Course Description
American intellectual and cultural history from 1865-1945.
Explores ideas and culture in America in the period following
the Civil War through the end of World War II.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be expected to attend all undergraduate
class sessions, and to meet regularly with the instructor to
discuss their research. In addition to preparing a more
extensive research paper than the undergraduates, graduate
students will draft weekly critical assessments of the
readings. Graduate students will also be expected to lead
discussions and to formally present their research to the class.
Athena Title
American Intellect 1865-1945
Prerequisite
Any HIST course or ENGL 1101 or ENGL 1101E or ENGL 1101S or ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1102S or POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about U.S. intellectual history between the Civil War and WWII by gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how American intellectual and cultural history after the Civil War shaped diverse social and cultural attitudes toward race and slavery, labor and class, and religion and entertainment, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources and to organize their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to generate their own research question or topic, locate suitable primary and secondary sources, and synthesize their ideas in novel ways.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to initiate, manage, complete, and evaluate their independent research projects in stages and to give and receive constructive feedback through the peer review process.
Topical Outline
- Introduction to Intellectual History
- Reconstruction and Commemoration
- The Ideology of World’s Fairs in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
- The American City
- Immigration
- Realism
- African American Thought and Culture to 1910
- Progressives and Pragmatists
- The Rise of the Modern
- The Great Migration and the Ascendancy of Harlem
- The Harlem Renaissance
- The Useable Past
- The Great Depression
- The New Deal and the Culture of the WPA
- The Meaning of Modernism
- America and World War II
Institutional Competencies
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
Communication
The ability to effectively develop, express, and exchange ideas in written, oral, interpersonal, or visual form.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
