Course info

A study of the history of the United States from 1877 to present. You will learn about broad themes in the history of mid-to-modern America, including immigration, race and ethnicity, social and political reform, mobility and population growth, contested meanings of freedom, industrialization, cycles of prosperity and recession, popular culture, modernity, and rights movements. You will also develop ways of thinking historically through critical analysis of primary and secondary sources; setting events, documents and people in their historical contexts; and crafting interpretations and historical narratives from the “raw material” of the past. In this course, you should expect to do much more than memorize facts or dates – you will be busy actively doing history, not passively learning about history. Since it fulfills your “Constitutions” requirement, the course will also cover relevant aspects of the US and state constitutions.