The students will be able to analyze the ways gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, and other identities shape lived reality, understanding the impact of these factors in the context of U.S. history.

This course is a survey of American history from the end of Reconstruction through the Second World War. This class will focus on the social, cultural, and political, and environmental history of the U.S. during this period. Topics to be discussed include the growth of large corporations as significant features of American life; immigration; nativist movements; labor, left-wing, and reform movements; expansion of the nation into the American West; conflict with Native American tribes and the development of Indian reservations; American imperialism and colonialism; the Progressive Era and First World War; 1920s cultural and political history; the Great Depression; New Deal; and the Second World War abroad and on the homefront.  The course especially encourages students to analyze theways gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, and other identities have shaped Americans’ lives.