This textbook covers a variety of topics related to African American History and culture, from African Origins to the Reconstruction era.
African American History and Culture contains 10 modules starting with African Origins - History and Captivity and continuing through Reconstruction. Openly-licensed course materials developed for the Open Educational Resources (OER) Degree Initiative, led by Achieving the Dream https://courses.lumenlearning.com/catalog/achievingthedream.
Historians learn about the past in many ways. Political and legal documents, economic statistics, film and video footage of events, material items such as tools and clothing, literature, songs, movies: all of these leftovers from previous eras help historians piece together the different ways that societies change over time. This interactive textbook is designed to help students understand America in the twentieth century through examination of the media produced in that era. Such explorations into the past are called cultural history, which has been defined by the Yale University Department of History as “an effort to inhabit the minds of the people of different worlds.”
This is a collection of Coursework for an American History course.
The American Yawp constructs a coherent and accessible narrative from all the best of recent historical scholarship. Without losing sight of politics and power, it incorporates transnational perspectives, integrates diverse voices, recovers narratives of resistance, and explores the complex process of cultural creation. It looks for America in crowded slave cabins, bustling markets, congested tenements, and marbled halls. It navigates between maternity wards, prisons, streets, bars, and boardrooms. Whitman’s America, like ours, cut across the narrow boundaries that strangle many narratives. Balancing academic rigor with popular readability, The American Yawp offers a multi-layered, democratic alternative to the American past.
In an increasingly digital world in which pedagogical trends are de-emphasizing rote learning and professors are increasingly turning toward active-learning exercises, scholars are fleeing traditional textbooks. Yet for those that still yearn for the safe tether of a synthetic text, as either narrative backbone or occasional reference material, The American Yawp offers a free and online, collaboratively built, open American history textbook designed for college-level history courses. Unchecked by profit motives or business models, and free from for-profit educational organizations, The American Yawp is by scholars, for scholars. All contributors—experienced college-level instructors—volunteer their expertise to help democratize the American past for twenty-first century classrooms.
Online OER text created for U.S. History to 1865 by Dr. June Klees for Bay College.
© 2017 Bay College and Content Creators. Except where otherwise noted this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Online OER text created for U.S. History 1865 to Present by Dr. June Klees for Bay College.
© 2017 Bay College and Content Creators. Except where otherwise noted this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Covers Ancient America (before 1492) through the Trump administration.
This is a college-level history of California that covers (in thirteen chapters) the state's history prior to Spanish colonization and up through the present day. Three major themes provide a unifying thread for the narrative: demographic and cultural diversity, California's relationship to the nation and world, and competing visions of the "California Dream," including contestations over the allocation of cultural, economic, and political power. The text is richly illustrated with maps, charts, photographs, and art.
The contents of this online book were created by Prof. Rick Bonus and his students as a final project for a course on “Critical Filipinx American Histories” in the Fall quarter of 2019 at the University of Washington, Seattle campus. In collaboration with the UW Libraries, the UW Burke Museum, and the UW Department of American Ethnic Studies, this book explores and reflects on the relationships between Filipinx American histories and selected artifacts at the Burke Museum. It is a class project that was made possible by the Allen Open Textbook Grant.
This course focuses on the first two clauses of the First Amendment to the US Constitution: the clauses prohibiting the government from “establishing” a national religion and the clause preventing the government from “prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This course focuses, in roughly equal parts, on these two clauses and how they are interpreted and applied.
This is an introductory level course and no prior knowledge of law or government is required.
The course opens with a discussion of the historical context of the First Amendment and an explanation of the two clauses and where they apply. We’ll also discuss the legal standards under which freedom of religion are analyzed and discuss the important differences between religious beliefs and religious practices.
Modules 2 and 3 focus on the free exercise clause. We’ll look at cases that have analyzed laws that target religious groups and those that have disproportionate impacts on particular religious groups. We’ll also discuss the principle that practicing religion does not mandate that the government exempt adherents from laws of general applicability. Module 3 looks at the application of free exercise clause jurisprudence on a variety of rights informed by religious beliefs, including refusing medical treatment and conducting religious meetings and services.
Module 4 segues to the establishment clause, first focusing on tests that are used to determine whether government laws or policies are considered to be enforcements of religion. We’ll also look at cases involving religious monuments, at government voucher programs that can be used at religious schools and at cases involving school prayer.
Module 5 concludes the course with a look at a variety of recent cases involving freedom of religion. We’ll look at cases involving the usage of “in God we Trust” on currency and Ten Commandment monuments on government property. We’ll also look at President Trump’s travel ban and exemptions from the Affordable Care Act in the Hobby Lobby case. We’ll also look at the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, which analyzed whether exemptions to civil rights rules must be carved to protect asserted religious freedom.
This course should give you a firm understanding of both freedom of religion and freedom from religion under the provision that the “founding fathers” thought important enough to put at the very beginning of the Bill of Rights.
History holds many economic lessons. The Great Depression, in particular, is an event that provides the opportunity to teach and learn a great deal about economics-whether you're studying the economic reasons that the Depression took place, the factors that helped it come to an end or the impact on Americans who lived through it. This curriculum is designed to provide teachers with economic lessons that they can share with their students to help them understand this significant experience in U.S. history.
In this course, superhero Jack of All Trades and his sidekick Andy are confronted by a villain that threatens to disrupt society and rob the world of the certainty people have come to expect. And this dastardly villain is...Inflation. Jack and Andy time travel to the period known as The Great Inflation to discover the truth about inflation. With the help of Dr. Equilibrium, professor of economics, they learn that inflation is the result of too much money chasing too few goods and that the Federal Reserve System plays a key role in maintaining stable prices.
This course provides an overview of the United States from pre-Columbian North American and European antecedents to colonization, Colonial America, Revolutionary America; development of U.S. government, economy, and society to 1840.
Course Outcomes:
1. Articulate an understanding of key historical events from pre-Columbian North America and European antecedents to colonization, the development of slavery, Native American history, Colonial America, Revolutionary America and the development of U.S. government, economy, and society to 1840.
2. Identify and investigate historical theses, evaluate information and its sources, and use appropriate reasoning to construct evidence-based arguments on historical issues.
3. Construct an historical argument integrating both primary documents and secondary sources.
This theme-based English course integrates reading, writing, listening, speaking, and critical thinking skills around assignments and activities focusing on Washington State History and Art. This competency-based class allows students to work at their own pace, exit at a level appropriate to demonstrated skills and knowledge, and earn high school credits in English, Lab Science, and/or electives.
This course examines major works by Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner, exploring their interconnections on three analytic scales: the macro history of the United States and the world; the formal and stylistic innovations of modernism; and the small details of sensory input and psychic life. WARNING: Some of the lectures in this course contain graphic content and/or adult language that some users may find disturbing.
This textbook examines U.S. History from before European Contact through Reconstruction, while focusing on the people and their history. Prior to its publication, History in the Making underwent a rigorous double blind peer review, a process that involved over thirty scholars who reviewed the materially carefully, objectively, and candidly in order to ensure not only its scholarly integrity but also its high standard of quality. This book provides a strong emphasis on critical thinking about US History by providing several key features in each chapter. Learning Objectives at the beginning of each chapter help students to understand what they will learn in each chapter. Before You Move On sections at the end of each main section are designed to encourage students to reflect on important concepts and test their knowledge as they read. In addition, each chapter includes Critical Thinking Exercises that ask the student to deeply explore chapter content, Key Terms, and a Chronology of events.
Elwyn Robinson's sweeping History of North Dakota has become a classic in American state histories. One of the state's great professors and historians takes into account not only politics, but sociology, economics, ethnology, theology, nature studies and geography to describe North Dakota to the world and to itself.
Geography, in particular, formed the basis of Professor Robinson's historical interpretation. His 'too-much mistake,' the belief that North Dakota built too much, too fast, in an isolated area buffeted by difficult climate, has become the guiding principle for a quarter century of historical debate on Dakota plains history.
What is homeland security and why do we need it? What was unique about the 9/11 attacks that prompted the largest reorganization of the Federal government since the end of World War II? What is the difference between homeland security and national security? Why is critical infrastructure protection so critical? Why is emergency management an essential mission area within homeland security? What is the relationship between homeland security and DoD, National Guard, FBI, and State and Local law enforcement? Explore these questions and the events that made homeland security what it is today. Find out why homeland security is an unprecedented historical challenge requiring an unprecedented government response. Review the homeland security mission areas and understand not only what is being done but also why. Discover “who’s who and what do they do” within the Department of Homeland Security and the greater Homeland Security Enterprise. This book provides the most comprehensive overview and most concise resource for understanding homeland security today. Within these pages you will find insight to the most pressing challenges of the 21st century confronting the nation, your community, and you.