- The purpose of this class is learn and practice analytical, research, and writing skills in preparation for upper-division history courses and work outside the university. We will explore various avenues of reading, writing, and thinking about history and the historical process through the theme of Mexican immigration and labor in America. Mexican immigration and labor is one of the most controversial issues of our time—its history and the history of immigration and immigrant groups in general, helps provide valuable historical perspective. However, since Mexican immigration and labor is less of an issue here in New England, research topics and papers can use the Mexican experience as a model to focus on the historical experiences other more local ethnic and immigrant groups.
- This course surveys the history of the American West and its people to 1890, a point at which, historians argue, the "old west" was no longer. It aims to provide students with a general structure of the development of the American West and its political, economic, and social history with emphasis on the interaction of diverse cultures including Native Americans, Hispanics, African-Americans, and Asians in areas known today as the Plains, Southwest, and Northwest. Western history encompasses many themes, but required material will focus upon the West as central to American culture and compare popular conceptions of the historical American West to the region’s realities, diversity, and complexity. This course is designed as a precursor to, and should be followed-up by HIST 317: The History of the American West from 1890.
- HIST 319 explores race, ethnicity, and migration in American history from the colonial period to the present.
- This course examines the uses for and relevance of local and community history as well as what such histories offer to the telling of a larger, national story. First, students will read and discuss different types of community histories and consider how they are organized and the types of resources the authors used to compile them. They will also consider the role of memory, local politics, public space, and community identity in which stories one tells and how they tell them. Second, students will learn and employ different research techniques and methodologies specific to local topics and needs such as archival research, land use histories, genealogy, and oral history.
- Write a concise and interesting paragraph here that explains what this course is about
This course is a basic survey of the history of women in the
