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The South Since Reconstruction

Analytical Thinking
Communication
Critical Thinking
Social Awareness & Responsibility

Course Description

Economic, social, cultural, and political developments in the South since Reconstruction.

Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Research paper.


Athena Title

The South Since Reconstruction


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 post-Reconstruction 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 modern American South shaped diverse social and cultural attitudes toward race and slavery, labor and class, and religion and freedom, 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

  • "Lost Cause" Ideology and Civil War Legacy
  • Segregation and Disfranchisement
  • Populist Movement
  • Lynching and Race Riots
  • Southern Progressivism
  • Jim Crow South
  • The Mind of the South: Southern Renaissance
  • Impact of World War II on the South
  • Emergence of the Sunbelt
  • Civil Rights Movement
  • The Carter Presidency and the Southernization of American Politics

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.


Social Awareness & Responsibility

The capacity to understand the interdependence of people, communities, and self in a global society.