FINAL EXAM, HISTORY 3541/URBAN 3541. Friday, Dec. 12, 2008, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. CLAS 110.

The final exam will cover the entire course. It will consist of 11 multiple choice questions and two essays . The multiple choice questions will each count for 3 points out of 100. The essays will each count for 33 points. Students will get one additional point for successfully writing their names on the blue book.

Multiple Choice  The first six multiple choice questions will concern chronology. You will be given a list of six significant moments in American urban history, and a list of 10 decades to which they might belong. You will be asked to select the appropriate decade for each of the six events. The next three questions may concern any topic covered in this course, or may be repeated from earlier quizzes. The last two questions will cover the most recent material assigned or presented in the course.

Essays  The following four essay questions address major themes in this course: government, migration, economic change, and neighborhood life. Three of the four questions will appear on the exam. You will be asked to select two. For each question that you select, you will be asked to write a coherent essay in which you present supporting evidence drawn from the lectures, textbook and other assigned readings. Think of these essays as your opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of, and insight into, the material that you have learned in this course. Essays that show both knowledge and insight will receive high grades. Essays that are vague, incoherent or evasive will not receive high grades.

  1) Government.

How has the government shaped the metropolitan landscape? Discuss the ways in which the federal, state and local governments have influenced the geography of American metropolitan area since 1930. Make sure to include the following topics in your discussion:

Suggested readings: Moment of Grace ; essays by Arnold Hirsch, O'Connor, Sugrue, Podhoretz, and related documents.

2) Migration.

The experience of urban newcomers: Continuity or change? Compare and contrast the experience of European immigrants in the 19th and early 20th centuries with that of African Americans from 1910 to 1975. Why did they leave their previous homes and end up in cities? How were they treated? How did they adapt to life in the city? Were the experiences of these urban newcomers fundamentally the same or fundamentally different?

Suggested readings: Moment of Grace ; essays by Bodnar, Grossman, Bigott, Barrett, Arnold Hirsch, Sugrue, and related documents.

3) Economy.

How has economic change shaped urban geography? Describe and explain how the changing economic functions of American urbanized areas have contributed to changes in urban space. Select at least three distinct time periods that you consider to be particularly important in the economic history of the city since 1600. For each period that you select, which forms of economic activity (e.g., maritime trade, textile manufacturing, etc.) were the most influential in changing urban geography? Where within the city or metropolitan area were these activities located? How did changes in the American economy help certain cities grow more than others? How did economic changes influence where people lived within the metropolitan area?

Suggested readings: Sam Patch, Children of the City, Moment of Grace; Essays by Nash, Cronon, Kelman, Susan Hirsch, Barrett, O'Connor, Sugrue, Abu-Lughod, Smith, and related documents.

4) Neighborhood life.

How did different types of neighborhoods influence their inhabitants? Remember the essay you wrote at the very beginning of the course, on how your daily life was influenced by the physical setting in which you lived? Now, consider daily life in some of the times and places you have studied since then. What did people think about these places at the time they were built? Why did they settle there? What were the benefits and drawbacks of each type of neighborhood? How did the place influence community life? Discuss at least four of the following, including at least one example before 1950 and at least one after 1950. (You can write about more than four if you want, but you're going to be graded on quality, not quantity):

Suggested readings: Children of the City, Moment of Grace ; essays by Nash, Lepore, Stansell, Bodnar, Grossman, Bigott, Barrett, Hirsch, Rome, Pollan, Smith, and related documents.