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This semester's class homepages (extra credit for all below)

History 2/ United States History 1876-present Homepage

History 4/World History Homepage

Conflict Resolution Homepage

Links we'll use this semester:

History Links

Service Learning

Global and US Snapshots Local Snapshots

Timeline of events in US history

Voting resources

 

 


Office Hours:-Monday 12:30-1 and 2-2:30, TTh 12:10-12:40, Weds 10-11, and Th 5:15 or leave me a message at 848 4846 and we'll arrange something else. Best of all: email lhalper@garlic.com


Helpful information

Study skills

History skills

Instructor information-

What do you do, dear?

Reading history for fun

Other classes I teach:

History 1/US History to 1876 Homepage

History 3 Homepage

History 5 Homepage

History 6 Homepage

History 14 Homepage

Social Science 270A

Journ 10/Soc 10 Homepage

Sustainability

 Leah Halper's Homepage

for Gavilan College students

The past isn't dead. It's not even past.

--William Faulkner


 

A poem that describes my approach to history, by an anti-fascist playwright-poet who had to flee for his life from Nazi Germany:

Questions from a worker who reads

by Bertolt Brecht

Who built Thebes of the seven gates?

In the books you will find the names of kings.

Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?

And Babylon, many times demolished

Who raised it up so many times? In what houses

Of gold-glittering Lima did the builders live?

Where, in the evening that the Wall of China was finished

Did the masons go? Great Rome

Is full of triumphal arches. Who erected them? Over whom

Did the Ceasars triumph? Had Byzantium, much praised in song,

Only palaces for its inhabitants? Even in fabled Atlantis

The night the ocean engulfed it

The drowning still bawled for their slaves.

The young Alexander conquered India.

Was he alone?
Caesar beat the Gauls.

Did he not have even a cook with him?

Philip of Spain wept when his armada

Went down. Was he the only one to weep?

Frederick the Second won the Seven Year's War. Who

Else won it?

 

Every page a victory.

Who cooked the feast for the victors?

Every ten years a great man.

Who paid the bill?


So many reports.

So many questions.

Extra credit options--UPDATED PERIODICALLY--MARK YOUR CALENDARS! ALSO NOTE THAT THE OPTIONS AT THE BOTTOM ARE NOT TIMELY AND CAN BE DONE ANYTIME BEFORE December 10 (fall) and May 10 (spring.) Please note that I'm open to your history-related extra credit suggestions as well.

For History 2:

Progressive issues  -  the environment, peace, justice, civil rights, women's rights, reproductive rights, gay rights, prison reform, immigration reform, big-agriculture issues, food security, clean water security and access, and so many more - will be affected. It’s time to amend the constitution and take back the power for the people. Learn what we can do – hear Riki Ott, one of the founders of  <http://www.MoveToAmend.org>www.MoveToAmend.org  Riki is a marine biologist from Cordova, Alaska, who lived through the Exxon-Valdez oil spill and helped organize her community’s response. Riki will facilitate a community dialogue on how our community can join the movement to abolish corporate personhood. 7pm  Tuesday, March 16,   at Quaker Meeting House , 225 Rooney St., Santa Cruz (off Hwy 1 at Morrissey). Sponsored by The Women's International League For Peace and Freedom. Free, everyone welcome, donations cheerfully accepted!  831 457 6797 for more info.

The Green Festival April 10-11 in SF at Coucourse Exhibition Center. We're studying history; now look to the future of the greening of the planet, and participate! see www.greenfestivals.org. If you go, attend at least two speaker sessions on topics of interest to you, and bring me the notes from the sessions for your extra credit. Make time to look around the hall, too!

Ain't Misbehavin' March 13 - April 18 at San Jose Rep Fats Waller. The joint is jumpin' to the music of Thomas "Fats" Waller in this Tony¨ Award-winning musical revue. Five phenomenal artists and a jumpin' jazz band take you through the pain and triumphs of the African-American experience during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 30s. It was the Golden Age of Jazz with places like the Cotton Club and Savoy Ballroom where snappy swing music, snazzy jazz and the stride piano infused the energy of the country. Life and love are song and dance in this sexy, funny, jazzy musical featuring the seminal Fats Waller tunes: "Honeysuckle Rose" "Aint Misbehavin'", "Black & Blue" "The Joint is Jumpin'" and "I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling."

April 7–May 2 at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts -- TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Dramatized by Christopher Sergel From the novel by Harper Lee. Timeless, compassionate, unforgettable, this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic resonates across the decades, inevitably finding its place in the human heart. Seen through the enquiring eyes of Scout, a young tomboy learning the hard truths of prejudice and privilege in Depression-era Alabama, this endlessly engaging tale of heartache and joy, innocence and integrity, finds the search for family, justice, and common ground the defining test of the American character. At Theatreworks "Terrific, gripping...Now is the time to discover÷or rediscover÷this American classic.--The Hartford Courant

 

For History 4A:

Silicon Valley Reads: Author Novella Carpenter at Morgan Hill Library, Saturday, February 27, 2:00 PM. Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, discusses her experiences in feeding herself with homegrown vegetables, eggs, honey and meat. Book signing follows.

Rediscovering Tutankahmun, Tuesday March 2, docent lecture by De Young Museum docent on the "discovery" of King Tut's tomb. You'll laugh, you'll cry. At Saratoga public library, 2 p.m., near 85 and Saratoga.

SILICON VALLEY READS: DAVID MAS MASUMOTO AT SARATOGA LIBRARY, Friday, March 19, 4:00 PM at Saratoga Library
David Mas Masumoto, author of Wisdom of the Last Farmer and Epitaph for a Peach, talks about "In Defense of Food. A Farmers Perspective"
Age(s): All Ages Welcome

For History 1:

For California history:

See class homepage for options.

For Conflict Resolution:

See class homepage for options.

OR anyone in any history class can:

Sing an appropriate historical song for the class, after explaining its context and meaning. I have a binder full of suggestions. Or check out Gavilan's collection of African-American history films and on gay rights history.

 

OR anyone in any history class can:

Volunteer doing a variety of work at Indian Canyon 279 acres of canyon land for indigenous cultural revival in San Benito County. You will need to call Anne Marie Sayers, who owns the canyon, to set up times and tasks; her number is (831) 637-4238. First look around the website a bit: http://www.indiancanyon.org/ Directions: Take 101 south to San Juan/Highway 156 exit. Stay on that road 7.2 miles, then turn right on Union Road and continue 3.6 miles. At Cienega Road, turn right and continue about nine miles. You will pass the Hollister Hills Recreation Area, DeRose Winery, and Cienega School. A quarter mile past Cienega School, turn right on Grass Valley Road. Proceed 100 meters to the hilltop, and turn left on thedirt road. Pass a shed on the right, and go over a narrow concrete bridge. Veer right through the vineyard--towards the hillside--and proceed 2 miles from the cabin. You will veer left from now on at every fork until you arrive at Indian Canyon's circular driveway. You're there!


For History 1 students:
See one or more of the four PBS Africans in America videos owned by the History Department. Write a few paragraphs telling me what you learned.

Anytime, and for various history classes--check with me:Visit one of the museums or historical sites on this list and complete a Museum Report Form. Return the form to me via email, and give me your museum ticket stub or other proof of your visit.

CHSA Chinese American National Museum and Learning Center-- San Francisco County , California Heritage Collection-- Alameda County ,California History Center and Foundation-- Santa Clara County , Campbell Historical Museum.--Santa Clara County , Hayward Area Historical Society--Alameda County , African American Museum and Library at Oakland.; Alameda County, Berkeley Historical Society and Museum.; Alameda County , California Genealogical Society--Santa Clara County, California Historical Society--San Francisco County, Japanese American Resource Center, Los Altos History Museum, Morgan Hill Historical Society And Museum, Museum Of The City Of San Francisco,New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum, Oakland Museum Of California, Old Mission San Jose Museum, Pardee Home Museum,Peralta Adobe And Fallon House, Presidio Museum,Ainsley House, Alameda Meyers House Museum & Garden, Alameda Museum, Berkeley Historical Society And Museum,Cable Car Museum,California Trolley And Railroad Corporation, Campbell Historical Museum,Cupertino Historical Museum, Gilroy Museum, Harris-Lass Historic Museum,Headen - Inman House, History Museum Of Los Gatos. There are also many historical sites and museums in Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito County. Check with me before you go!

 

 

 

The Gavilan Oral History Archives

 

Gavilan history--a work in progress

 

The History Scholarship at Gavilan

 

Financial Aid Office at Gavilan

Playwriting

Draft Social Sciences home