History

African History and Civilization to 1885:
Focus on “Traditional Africa” or Africa from the dawn of humanoids to the Berlin Conference of 1885. The course employs a continental perspective, an interdisciplinary framework and a civilizational approach.

The Atlantic World, 1400-1888 (Spring 2009):
This course introduces and explores the relationships that formed on and around the Atlantic Ocean among Europeans, West Africans, and Americans from their initial contacts in the fifteenth century to the period of High Imperialism. Themes and topics analyzed include: Atlantic exploration, patterns of colonization, Atlantic economies, the Atlantic slave trade, slave societies and abolition, and the major political, cultural, and intellectual revolutions that contoured the development of modern nation-states on both sides of the ocean.

The Blues:
As a recognizable musical form, the blues emerged in the American South in the years after the Civil War. Although deeply rooted in the culture of West Africa and in the lives of African-American slaves, the evolution of the blues also admits numerous other influences, including the traditonal music of Appalachia, jazz, ragtime, and the tunes popularized in minstrel shows and on the vaudeville stage. This course traces the history of the blues from its origins through its present expressions. In addition, it explores the variety of musical styles that have comprised the blues, analyzes the blues as a distinctive American cultural form, and uses the blues as a vehicle to study the experience of African Americans in slavery and freedom as well as the social and political history of the United States.

Freedom in American Society (Summer 2008):
This course will explore how Americans have sought, lost, achieved, and understood freedom during various periods of our history.  We will consider the variable and multiple meanings of freedom to a diverse and dynamic American society, from the earliest days of colonization to the present.  Special emphasis will be placed on the ever-changing conception of freedom to Native Americans, women, and African Americans.  Central topics will include utopian, economic, and religious impulses for colonization, women's suffrage, abolition, and American freedom in times of war and hardship.

Modern Iraq:
History of Iraq since 1920, with an emphasis on the 1990s, the 2003 U.S. invasion, and recent events.

African-American History Since the Civil War:
The legacies of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Movement continue to present themselves in a variety of forms in American society today. In exploring the major themes in African-American history from Reconstruction to the present, this course will consider the origins and development of American civil rights movements, the political impact of a contested past, and the relationship between American history and public memory. Various forms of historical evidence will be considered, including art, music, architecture, autobiography, and archaeological data.

African History and Civilization After 1885:
Second half of course described above as History 100. The experience of the continent of Africa under Imperialism, rise of nationalism and independence, Africa to the present.

Europe: 1815 to the Present:
Explores the reactionary Congress of Vienna, the national unification of Italy and Germany, and developments in Eastern Europe; analyzes latter-day Imperialism in Africa and Asia; and examines the history of the 20th Century with a focus on WWI, WWII and the Cold War.

The 1960s:
Study of revolutionary changes in American life during the 1960s. Topics include rock music, new art & cinema, campus unrest, interest in eastern religions, civil rights & black power, emergence of feminism and environmentalism, as well as the Vietnam war and the hippie counterculture.

The Modern World, 1871-2000 (Fall 2008):
This course analyzes the development of our modern global community, beginning with the advent of High Imperialism in the late nineteenth century. Themes and topics covered in this world history course include: late nineteenth-century imperial and racial ideologies, rise of nationalism, roots and causes of the two World Wars, industrialization, decolonization and "third world" nationalism, the Cold War and its legacies, globalism, and the rise of terrorism.

Science and Society (Fall 2008):
The human animal is a consummate tool maker . We observe nature and we apply our understanding; science and society are the result. Human evolution is both physical and cultural, this course looks at some of humanities break through ideas, their historical contexts, and their consequences.

Who are You?
This course will focus on research and writing skills. It will also allow students to research their diverse backgrounds through genealogical study and research on different immigrant groups.