Reconstruction remains one of the most disputed periods in American history. How did it re-create the nation that collapsed in 1861? Did it solidify the North’s victory or permit the South to escape defeat? Did it resolve the issues that caused the War or merely postpone a final reckoning?
We have long understood The Crucible, ostensibly about the Salem Witch Trials, to “actually” be about McCarthyism, but what more can this play tell us about politics and American identity in the early years of the Cold War? To what extent is the fear of communism the occasion for Miller’s portrayal of American paranoia, and … Continued
Did slavery cause the Civil War? Or was it a conflict over states’ rights? Or was it the inevitable clash between an industrial society and an agrarian society? Or was it a struggle between two imperialistic powers over territorial expansion? Or was it really about slavery after all? Find out how recent scholarship answers these … Continued
Two themes frequently dominate textbook treatments of American popular culture after World War I: the enthusiastic embrace of motor vehicles and the explosive growth of big cities. But many Americans did not have cars and almost half did not live in any kind of urban center. How did cars and trucks, deliverers of mobility and … Continued
This seminar explores how the American Revolution affected Native Americans and African Americans, and provides an understanding of the role they played in it.
Not only did the Civil War inspire some of the nation’s best painters, sculptors, photographers, and illustrators, it also changed the face of town and countryside as monuments to soldiers and statesmen of the era spread across the landscape. How did artists come to grips with the new realities of warfare and the unprecedented scale … Continued
Martin Luther King, Jr., the apostle of non-violence, spoke of brotherhood and gave the civil rights movement of the 1960s its moral force. Malcolm X, the proponent of “any means necessary,” spoke of ballots and bullets and displayed the movement’s anger and frustration. Often teachers frame the civil rights movement between the seemingly stark polarities … Continued
We think we know “The Star-Spangled Banner” — but how many of us realize that Francis Scott Key was not looking at the flag we now revere as the original, and that he never set foot inside Fort McHenry? An instant success in 1814, the anthem’s first stanza opens so many sporting events today that … Continued
In the middle years of the 19th century two great events transformed the United States: the Civil War and the acquisition of 1.2 million square miles of western territory. Expansion to the Pacific aggravated old tensions between North and South and raised new, difficult issues concerning the institution of slavery. Those tensions and questions contributed … Continued
As early as 1851 John Brown began formulating plans for, and espousing the justice of, guerrilla bands to thwart the power of white slaveholders in general and the Fugitive Slave Law in particular. This seminar focuses on the meanings that Americans imposed on Brown’s actions as a way to consider the pressures for and against … Continued