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
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
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about the history of the U.S. South 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 the history of the American South (including relations between natives, settlers, and enslave peoples) has shaped social and cultural identities, 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.
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
Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes
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.
