The course provides the basic social, cultural, and political narrative of American history since the Civil War, covering such topics as Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, the settlement of the West, the Populists, the Spanish-American War, Imperialism, the Progressive Era, World War One, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War Two, McCarthyism, the Cold War, the Korean and the Vietnam Wars, the Civil Rights Movement, Women's Liberation, the gay rights movement, Detente, the Reagan years, and the Nineties. Along the way, the lectures, the discussions, and the readings address major theoretical and analytical issues relevant to understanding the role of race, culture, and ethnicity in each of the above topics.
Students learn about the unique features and experiences of each group.
We pay great attention to the Reconstruction period, the role of the Buffalo Soldiers in the Indian Wars, the effect of World War One on Black social and political consciousness and the subsequent Harlem Renaissance, the revolutionary transformation in American society wrought by the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to the North, the specific traumas faced by African Americans during the Great Depression, the role of World War Two on Black political consciousness and the subsequent Civil Rights movement, the relationship between that movement and the Vietnam War, and contemporary efforts to achieve social and economic equality, including an examination of the affirmative action debate right here at U.C. Berkeley. The role of Asian Americans in U.S. history is a major topic in this course. Students learn the details of the various waves of Asian immigration to the U.S., and the effects of the Spanish-American War, World War Two, the Cold War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War on this process. Also, many of the students themselves undoubtedly are recent immigrants from Asia, and can share their life experiences with their peers in discussion section as an example of the immigrant experience. Finally, though students may not be in the habit of viewing European Americans as a discrete ethnic entity, this course treats them as such.