Course Description
Major themes and issues in southern history from Jamestown through the l980s. Topics will include colonial settlement, frontier expansion, slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, Populism, Jim Crow, the New South, the civil rights movement, and Sunbelt development.
Athena Title
THE AMERICAN SOUTH
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course is designed to provide students with a broad overview of the history of the American South and the major themes and issues that have shaped it. From Spanish exploration and early English settlement through the Civil Rights Movement and the Sunbelt economy, all major developments in southern history are covered. A principal objective of the course is to teach students to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. The course seeks to acquaint students with the ways in which past societies and peoples have defined the relationships between community and individual needs and goals, and between ethical norms and decision-making. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
Spanish Exploration English settlement Origins of Slavery and Plantation Agriculture American Revolution in the South Frontier South and Expansion Masters and Slaves Sectional Crisis Secession and Civil War Reconstruction Sharecropping and Tenantry Jim Crow South World War II and Southern Transformation Civil Rights Movement From South to Sunbelt
Syllabus