In this course, the student will study the emergence of the major civilizations of the ancient world, beginning with the Paleolithic Era (about 2.5 million years ago) and finishing with the end of the Middle Ages in fifteenth century A.D. The student will pay special attention to how societies evolved across this expanse of time - from fragmented and primitive agricultural communities to more advanced and consolidated civilizations. By the end of the course, the student will possess a thorough understanding of important overarching social, political, religious, and economic themes in the ancient world, ranging from the emergence of Confucian philosophy in Asia to the fall of imperial Rome. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Identify and define the world's earliest civilizations, including the Neolithic Revolution, and describe how it shaped the development of these early civilizations; Identify, describe, and compare/contrast the first advanced civilizations in the world - Mesopotamia and Egypt; Identify and describe the emergence of the earliest civilizations in Asia: the Harappan and Aryan societies on the Indian subcontinent and the Shang and Zhou societies in China; Identify and describe the emergence of new philosophies - Daoism and Confucianism - during the Warring States period in China. Identify and describe the subsequent rise of the Qin and Han dynasties; Identify and describe the different periods that characterized ancient Greece - Archaic Greece (or the Greek Dark Ages), classical Greece, and the Hellenistic era; Identify and describe the characteristics of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and Imperial Rome; Analyze the emergence of the Mauryan and Gupta empires during the 'classical age' in India; Identify and analyze the Buddhist and Vedic (Hindu) faiths; Identify and describe the rise of civilizations in the Americas, particularly in Meso and South America; Analyze and describe the rise of Islam in the Middle East; Identify and describe the emergence of the Arab caliphate, the Umayyad dynasty, and Abbasid dynasty; Identify and describe the rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire; Identify and analyze key facets of medieval society in Western EuropeŃthe Catholic Church, feudalism, and the rise of technology and commerce; Analyze and interpret primary-source documents that elucidate the exchanges and advancements made in civilizations across time and space. (History 101)

The Middle East conflict and terrorism are issues we hear about almost daily in the news. This lesson will use video clips from WIDE ANGLE's 'Suicide Bombers' (2004), Internet sites, and primary sources to examine the roots of the Middle East conflict. The video contains interviews with young Palestinians who participated -- or intended to participate -- in suicide bombings. These young Palestinians share the personal, religious, political and emotional reasons behind their participation in these suicide operations. This lesson could be used to review information about the three major monotheistic religions and their connections to Israel, to relate post-World War II policies to the current political state of the Middle East, and/or to get students to understand the roots of the terrorism that threatens the world we live in.

This course will introduce the student to the history of the world's major civilizations from medieval times to the early modern era. The student will learn about the pivotal political, economic, and social changes that took place in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe during this period. By the end of the course, the student will understand how many different civilizations evolved from isolated societies into expansive, interconnected empires capable of exerting global influence. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: Think critically and analytically about world history in the medieval and early modern eras; Identify and describe the emergence, decline, and main features of the Byzantine Empire; Identify the origins and characteristics of the European medieval period and describe the rapidly changing forces at work in society, the economy, and religion during this time; Identify the origins of the Aztec and Inca civilizations and assess how these empires affected socio-economic development in the Americas; Identify the origins of the Tang and Song dynasties in China and assess the impact of these empires on Chinese government, society, religion, and economy during what scholars refer to as the 'golden age'; Identify the origins of the Mongol Empire, which dominated much of Asia in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Students will analyze the nature of this empire created by nomads; Identify the reasons for a changing balance in the world economy in the 1400s and analyze why Europe superseded Asia as the most dominant civilization on the globe; Assess how and why the European Age of Discovery had such a large impact on the New World, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia; Identify the origins and characteristics of the Renaissance and describe its impact on European civilization as a whole; Identify the origins of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation in Europe and assess how this movement altered the social, political, and religious fabric of Europe; Identify the origins of colonial Brazil and New Spain. Students will also be able to assess the impact of Spanish and Portuguese colonization on the New World, Africa, and Europe; Identify the origins of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires and assess the unique characteristics of these dynasties and their impact upon Asia and the world; Identify the origins of the Atlantic slave trade, assessing how this forced migration of peoples affected Africa, Africans, Europe, and the New World; Analyze and describe the Asian trading world, the Ming dynasty in China, the Ňwarring states,' and early modern eras in Japan; Analyze and interpret primary source documents from the medieval period to the early modern era using historical research methods. (History 221)

This course will introduce students to the African American faith experience, with particular attention being given to the historical development of spiritualities of liberation in the American Diaspora. Brief lectures and seminar discussions will offer "perspectives" on this rich and heterogeneous tradition from several vantage points within the humanities, social sciences, and theological disciplines.

Examines interactions across the Eurasian continent between Russians, Chinese, Mongolian nomads, and Turkic oasis dwellers during the last millennium and a half. As empires rose and fell, religions, trade, and war flowed back and forth continuously across this vast space. Britain and Russia competed for power over Eurasia in the "Great Game" of geopolitics in the nineteenth century, just as China, Russia, and others did in the twentieth century. Today, the fall of the Soviet Union and China's reforms have opened new opportunities for cultural interaction. Topics include: the religious traditions of Central Asian Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, and Confucianism; caravans and travelers like Marco Polo and Rabban Sauma, the first Chinese to travel to the West; and nomadic conquest and imperialist competition, past and present. Source materials include primary documents, travelogues, films, music, and museum visits.

A brief biography of Giordano Bruno (1548-1600).

A brief history of the Inquisition.

This course provides a historical study of the origins of Christianity by analyzing the literature of the earliest Christian movements in historical context, concentrating on the New Testament. Although theological themes will occupy much of our attention, the course does not attempt a theological appropriation of the New Testament as scripture. Rather, the importance of the New Testament and other early Christian documents as ancient literature and as sources for historical study will be emphasized. A central organizing theme of the course will focus on the differences within early Christianity (-ies).

Surveys the major political, socio-economic, and cultural changes in the Middle East from the rise of Islam to present times (A.D. 600-2002), with special emphasis on Islam's encounter with the West. Examines the rise and fall of Islamic empires; the place of Arabs, Persian and Turkic peoples, as well as minorities in Islamic society; scientific and technological achievements and their transmission to the West; and the impact of European expansion after 1800. Considers contemporary crises and upheavals facing the Middle East in light of the historical past. This course aims to provide students with a general overview of basic themes and issues in Middle Eastern history from the rise of Islam to the present, with an emphasis on the encounters and exchanges between the "Middle East" (Southwest Asia and North Africa) and the "West" (Europe and the United States).

This course will introduce the student to the history of the European Middle Ages and Renaissance. The student will learn about the major political, economic, and social changes that took place between the fourth century and 1500 CE. By the end of the course, the student will understand how Europe transformed from a collection of barbarian kingdoms into a continent with a sophisticated cultural and economic life that would later come to dominate the globe. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: think analytically about the history of the European Middle Ages from the fourth century to approximately 1500; identify and describe the causes for the dissolution of the Roman Empire and the end of antiquity; identify and describe the rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire as well as the creation of Germanic kingdoms in the former western Roman Empire; identify and describe the impact of Christianity on Byzantium and the Germanic tribes; identify and describe the causes of the rise of the Carolingian Empire and its impact on Europe; identify and analyze the causes for the rising power of feudal medieval kingdoms; identify and describe the role of the medieval Church as well as the causes and effects of the Crusades; analyze and describe the system of feudalism in medieval Europe; identify the medieval roots of the Renaissance and analyze its impact on European society; identify the major cultural, scientific, and economic achievements of medieval civilization; analyze and interpret primary source documents from the fourth century to 1500, and demonstrate an understanding of the difference between primary and secondary sources. (History 302)

This module is a republication of the following essay: Frank G. Speck. 1911. Missions in the Creek Nation. Southern Workman 40, no. 4: 206-208. Based on ethnographic field research undertaken in the Creek Nation in 1904, 1905 and 1908, Speck's essay describes the history and consequences of Christian missionary activity among the peoples of the Creek Nation. The essay's wider focus is the nature of native cultural and social change under the uneven and often disruptive effects of contact with non-native people and American economic, political and social institutions. Under U.S. copyright law, this essay is now in the public domain and is being republished on this basis.

This course will introduce the student to the history of sub-Saharan Africa from the European 'scramble for Africa' in the late nineteenth century to the present day. The student will learn about the major political, economic, and social changes that took place in Africa during this period. Each unit will include representative primary-source documents that illustrate important overarching political, economic, and social themes in modern African history, such as the effects of World War I and World War II, the rise of African nationalism, decolonization and wars for independence, the influence of the Cold War, the problems of development, and the causes and consequences of the civil wars that have plagued African countries in the latter twentieth century. By the end of the course, the student will understand the historical origins of the challenges independent African nations face today. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Identify and describe the regions of Africa colonized by European powers; Understand the causes of European imperialism and its short and long-term effects on African societies; Describe key African response to colonial rule; Identify and describe the effects of the First and Second World Wars on Africa; Identify and describe the causes of decolonization in Africa; Identify and describe the major political, economic, and social challenges to African states and societies after independence. (History 252)

Beginning in the 1700s, the Spaniards built the California Missions to make contact with Native Americans in the hope of converting them to Christianity. One painting by a Russian artist depicts a group of Native Americans dancing in front of Mission Dolores in San Francisco; a later photograph shows a group of nuns with westernized native children in front of the Pala Mission in Southern California. As European Americans continued to migrate West throughout the 1800s, they came into conflict with the native peoples who lived there. Native Americans were increasingly pushed off their lands and forced onto reservations. At the same time, whites pressured Native Americans to assimilate. Native American children were sent away to boarding schools with the goal of socializing them and teaching them ?white ways.? Several photographs depict young Native American children wearing western dress in boarding school settings. Some of the photographs taken in the mid-1800s show Native Americans wearing traditional clothing (including "Jicarilla Apache Brave and Squaw, lately wedded," "Coyotero Apache Scouts," and "Group of Apaches, in front of the Wick-8-ups [sic]"). Photographs taken at the turn of the 20th century, such as "Pummuke" and "Chief Chepah, his wife, son, and daughter-in-law," indicate that by then even older Native Americans were adopting Western dress. Several photographs in this topic are from government-sponsored survey expeditions launched in the early 1870s to chart western lands and native peoples. These expeditions coincided with the beginning of anthropology as a science. In 1879, Congress created the Bureau of Ethnology to study and document the native people and their cultures. Included here are three portraits taken for these ethnographic field studies, and a painting of Sitting Bull, the famous Sioux medicine chief. Native Americans clashed violently and repeatedly with the white European Americans moving into their territory. The whites wanted to push the Indians off their land and onto reservations, but the Indians often refused to go. The Lakota branch of the Sioux tribe was one such group, and in 1875 their refusal resulted in the Lakota War. A famous battle in the Lakota War took place at the Little Bighorn River in Montana in 1876; there, US forces under General George Armstrong Custer attacked Crazy Horse and hundreds of Lakota and Northern Cheyenne warriors. In the battle, which came to be known as Custer's Last Stand, Custer's men were outnumbered four to one and every white man was killed. A drawing and a color lithograph show versions of this battle. Some Crow served as scouts for General Custer in the 7th Cavalry. One stereoscopic view shows "Curley" ? the only Indian survivor fighting on Custer's side ? wearing a buffalo coat and sitting astride a horse.

The book collects together and republishes a set of essays by Frank G. Speck that were originally issued as separate articles in The Southern Workman. The papers, which were written early in Speck's career, during the period 1907-1911, draw upon his first-hand observations in the Indian and Oklahoma Territories on the eve of Oklahoma statehood. In contrast to his more dispassionate ethnographic writings, which were published in venues read primarily by professional anthropologists and folklorists, these essays were published for a popular audience in the journal of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, an important college serving African American and Native American students. Reflecting the sensibilities of Speck and his anthropological circle at the time, these brief essays are accessible, provocative and sometimes biting in tone and represent the work of a young scholar seeking to develop a public, progressive, critical and engaged stance relative to the social problems faced by the peoples--particularly Native American and African American peoples--of Oklahoma and of the United States more broadly. For modern readers, the essays are little utilized sources for the study of Oklahoma, Freedmen, and Muscogee (Creek) Indian cultural history. They also deepen historical understandings of Speck and his work and enrich scholarly knowledge of early efforts at developing anthropology as a means of cultural critique. Under U.S. copyright law, these essays are now in the public domain and is being republished on this basis.

A brief history of Robert Cardinal Bellarmine (1542-1621).