volume 2: From the Civil War to the Present

James Sabathne and Jason Stacy

Description

Over the last fifteen years, undergraduate U.S. history courses have made great progress in incorporating primary sources and diverse voices into the survey. However, teachers still struggle to find professional writing by working historians in a format useful to undergraduates. Also, in 2014, the College Board redesigned the AP U.S. History curriculum and assessments to require students to demonstrate a critical approach to historical writing by professional historians. These facts have increased demand among teachers for access to high-quality secondary material by professional historians in a single, convenient publication.

Past Forward: Articles from the Journal of American History selects some of the best articles from The Journal of American History to meet the needs of students and teachers of the U.S. history survey. Exploring all of the required "key concepts" and "historical thinking skills" required in the new AP U.S. History curriculum, the book provides pedagogical and historiographical supports for each article. It also contains concise academic biographies of the authors that highlight their path to practicing history and their major publications, which will draw students deeper into historical discourses.

Past Forward

Articles from the Journal of American History, Volume 2: From the Civil War to the Present

James Sabathne and Jason Stacy

Introduction, James Sabathne and Jason Stacy

1. "A Rare Phenomenon of Philological Vegetation": The Word 'Contraband' and the Meanings of Emancipation in the United States, Kate Masur

2. Rights and the Constitution in Black Life during the Civil War and Reconstruction, Eric Foner

3. Producing Poverty: Local Government and Economic Development in a New South County, 1874-1884, Wayne K. Durrill

4. Feminist Politics in the 1920s: The National Woman's Party, Nancy F. Cott

5. The Architecture of Race in American Immigration Law: A Reexamination of the Immigration Act of 1924, Mae M. Ngai

6. Rethinking Paternalism: Power and Parochialism in a Southern Mill Village, Mary Lethert Wingerd

7. In the Nation's Image: The Gendered Limits of Social Citizenship in the Depression Era, Alice Kessler-Harris

8. "Speaking of Annihilation": Mobilizing for War against Human and Insect Enemies, 1914-1945, Edmund P. Russell

9. Strategy, Diplomacy, and the Cold War: The United States, Turkey, and NATO, 1945-1952, Melvyn P. Leffler

10. Crabgrass-Roots Politics: Race, Rights, and the Reaction against Liberalism in the Urban North, 1940-1964, Thomas J. Sugrue

11. From Hash House to Family Restaurant: The Transformation of the Diner and Post-World War II Consumer Culture, Andrew Hurley

12. Brown as a Cold War Case, Mary L. Dudziak

13. The Dialectics of Repression: The Los Angeles Police Department and the Chicano Movement, 1968-1971, Edward J. Escobar

14. Security against Democracy: The Legacy of the Cold War at Home, Elaine Tyler May

15. Why Mass Incarceration Matters: Rethinking Crisis, Decline, and Transformation in Postwar American History, Heather Ann Thompson

Past Forward

Articles from the Journal of American History, Volume 2: From the Civil War to the Present

James Sabathne and Jason Stacy

Author Information

James Sabathne teaches AP U.S. History at Hononegah High School in Rockton, Illinois, and is Co-Chair of the College Board AP U.S. History Development Committee. He is a coauthor of Strive for a 5: Preparing for the AP* World History Exam (2013).

Jason Stacy is Associate Professor of U.S. History and Social Science Pedagogy at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of several books, including Documenting United States History: Themes, Concepts, and Skills for the AP* Course (2015), Walt Whitman's Selected Journalism (2015), and Walt Whitman's Multitudes: Labor Reform and Persona in Whitman's Journalism and the First Leaves of Grass, 1840-1855 (2008).

Past Forward

Articles from the Journal of American History, Volume 2: From the Civil War to the Present

James Sabathne and Jason Stacy

Reviews and Awards

"Designed to expose budding historians to the work of professional scholars, Past Forward is exactly what the UP U.S. History Course needs as it launches into a more conceptual, thematic, and skills-based approach. This course expects students to use the skills of a historian; having more access to the work of professional historians will help them develop in this area."--Stephen Klawiter, Lafayette High School, Wildwood, MO

"Past Forward has excellent secondary sources, a new addition to the AP U.S. History curriculum. The article questions are thoughtful. The beginning of the text--teaching students how to read the articles--is excellent. I would use this all year long. The primary strength of the text is in the Introduction, which teaches students how to read secondary sources. The article questions are also thoughtful and well written."--Jeanine Alexander, Moorpark High School, Moorpark, CA

"Past Forward does an excellent job of introducing and expanding on historical perspectives that are not regularly presented in traditional textbooks."--Frank Shoemaker, Lake Travis High School, Austin, TX