assignments are listed on the date assigned, not the day due
This course’s expectations reflect the History Department’s expectations, particularly in regard to length of readings and assigned writing.
There are no formal classes–zoom or otherwise–for this course; but every Sunday at noon, I will hold zoom office hours (I’ll send out a link) and you can swing by and ask questions about the reading or homework before the due date.
CLASS 1: Friday 1/29
Welcome to the Course!
Assigned Reading: CLAIM/EVIDENCE/WARRANT (SHOULD TAKE 30 MINUTES TO READ)
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ASSIGNED WRITING & REQUIRED COURSE CERTIFICATION Because the essential workplace skills this assignment refines will help you throughout this and other courses (and then in real life), the course requires that everyone get “certified” in these skill.If you don’t get certified, you can’t get credit for the homework you submit until you do. Here’s how certification works. You have two ways, at first, to do it. You can do either (see below for links): (A) the written assignment on the reading (see below for details) or (B) a multiple choice quiz based on the reading (see below for details and somewhat more challenging than it sounds). To be certified, you have to get a 90/100 on either (A) or (B). If you chose (B) and get less than a 90/100 on the quiz, you will have the option of doing (A). But if you don’t get a 90/100 on either (A) or (B), you must do an additional training exercise and essay (details tbd) at the writing center by 2/24—or lose 15 semester points. So, it makes sense to do this assignment carefully.
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Assigned Writing/QUIZ,
OPTIONS (A) AND (B)
(due 2/08 by 8 PM through Blackboard as an ms-word file)
How to submit homework through blackboard done by my five-year old
As noted in grey square above, you must do either (A) or (B) below:
(be sure to follow the course’s file naming convention; -5% if you do not.) (Should take 45 – 75 minutes to do)
(B) on-line, 30 minute quiz. By XX, out Blackboard page under announcements will have details about this quiz. If you start the quiz, you will have 30 minutes to complete in one sitting; you can not pause the quiz. BE SURE YOU’VE MASTERED THE PUNCTUATION OF QUOTATIONS BEFORE STARING THE QUIZ! Students who have a documented technical difficulty during this or any other quiz will be given a written activity option.
Crime and Corruption on the Docks, part 1
CLASS 2: Monday 2/08 – 2/13
(REMEMBER TO SCHEDULE YOUR WRITING CENTER MEETING IF NECESSARY; SEE E-MAIL FOR DETAILS)
Assigned Viewing due 2/14 Because NYC’s port has lost its economic significance, it’s easy for us to forget both how essential were Gotham’s docks and how they gave rise to crime. So, here are two quick background videos (and yes, this material will be on the quiz!). Please watch all of this 12-minute film from 1949
and the first 3 minutes of this Port of New York (1949) perhaps the first major-release drug trafficking film:
IAssigned Reading due 2/13: : “A City Built for the Mob” from Hortis (2014), The Mob ![The Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York by [Hortis, C. Alexander]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51yBG6BRRqL.jpg)
and the City; to find a downloadable pdf of the chapter, see our Blackboard site under “Course Materials”
The 14-page reading should take between 30 and 40 minutes to do.
QUIZ 1: to be completed on Bb; you will have from 3 PM Thursday until Monday 2/15 at 8 PM to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have an hour and half to do the quiz itself. That period of time is more than enough to do the quiz–if you’ve already done the reading. If you haven’t done the reading when you start the quiz, the quiz will be nearly impossible to do. Directions will be sent to your e-mail on record with Blackboard (so be sure you know what e-mail Bb has on record and that you check it). While the quiz is obviously open note, you will need to complete the quiz in one setting; students who have a documented technical difficulty during this or any other quiz will be given an essay to write due within 24 of the quiz deadline.
Crime and Corruption on the Docks, part 2
CLASS 3: Monday 2/15 – 2/21
Assigned Viewing due 2/21: first 25 minutes of On the Waterfront (1954).
The quiz associated with this viewing (due 2/21 at 11:59; see “test and quizzes” on our blackboard) site is keyed with time stamps to this version of the film:
https://archive.org/details/On.the.Waterfront.1954.720p.BRrip.x265.HEVC.10bit.PoOlLa
(if the link doesn’t work, copy’n’paste the url above to your browser)
Assigned Quiz 2 on film due 2/21 at 11:59 PM: (see above for quiz details)
Assigned Writing due 2/22: Essay 1 (hw2); (due 2/22 by 8 PM by Blackboard as an ms-word file) (be sure to follow the course’s file naming convention; -5% if you do not.
HOW LONG WILL THIS ASSIGNMENT TAKE?: If it takes you 20 minutes to craft a paragraph, this six-paragaph essay should take 120 minutes to write an “A” version; I might allow another 20 to 30 minutes if using textual evidence–as we did in HW1–is new to you.
So, if you spend 25 minutes watching the film, maybe another 15 minutes writing the quiz as you do so, and 2 hours writing the essay, that’s the same as the standard 2.5 hours in class in a week plus 15 minutes of homework.
If you take 35 minutes to write each paragraph (which is a LOT!), you’d still be spending less than the standard 2.5 hours in class in a week plus 2.5 minutes of homework (which is what the Dean of Undergraduate Studies at John Jay recommends), spending a total of less than five hours altogether here.
How to submit homework through blackboard done by my five-year old
The Crime Rise and Heroin
CLASS 4: 2/22 – 3/01
Assigned Reading Due 2/28: Excerpts from Umbach, Modern New York in 50 Crimes (forthcoming); see our Blackboard site under “Course Materials”
QUIZ 3: to be completed on Bb; you have from Noon on Sunday 2/28 until to 8 PM on 3/01 to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have an hour and half to do the quiz itself. That period of time is more than enough to do the quiz–if you’ve already done the reading. If you haven’t done the reading when you start the quiz, the quiz will be nearly impossible to do. Directions will be sent to your e-mail on record with Blackboard (so be sure you know what e-mail Bb has on record and that you check it). While the quiz is obviously open note, you will need to complete the quiz in one setting; students who have a documented technical difficulty during this or any other quiz will be given an essay to write due within 24 of the quiz deadline.
Connecting Past & Present: Heroin 1968 – 1972 and The Birth of the War on Drugs–for your pleasure only, not required viewing)
Organized Crime’s Second Wave
CLASS 5: 3/01 – 3/08
Assigned Reading due 3/07: Excerpts from Hortis, The Mob and the City (2014), p. 104 (“The Myth of Generational Decline”). ee our Blackboard site under “Course Materials” (About 22 pages of reading; call it 42 – 60 minutes of reading)
Also, we will read Gladwell, “The Gangster’s Guide to Upward Mobility | The New Yorker” (2014) to see why crime helped lift many Italian mobsters out of poverty (and crime) in mid-century NYC, but hasn’t done the same for other groups since. (4 pages of reading in the original, but 17 pages in the downloadable pdf because of the differences between magazine and web formatting; call it 8 to 10 minutes of reading)
QUIZ 4: To be completed on Bb; you have from Noon on Sunday 3/07 until to 8 PM on 3/08 to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have an hour and half to do the quiz itself. That period of time is more than enough to do the quiz–if you’ve already done the reading. If you haven’t done the reading when you start the quiz, the quiz will be nearly impossible to do. Directions will be sent to your e-mail on record with Blackboard (so be sure you know what e-mail Bb has on record and that you check it). While the quiz is obviously open note, you will need to complete the quiz in one setting; students who have a documented technical difficulty during this or any other quiz will be given an essay to write due within 24 of the quiz deadline.
Police Corruption
CLASS 6: 3/08 – 3/15
Assigned Viewing due 3/13:Serpico (1973) This film, another classic, can be found on numerous platforms, including Amazon. If hunting on youtube, be sure to find the full-length movie at 2h 10m.
(this is just the trailer–you will need to watch the whole film)
Assigned Reading due 3/13: Excerpts from Armstrong, They Wished They Were Honest: The Knapp Commission and New York City Police Corruption (2012). You will be reading the preface and chapter 23. The readings are available as an ebook from John Jay’s Library. See here on to find the reading (short youtube).
(See also various materials on Bb re: the film and “numbers running” from my current book; Episode of 5 of the Godfather of Harlem does a pretty good job of capturing the dynamics of “numbers running” in Harlem. If I can figure out how to get all of you access to this episode we may use it instead. Here’s a trailer of that episode, but be trigger warning: this series uses language from the period that offends modern ears:
QUIZ 5: to be completed on Bb; you have from Noon on Sunday 3/14 until 8 PM on 3/15 to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have two hours to do the quiz itself. Directions will be sent to your e-mail on record with Blackboard (so be sure you know what e-mail Bb has on record and that you check it). I’ve posted various materials to Bb to help you make sense of the film–make sure you know what “numbers running” is and where it appears in the film (if you don’t the quiz will be unnecessarily difficult). Again, you will be writing an essay that will require direct quotations from the reading & film, so skimming the reading or not watching the film with care will make doing well on the quiz particularly difficult.
CLASS 7: 3/15 – 3/22
New York City, 1989
Document Exercise: The Rise of Open Air Drug Markets
Assigned Writing: Essay 2 (due 3/22 by 8 PM by Blackboard) (be sure to follow the course’s file naming convention; -5% if you do not. This assignment will be HW 3)
Crack and the High Tide of Crime
CLASS 8: 3/22 – 4/01
Assigned Reading Due 3/27 Bourgois, In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. (1995) 
Excerpts from Introduction and Chapters 3 and 4; see our Blackboard site under “Course Materials”
QUIZ 6: The reading is longer this week and so the quiz is both multiple choice and shorter. You will have from 3/26 at noon until 8 PM on 4/01 to complete the quiz. Directions will be sent to your e-mail on record with Blackboard (so be sure you know what e-mail Bb has on record and that you check it). The quiz will require a thorough and careful understanding of the author’s arguments. I recommend paying attention to the author’s use of CL/EV/WA. Look for the leading idea in paragraphs. I also recommend taking notes on those leading ideas; you can do so directly on the PDF–if you don’t know how to to do that contact me.
While the quiz is obviously open note, you will need to complete the quiz in one setting; students who have a documented technical difficulty during this or any other quiz will be given an essay to write due within 24 of the quiz deadline.
CLASS 9: 4/02-4/05
Unexpected Responses
Michael Javen Fortner
Assigned Reading Due 4/05: Michael Javen Fortner, Black Silent Majority (Harvard, 2015), introduction and chapter 4 (on our Blackboard site under “Course Materials”)
Assigned Listening Due 4/05: (yes, will be on quiz): here
Quiz 7: To be completed on Bb; you have from Noon on Sunday 4/04 until to 8 PM on 4/05 to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have an hour and half to do the quiz itself. That period of time is more than enough to do the quiz–if you’ve already done the reading. If you haven’t done the reading when you start the quiz, the quiz will be nearly impossible to do. Directions will be sent to your e-mail on record with Blackboard (so be sure you know what e-mail Bb has on record and that you check it). While the quiz is obviously open note, you will need to complete the quiz in one setting; students who have a documented technical difficulty during this or any other quiz will be given an essay to write due within 24 of the quiz deadline.
The Demise of Open Air Drug Markets
CLASS 10: 4/07 – 4/12
Assigned Reading Due 4/19: Curtis, “The Improbable Transformation of Inner-City Neighborhoods: Crime, Violence, Drugs, and Youth in the 1990s” (1998); See our Blackboard site under “Course Materials”
Quiz 9:To be completed on Bb; you have from Noon on Sunday 4/11 until to 11:59 PM on 4/12 ; but remember you will only have 50 minutes to do the quiz itself. That period of time is more than enough to do the quiz–if you’ve already done the reading. If you haven’t done the reading when you start the quiz, the quiz will be nearly impossible to do. Directions will be sent to your e-mail on record with Blackboard (so be sure you know what e-mail Bb has on record and that you check it). While the quiz is obviously open note, you will need to complete the quiz in one setting; students who have a documented technical difficulty during this or any other quiz will be given an essay to write due within 24 of the quiz deadline.
CLASS 11: NO HOMEWORK; CATCH UP WEEK!
lCLASS 12: 4/19 – 4/26
Assigned Reading Due Next Class (4/26): Zimring, The City That Became Safe: New York’s Lessons for Urban 
Crime and Its Control (2013). Also, excerpts from Sharkey, Uneasy Peace: The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City Life, and the Next War on Violence (2018); see our Blackboard site under “Course Materials”
Quiz 10: To be completed on Bb; you have from Noon on Sunday 4/25 until to 8 PM on 4/26 to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have an hour and half to do the quiz itself. That period of time is more than enough to do the quiz–if you’ve already done the reading. If you haven’t done the reading when you start the quiz, the quiz will be nearly impossible to do. Directions will be sent to your e-mail on record with Blackboard (so be sure you know what e-mail Bb has on record and that you check it). While the quiz is obviously open note, you will need to complete the quiz in one setting; students who have a documented technical difficulty during this or any other quiz will be given an essay to write due within 24 of the quiz deadline.
The City that Became Safe, part 2
CLASS 13: 4/26 – 5/03
Assigned Reading Due 5/04:
Zimring, The City That Became Safe: New York’s Lessons for Urban Crime and Its Control (2013); see our Blackboard site under “Course Materials” Look for “Zimring, second reading”
Quiz 11: To be completed on Bb; you have from Noon on Sunday 5/02 until to 8 PM on 5/03 to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have an hour and half to do the quiz itself. That period of time is more than enough to do the quiz–if you’ve already done the reading. If you haven’t done the reading when you start the quiz, the quiz will be nearly impossible to do. Directions will be sent to your e-mail on record with Blackboard (so be sure you know what e-mail Bb has on record and that you check it). While the quiz is obviously open note, you will need to complete the quiz in one setting; students who have a documented technical difficulty during this or any other quiz will be given an essay to write due within 24 of the quiz deadline.
ALSO SHORTER EXTRA-CREDIT QUIZ OPTION DUE 11:59 on 4/29; SEE BLACKBOARD UNDER “COURSE MATERIALS
Backlash and the New Policing
Extra-credit: due through blackboard, May 22, 11:59 pm (minute before midnight). Up to 15 extra-semester points. DETAILS TBD
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