FYOS 1001: First Year Odyssey
How a Bill Becomes a Historical Law:
Passing the 1964 Civil Rights Act
Fall 2015
Class Meeting: Wednesday 2:30pm to 3:20pm, Park Hall 61
Office Hours: Wednesday 9:00-11:00 or by appointment, Baldwin 409
Course Syllabus
Syllabus.
Course Calendar
August 19 - Introductions/Syllabus
August 26 - How a Bill Becomes a Law
September 2 - Passing and Killing Legislation
September 9 - Introduction to the Civil Rights Movement
READING ASSIGNMENT
Read the Intro and Chapter 1 of Bill of the Century
SHORT WRITING ASSIGNMENT
Short Assignment #2
September 16 - Political Movements and Collective Action
READING ASSIGNMENT
Read Chapter 2 of Bill of the Century
September 23 - Writing a Bill
READING ASSIGNMENT
Read Chapter 3 of Bill of the Century
SHORT WRITING ASSIGNMENT
Short Assignment #3
September 30 - Writing a Bill Continued
READING ASSIGNMENT
Read Chapter 4 of Bill of the Century
October 14 - Johnson Takes Over
READING ASSIGNMENT
Read Chapter 5 of Bill of the Century
SHORT WRITING ASSIGNMENT
Short Assignment #4
Future Weeks TBA
Short Assignments
Short Assignment #1 (first day questionnairre)
Short Assignment #2 (Due Sept 9)
Find a bill that has been proposed in the 114th (current) House or Senate (see http://thomas.loc.gov). Write a short memo (half page or less) that does the following:
1. Summarize what the bill is intended to do. (The CRS Summary of the bill will be helpful here)
2. Assess the bill's chances of success. Will the House and Senate pass the bill? Will the president veto it?
3. Do you believe the member thinks the bill will pass? If not, why do you think the member introduced the bill?
Short Assignment #3 (Due Sept 23)
Think of a protest group currently operating in the U.S. or abroad. Write a short memo (half to full page) that discusses how the group overcomes the collective action problem.
Short Assignment #4 (Due Oct 14)
Choose a person mentioned in the book and write a short biography for that person. Be sure to discuss how your subject's background prior to 1964 led to their participation in the fight over civil rights. Your bio should be somewhere around 1 page.
Legislation Proposal
Assignment details will be announced later in the semester.
Additional Resources
We will make use of a variety of resources and related research projects throughout the semester. Here are a few:
The University of Georgia Amendments Project conducts research on legislative process in the U.S. Congress. An integrated team of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students, led by Professors Lynch and Madonna have collected and analyzed data on a variety of historic legislation, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The University of Georgia's Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies is a great resource for information and data on U.S. politics. We will make use of their extensive archives later in the semester.
During the 50th anniversary of desegregation at the University of Georgia, the university developed this webpage which gives an excellent view of the Civil Rights movement and how it changed the university.