The United States from the Civil War to Present

This course is a survey of United States history from 1865 to the present era. It highlights a range of people, movements, ideologies, and events, which shaped U.S. society and the U.S. presence in the world over this long historical period. Major themes will include Reconstruction and Jim Crow, U.S. Empire in the Caribbean and Latin America, World War I, The Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, U.S. Interventions in East Asia, the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, the Feminist Movements, the Gay Rights Movement, Movements for Immigrant Justice, The War on “Terror”, and Contemporary Social Movements. In exploring these events, we will attempt to answer the central questions concerning U.S. history after the Civil War. Who has benefited and who suffered from U.S. Empire? How did groups without political, social, and economic power challenge the structures that shape U.S. society? Furthermore, we will examine how history has become a battlefield between those who want things to stay the same, and those who seek a more just society. Students will be engaged in using critical thinking skills to analyze primary documents and secondary source materials.