What does it mean to be American? Whatever your answer is to this question, chances are it is deeply connected to the themes and events we will discuss in this class. Here we will track America's rise to global power, the fate of freedom in a post-Emancipation political setting, and the changing boundaries of nation, citizenship, and community. We will use landmark events to sharpen our themes, but we will also take care to analyze the equally important (and shifting) patterns of where and how Americans lived, worked, and played.

History 7B explores the making of a modern and globalized America by providing an introduction to the history of the United States between 1865 and the present. Lectures, Readings and Sections Assignments will call attention to the role of democracy in the nation’s history, and to the political, economic, and social freedoms and their limitations. We will consider the​ larger set of practices and ideals by which ordinary people have participated in the public life of the nation. ​How have different multiple perspectives on what it means to be an American shaped the nation’s history since the mid-nineteenth century? How has the right to participate in democratic institutions further defined political freedom and its limitations? What have societal and gendered expectations such as “the American Dream” meant for an increasingly diverse population? How and why have the power of the Courts, Congress, and the Presidency shifted? What role has freedom of the press played in that story? In what ways have transformations in the U.S. economy altered how Americans work and where they live? What forms of political culture have Americans practiced and what does this tell us about the American experience? We will explore, amongst others, the debates around the role of government and civil liberties; the shifting political ideologies of liberalism and conservatism; how the U.S. emerged as a world power in the twentieth century; systemic racism; freedom movements; the culture wars; and globalization. Instructor bio: Sandra Weathers Smith is a faculty member of the History Department at The Spence School and a Lecturer in U.S. History at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research and teaching interests include cultural history, urban history, immigration, civil rights, and political culture. Sandra earned her doctorate in American History from U.C. Berkeley, where she also served as a U.C. Faculty (postdoctoral) Fellow. She worked as Senior Researcher for theater artist, Anna Deavere Smith, and the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills