History Department

Expanded Course Descriptions

The Department of History scheduled these undergraduate courses for FALL QUARTER 2024. This list and descriptions are subject to change, so please check back often.

Registration appointment times available on Schedule Builder and myucdavis.

• Lower Division
• HIS 2Y: Introduction to the History of Science & Technology (World) - Professor Stolzenberg (cross-listed with STS 2Y)
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Introduction to topics and methods of the history of science and technology. Emphasis on understanding the role of science and technology in the modern world through a long-term historical perspective. (Same course as STS 002.) GE credit: AH, SL, SS, WC, WE. Effective: 2017 Fall Quarter.
  Description: This class explores the history of the investigation of nature and its technological manipulation, focusing on three case studies: (1) Alchemy and Chemistry from Antiquity to the Enlightenment (2) Evolution and Energy in the Age of Empire (3) Science, Technology, and the Cold War. Course material is non-technical and accessible to students from all majors. Required text: Course Reader. This course fulfills the GE for Scientific Literacy (SL) as well as AH, SS, WC, and WE.
  
  HIS 6: Introduction to Middle East (Middle East) - Professor Anooshahr
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Survey of the major social, economic, political and cultural transformations in the Middle East from the rise of Islam (c.600A.D.) to the present, emphasizing themes in religion and culture, politics and society.
  Description: This is a introductory survey of Middle East History from the 7th century to the present. We will focus on broad political, social, economic, and religious patterns. Important transitional points and change over time will be emphasized.
  
  HIS 7B: History of Latin America to 1700 (Latin America) - Professor Reséndez
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Introduction to the history of Spanish and Portuguese America from the late pre-Columbian period through the initial phase and consolidation of a colonial regime (circa 1700). Topics include conquest, colonialism, racial mixture, gender, and labor systems. GE credit: AH, SS, WC, WE. Effective: 2004 Fall Quarter.
  Description: This is an introduction to the history of Spanish and Portuguese America from the late pre-Columbian period through the initial phase and consolidation of a colonial regime (circa 1700). The lectures, readings, and discussion sections offer a broad overview of the indigenous roots and realities of the hemisphere, the Spanish and Portuguese conquests of this region, and the emergence of colonial regimes in the 16th and 17th centuries. It will explore the contrasting experiences of Native Americans, Africans, and Europeans and their mixed descendants in an evolving colonial world.  Key topics will include the disruptions and continuities of the major indigenous civilizations of the continent, colonialism, racial mixture and race relations, gender, labor systems, identity, religion, and environmental transformation. This is the beginning of a three-course sequence devoted to the history of Latin America. Each course can be taken independently.
  Grading: Midterm, final, participation, and two essays.
  Reading: 
  - Charles C. Mann, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus
  - Matthew Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest
  - Kris Lane, Potosí: The Silver City that Changed the World
  - Catalina de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World
  
  HIS 10B: World History c. 1350-1850 (World) - Professor Harris
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Major topics in world history from the 14th century to the beginning of the 19th century. Topics will vary but may include: oceans as systems of human communication and conflict; the global consequences of "industrious revolutions" in Europe and Asia, etc. GE credit: AH, SS, WC, WE. Effective: 2001 Winter Quarter. 
  Description: HIS 10B is an introduction to the large-scale structures and processes that transformed the world between the mid-fourteenth and the mid-nineteenth centuries. These five centuries marked an era in which cross-cultural contacts between the peoples of the world increased dramatically, laying the foundations for today’s global connectedness. We will explore these interactions and their effects on peoples and cultures around the world. Because this course is truly global, coverage cannot be comprehensive. Instead, we will take a topical and chronological approach, focusing in on major events and trends through the broad and interrelated themes of networks, such as ocean systems, cultural zones, empires, and long-distance trade; identities, including national affiliations and cultural, religious, and ethnic identifications; and cross-cultural interaction, including global religions, colonial and creole cultures, and the complicated interrelations of tradition and change. Together, the lectures, readings, discussions, and assignments will explore these themes at both the macro and micro levels, considering global trends and changes and their effects at the regional and local levels.
  Reading: Our readings will include a textbook and a reader of primary sources. Other readings include:
  - Ibn Battuta, Ibn Battuta in Black Africa, trans. Noel Q. King, ed. Said Hamdun (Princeton,2005).
  - Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar, Castaways: the narrative of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, ed. Enrique Pupo-Walker, trans. Frances M. López-Morillas (Berkeley, 1993)
  - Galawdewos, The Life of Walatta-Petros: The Biography of a 17th-Century African Woman, trans. and ed. Wendy L. Belcher and Michael Kleiner (Princeton, 2018) 
  
  HIS 15A: Africa to 1900 (Africa) - Professor Decker
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Introduction to African history to 1900. Origins and impact of early human history, precolonial states and societies, slavery and the slave trade, religious and cultural movements, and the foundations of European colonialism. GE credit: AH, SS, WC.
  Description: With 55 countries, over a billion people, thousands of languages, and a geographic area that surpasses the United States, China, and Europe combined, the defining characteristic of the continent of Africa is its diversity. History 15A introduces students to key shifts in African history up to 1900, including major states and societies, the spread of world religions, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the onset of European colonialism. Course lessons highlight particular primary sources for African history, including oral traditions, oral histories, travel accounts, archaeological ruins, letters, newspapers, memoirs, poetry, and graphic history.
  
  HIS 17A: History of the United States (US) - Professor Smolenski
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). The experience of the American people from the Colonial Era to the Civil War. GE credit: ACGH, AH, DD, SS, WE. Effective: 1997 Winter Quarter.
  Description: This class will provide a broad introduction to the history of the territory that is now the United States from the first encounters between Americans and Europeans through the mid-nineteenth century and the crisis of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Don’t let the course title fool you; this is not just a history of the United States (which, of course, did not begin to become a nation until 1776). In addition to focusing on the first century of U.S. history, this course will go back hundreds of years to briefly touch on North America before the arrival of Europeans before exploring how European colonists, Indigenous Americans, and enslaved Africans created a new world together on the continent. We’ll then move on to discuss the founding of the United States and the development, near collapse, and rebuilding of the nation in the years leading up through the Civil War and Reconstruction. 
  The course will introduce students to some of the central themes in American history and how historians have developed this understanding by analyzing primary source material and assembling narratives. Course themes include imperialism and colonization, slavery and labor regimes, trade, resource extraction, and the emergence of capitalism, family and community formation and the evolution of American cultures, the rise of nation-states and the dispossession of Native polities, and politics and the ideology of freedom and democracy.  
  This is a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time, but the class will seek to balance the big picture of American history with the texture of individual experiences and day-to-day life.  
  In addition to introducing some of the central figures and events in American history, this course is intended to help students hone a range of skills in critical reading and thinking, written and oral communication, and historical analysis and writing.
  
  HIS 17B: History of the United States (US) - STAFF
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). The experience of the American people from the Civil War to the end of the Cold War. Not open for credit to students who have completed HIS 017C. GE credit: ACGH, AH, DD, SS, WE. Effective: 1997 Winter Quarter.
  Description: This course provides an introduction to the history of the United States since the Civil War. We will explore social, economic, cultural, and political changes on the domestic front as well as the nation’s expansion abroad. Course topics include industrialization, immigration, race relations, the role of the federal government, foreign policy, reform, and social protest movements. As a survey, the course is designed to introduce key themes and events in modern American history, and to develop students’ critical thinking, writing, and reading skills.
  
  HIS 18B: Race in the United States Since 1865 (US) - Professor Parker
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Introduction to the history of race and racial formation in America since 1865 through a comparative approach that examines the experiences of African Americans, Asian Americans, Native American and Mexican Americans and other Latino/a groups.
  Description: This course explores the history of race, racial formation, and race relations in the United States from the end of the Civil War to the present. Employing a mix of lectures, primary and secondary source readings, and class discussions, we will examine the experiences of African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and other Latino/a groups. The course will consider the social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of race and racism and cover key historical events, legislative milestones, and social movements that have shaped racial experiences in America. Key topics include Reconstruction and Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, race in modern America (such as mass incarceration, immigration, and the Black Lives Matter movement), the influence of race on American culture, and significant legal cases and policies affecting racial equality, such as affirmative action, voting rights, education, and housing discrimination.
  
  HIS 72B: Women & Gender in America, 1865-Present (US) - Professor Materson
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). History of women and gender in America since 1865, emphasizing intersections of gender, race, class, and sexuality. Covers emancipation, migration, immigration, war, media, same-sex and opposite-sex relationships, and the birth control, suffrage, labor, civil rights, feminist, and anti-feminist movements.
  Description: This course examines the ways that diverse groups of women have forged and experienced American culture and democracy. Readings emphasize women's engagement in organized struggles for economic, political and social justice during the twentieth century. The course also explores American women's migration and immigration across regions and borders. Students consider the meaning of migration and immigration to the women who undertook these journeys, as well as the influence of these women's decisions to relocate on American political, economic, and social institutions.
  Reading:
  - Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (Basic Books, 2008) 
  - Lydia R. Otero, In the Shadows of the Freeway: Growing Up Brown and Queer (Planet Earth Press, 2019)
  - Optional: A Pocket Guide to Writing in History 
  - All other readings are posted on Canvas.
  
  HIS 80: History of the United States in the Middle East (US) - Professor Tezcan
  Lecture—2 hour(s). History of the United States in the Middle East from 1900 to the present. Examination of U.S. foreign relations toward the Middle East, their regional ramifications and domestic repercussions. GE credit: ACGH, AH, SS, WC. Effective: 2018 Spring Quarter.
  Description: After September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush delivered an address to the American people asking, “Why do they hate us?” The question – and his answer – resonated with a popular “Clash of Civilizations” thesis that argues that conflict between Islam and the West is inevitable for the long-term.
  Aiming for a deeper understanding of the stories that fill the headlines, this course interrogates that proposition by looking at the long history of United States involvement in the Middle East, from the Barbary pirates to recent beheadings, from missionaries to missiles, from Cold War concerns to moments of cultural exchange, to today’s presidential race.
  Grading: Quizzes: 20%; mid-term: 40%; final: 40%; Quizzes will be online during class time, based on the lecture on the day of the quiz.
  Textbook:
  - Rashid Khalidi, Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East (Boston: Beacon Press, 2005). 
  - Digital copies of additional reading assignments will be available on Canvas.
• Undergraduate Seminars

• HIS 102D: Modern Europe to 1815 (Europe) - Professor Harris
  Learning Activities— Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper. Designed primarily for history majors. Intensive reading, discussion, research, and writing in selected topics in the various fields of history. Modern Europe to 1815.
  
  HIS 102E: Europe Since 1815 (Europe) - Professor Stolzenberg
  Learning Activities— Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper. Designed primarily for history majors. Intensive reading, discussion, research, and writing in selected topics in the various fields of history. Europe since 1815.
  Topic: Charles Darwin and His World: The Social Life of Science in the Nineteenth Century
  Description: Among the most influential and controversial figures in modern history, Charles Darwin became a global celebrity following publication of his theory of evolution by natural selection in 1859. We will explore the life and thought of Darwin and his contemporaries through published works and private papers, placing them in the context of historical developments, such as the transformation of society and culture in the wake of the Industrial Revolution and the rise of Britain's global empire. Students will learn how to conceptualize, investigate, and write a historical research paper. Individual projects may focus on a wide range of topics related to nineteenth-century science, politics, empire, gender, sexuality, religion, race, capitalism, social movements, and so forth. Non-history majors with an interest in the subject matter and a desire to learn about historical research are encouraged to enroll.
  
  HIS 102J: Latin America Since 1810 (Latin America) - Professor Schlotterbeck
  Learning Activities— Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper. Designed primarily for history majors. Intensive reading, discussion, research, and writing in selected topics in the various fields of history. Latin America since 1810.
  Topic: History of Childhood and Youth in Latin America
  Description: Childhood is commonly assumed to be ‘natural’ and unchanging. Yet historical studies have shown us that the meaning and experience of childhood and youth are constructed daily, and differently, around the world. How children and adults understand infancy, childhood, adolescence, and even young adulthood has changed significantly across both time and geography. Class, race, gender, religion, sexuality, disability and even geographic location all shape how children experience life and how the adult world views them.
  Our examination of the history of childhood and youth—and the lived historical experiences of young people— will focus on Latin America, a region in which children have often borne the brunt of structural injustices. Exploring a variety of historical and anthropological studies, as well as memoirs, we will consider the following questions: Is childhood a biological or ‘natural’ and universal stage of human development, or is it a product of society, culture and history? How different from today was growing up in the past? How do these experiences vary depending on class, race, gender, and other social factors? Can we identify change in some areas and continuities in others, and why? What is the role of the child ‘expert’—the pediatrician, psychologist, educator, and social worker in shaping our views towards children and in defining ‘normality’ for them? In which ways has the legal status of children changed over time? What are the origins of the children’s rights movement? In considering these questions, we will address themes such as inequality, victimization, discrimination, education, reform, activism, resilience, rights and difference. Our examination of theories of childhood will help us to better understand how youth is connected to political power in a region marked by vast inequality.
  To help us make sense of the historical material discussed, we will employ a simple analytical framework that consists of three ideas:
  1. Childhood is a social and cultural construct that has changed over time.
  2. There is great diversity in the lived experience of childhood, and these experiences have been shaped by race, gender, geography, religion, ability/disability, as well as time period.
  3. Throughout history, children and youth have not been passive or invisible, but rather are agents who actively contribute to their own and the adult worlds.
  
  HIS 102X: Comparative History - Professor Decker
  Learning Activities— Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper. Designed primarily for history majors. Intensive reading, discussion, research, and writing in selected topics in the various fields of history. Comparative History, selected topics in cultural, political, economic, and social history that deal comparatively with more than one geographic field.
  Topic: Modern Girls, Punks, and Protesters: The Rise of Global Youth Cultures
  Description: From the “discovery” of adolescence in the 19th century to the dominance of youth in twentieth-century media (especially social media), teenager cultures have been viewed as a barometer for measuring broader social anxieties for nearly 200 years. Young people everywhere have felt the weight of society’s hopes and fears for the future. Modern girls, punks, and queer kids created their own avenues toward and, sometimes intentionally away from, adulthood and the social, economic, and political expectations embedded in it. This course emphasizes the need for intersectional understandings of race, gender, sexuality, class, and – most importantly – age to examine how youth cultures and subcultures arose amidst widespread social, economic, and political change.
  We will examine case studies from across the globe (Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas) and from diverse political contexts (imperial/colonial, nationalist/postcolonial, revolutionary, etc.) that show the impact of modern historical changes on youth and the active role youth played in shaping this history. How did young people coopt modernity and globalization for their own political aims? How did “modern girls,” “gangsters,” punks, student protesters, mods, and queer youth challenge the status quo or navigate growing economic precarity, political instability, social violence, or institutional pressures? Did young people find solace in collective action or individual expression? What do these disparate youth subcultures have in common, and what can they tell us about dissent and diversity in modern global history?
  Grading: As a 5-unit seminar, this course will be based on substantial reading, writing, and in-class discussion. Course assignments include weekly commentaries on the reading, presentations, active participation in seminar discussions, and a term paper.

  
  HIS 104A: History Honors Thesis - Professor Tezcan
  Learning Activities— Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper. Directed reading and research aimed at preparing students to select appropriate topics and methodologies for a senior honors essay and to situate their topics within a meaningful, broad context of historical interpretations.

• Upper Division

• HIS 109: Environmental Change, Disease & Public Health (World) - Professor Davis
  Lecture/Discussion—3 hour(s); Project (Term Project). Analysis of environmental changes from pre-history to the present and their influence on disease distribution, virulence and public health. Focus on critical study of many human-driven environmental changes and the accelerated transformation/spread of pathogens under globalization. Not open for credit to students who have taken HIS 109B. (Same course as SAS 109.) GE credit: SE, SL, SS, WC. Effective: 2016 Fall Quarter. Fulfills the GE Science & Engineering; Social Science; & Scientific Literacy requirement.
  Description: This course analyzes environmental change at multiple scales and how these changes have influenced public health over time. It takes as a starting point that the “environment” includes not only deserts, mountains, plains and rivers, but also slaughter houses, hospitals and our own and other animal bodies. The changes that have taken places in these varied environments have included the obvious like deforestation and the damming of rivers and the not so obvious like creating antibiotic resistance, and creating the conditions for super contamination of large quantities of food with pathogenic organisms such as E.coli 0157:H7, Listeria, and salmonella. Furthermore, these transformations may be changing our epigenomes with what we eat, drink and breathe in ways that induce illness. All of these changes have had impacts on human health. Many of these environmental changes have been driven by human action over the last several millennia. The pace and scope of such changes have become quicker and more pervasive during our era of “globalization.” It is critical to understand these changes in order to build a more sustainable future for people and the planet.
  
  HIS 110-1: Themes in World History (World) - Professor Jean-Baptiste
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Topics will emphasize the interaction of diverse regions of the world as well as common patterns of historical change. May be repeated when instructor and/or topic differs.
  
  HIS 110-1: Themes in World History (World) - Professor Smoleski
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Topics will emphasize the interaction of diverse regions of the world as well as common patterns of historical change. May be repeated when instructor and/or topic differs.
  
  HIS 119: World War I (World) - Professor Campbell & Professor Rauchway
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Extensive Writing. The first World War and the settlement that followed from 1914-1919. Causes, conduct, and consequences of the war including military, political, economic, social, and cultural factors, with special emphasis on connections between the home front and the battlefield.
  
  HIS 134A: The Age of Revolution (Europe) - Professor Zientek
  Lecture—3 hour(s). Ideas and institutions during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era.
  
  HIS 142B: The Memory of the Holocaust (Europe) - STAFF
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Examination of the literary, philosophical, theological and artistic responses to the Holocaust of the European Jews. Exploration of how memory is constructed, by whom and for what purposes.
  
  HIS 156: Latin American Migration History (Latin America) - Professor Pérez Meléndez
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Migrations to, from, and within Latin America, with a focus on the period from independence to the present day. The historical development of settler colonialism, inter-regional migrations, rural-to-urban migration, migration promotion, restriction laws, naturalization, and sanctuary across Latin American scenarios. Research paper required.
  Description: This course examines how Latin American governments transformed human mobility into a phenomenon meant to be managed, profited from, and ultimately contained within the strict bounds of national territories. Besides inquiring into how Latin American migration regimes changed through time, we will study migrants’ own efforts to counter official definitions of belonging and state-defined parameters of exclusion. Course lectures will survey historical migratory processes to, within, and from Latin America including the slave trade, the coolie trade, nineteenth-century colonizations, and the era of mass migrations. Class discussions will also assess multi-disciplinary approaches to more recent migrations, with a focus on methodological challenges of documenting mobility and defending human rights in times of crisis.
  
  HIS 164: History of Chile (Latin America) - Professor Schlotterbeck
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Emphasis on the history of Chilean political economy from 1930 to the present. Various strategies of development (modernization, Marxism, Neo-Liberalism); the rise of mass politics; the course of foreign relations; and the richness of Chilean literature. GE credit: AH, SS, WC, WE. Effective: 2016 Fall Quarter.
  Description: In October 2019, the Chilean government’s roll-out of a 30-peso (approximately four cents) fare increase on Santiago’s overcrowded metro system ignited a wave of protests. In the immediate wake of that decision, young people from across the capital took to the streets. Many jumped turnstiles and occupied subway stations as they chanted now-famous slogans like ‘evadir, no pagar, otra forma de luchar’ (evade, don’t pay, another way to fight).  Discontent quickly escalated when Chile’s conservative president, Sebastián Piñera, declared a “state of siege” in the capital, provocatively adding that Chile was “at war”. His order marked the first time since the country’s 17-year military dictatorship (1973-1990) that the Chilean armed forces had been called into the streets. Born after the 1990 democratic transition, this so-called generation without fear has returned not just to the streets but also to politics in new and exciting ways.

  What began as protests over subway fares quickly morphed into a challenge of the dictatorship’s market-driven policies – and by extension – the legitimacy of a political system that still maintained them twenty years after General Augusto Pinochet left office. Among various calls for economic, social, and political reforms, the most consistent demand was to rewrite the 1980 Constitution inherited from the dictatorship. In an October 2020 national plebiscite, the overwhelming majority (78%) of Chileans affirmed not only the desire for a new constitution, but also for a democratically elected Constitutional Convention to include representatives from a broad cross-section of society. Yet, after three years of debate, in September 2022, 62% of Chileans rejected the progressive new constitution that would have legalized abortion, adopted universal healthcare, granted indigenous rights, and set a global record of more than 100 guaranteed constitutional rights.

  How did Chile arrive at this juncture? Departing from current events, three central questions will guide our historical thinking: how did everyday people experience key moments of social and political transformation? What role have young people played historically as agents of change? And finally, how does taking the historical agency of marginalized subjects—in this case, the urban working poor, indigenous people, and children—into account challenge our larger assumptions about history?

  Beginning with the construction of the Chilean nation in the 19th century, we will examine how states are formed from colonial territories and how national communities are defined and consolidated along exclusionary lines of race, class, and gender. Turning to the 20th century, we will assess competing strategies for economic development and demands by different sectors for political, social, and economic inclusion. The final unit on historical memory in the post-dictatorship era considers how the past continues to act on the present and asks what elements of this history might be of value in imagining alternatives in the present and future.
  
  HIS 166B: History of Mexico since 1849 (Latin America) - Professor Reséndez
  Lecture—3 hour(s). History of Mexico from 1848 to the present.
  Description: This course will be devoted to the political, social, and cultural history of Mexico from independence to the present. Using journalistic accounts, videos, and scholarly works we will probe into the lives of Mexico’s diverse population and show that the country’s seemingly contemporary challenges involving migration, drug wars, insurgency, corruption, political gridlock, and others are in fact deeply rooted in the past.
  
  HIS 170B: The American Revolution (US) - STAFF
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Analysis of the Revolutionary epoch with emphasis on the structure of British colonial policy, the rise of revolutionary movements, the War for Independence and its consequences, and the Confederation period.
  
  HIS 174C: The United States Since World War II, 1945 to the Present (US) - Professor Olmsted
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. America's struggle to respond to new complexities in foreign relations, social tensions, family changes and media. Emphasis on such topics as: Cold War; anticommunist crusade; civil rights, feminist and environmentalist movement; New Left; counterculture; Vietnam; Watergate; and the moral majority. GE credit: ACGH, AH, DD, SS, WE. Effective: 1997 Winter Quarter.
  Description: This course examines the history of the United States from the end of the Second World War to the present. We’ll examine social movements (civil rights, feminism, black power, gay rights, environmentalism, the New Right); economic changes; the Cold War and its domestic effects; the growth of executive power; political realignments; and post-Cold War foreign policy.
  
  HIS 174D: Selected Themes in 20th-Century American History (US) - Professor Parker
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Interpretive overview of a single topic in the history of the United States in the 20th century with attention to the phases and processes of historical change.
  Theme: The History of the Civil Rights Movement
  Description: This course offers an in-depth study of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, tracing its origins, key events, influential figures, and lasting impact on American society. Spanning from the late 19th-century struggles for equality through the 1960s and beyond, the course examines how grassroots activism, legal battles, and political strategies converged to dismantle institutionalized racism and segregation. We will explore major events like the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington, Freedom Rides, and the Selma marches, leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X, and organizations including SNCC, SCLC, and CORE. Key court cases and legislation will also be examined, such as Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act. Our study will extend beyond the South to include the urban North and West. We will also consider the movement’s legacy and ongoing relevance to contemporary racial justice and equality issues.
  
  HIS 187: History of US Foreign Relations in the 20th Century (US) - Professor Rauchway
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Extensive Writing. Rise of the U.S. to superpower standing during the 20th century, from colonialism to the war on terror, including political, diplomatic, cultural, and economic activities of both US government and private American agencies beyond U.S. borders.
  
  HIS 190D: Middle Eastern History IV: Safavids Iran, 1300-1721 (Middle East) - Professor Anooshahr
  Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Middle Eastern history focusing on Safavid Empire (present-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, up to Georgia), beginning with the origins of the dynasty as a powerful religion family, to the establishment of the Empire, focusing on Social, Religious, Economic, and Political History.

• Graduate Seminars
• HIS 201X: Sources & General Literature of History: World History - Professor Peréz Meléndez
  Learning Activities— Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper.  Designed primarily for students preparing for higher degrees in history. (X) World History.
  Topic: The Long Nineteenth Century: Global Crossroads
  Description: Nestled between revolutions that made the modern world and a world war that called modernity into question, the “long” nineteenth century today figures as a curious by-gone: a time taken for granted among scholars of all areas due to its transitive nature and its uncomfortable distance from our present. Too close to be remote. Too far removed from us to be familiar. Moreover, its most distinguishing traits— intensive flux and radical political change—unsettles the historical imagination in its desperate grasp for patterns and categories. Indeed, examined as an interpretive chronological category, the nineteenth century emerges as a crucible for the problems that plague the present day. Yet, rather than appraise it by function of the degree to which it prefigures contemporary issues, this seminar homes into the complexity of the 1800s. It was then that the nation-state shaped up, corporations got a foothold into legal personhood, empires found a second wind in new configurations, and racialized labor regimes emerged out of increasingly refined international traffics and trades. This was the era of new governmentalities, agrarian settlement, bureaucratization, and the rise of legal normativities. At the same time, the transportation and settlement schemes that punctuated the century also spurred processes of ethnogenesis taken for granted later in time. With these and other dynamics in perspective, this seminar surveys case studies in world history covering a broad span from the era of revolutions to the mid-century imperial reformulations, and from the large-scale regional wars of the 1850s and 60s to the state-led warfare against domestic populations that transformed internal hierarchies and frontiers. Focusing on the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, India, and Europe, the seminar examines how political conflict, legal brokering, commercial innovation, and technological change fed into a great acceleration that ultimately legated an unequal international order, widespread racialization, and sanctioned profiteering to posterity.
  
  HIS 203A: Research Seminar - Professor Campbell
  Learning Activities— Seminar 3 hour(s), Tutorial 1 hour(s). Prepare for higher degrees in history. Individual research and analysis resulting in substantial research paper of publishable quality. Completion required of all Ph.D. candidates. HIS 203A & HIS 203B must be taken in continuous sequence, ordinarily during second year.
  
  HIS 204: Historiography - Professor Sen
  Learning Activities— Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper. Major issues in the philosophy and methodology of history.