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This course is a survey of African American History from its African origins through Emancipation and Reconstruction (1441-1885). We will analyze the early settlement of Africans in the New World, the middle passage, the development of plantation slavery and reproduction and gender in New World slavery, and the many historical changes that subsequently shaped African American life and culture. We will also explore the origins, development, and current state of the field of African American History, including the major questions and scholars that have shaped the study of U.S. slavery.

This course traces the origins, establishment, experiences, protests, and the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa. Students will read primary texts, secondary history books, and watch a documentary film to learn about multiple perspectives on the history of apartheid. Each student will do individual research on a topic on the history of apartheid.

​Examination of environmental history at both the national and international level. This course examines environmental history in relation to economic, social, religious, cultural, and political forces. Special attention will be given to how everyday individuals shaped environmental consciousness. In addition, given that the environment is a global issue, this course will examine global environmental issues such as the Minamata (mercury) poisoning in Japan, the Bhopal Incident in India, the environmental damage in China, Agent Orange, and the issue of environmental injustice.

This course examines American culture at different key periods in U.S. history since 1920 through the lens of selected Hollywood films. While the specific chronological parameters may occasionally vary, a recurring focus will be the Great Depression of the 1930s. We will always investigate the dynamic relationship between Hollywood films and American popular culture. For example, during the Great Depression, did Hollywood films affirm prevailing popular values, challenge, or subvert them, or all of these? How and why?