US History to 1877
Explore the incomprehensible devastation, dysentery, and cannibalism that marked early colonization in the Americas and left 90% of some Native American communities dead. From the arrival of the first Europeans to enslaved Americans' persistent struggle to dismantle slavery, the history of the United States through the Civil War is far more complex than our shared mythology allows. Learn about the ways in which Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans came together to create an ideological foundation that allows its inheritors to imagine that we might yet achieve the ideals the Founders articulated but imperfectly implemented.
US History From 1877
At the end of the Civil War, Congress answered the question “Who enjoys the ‘inalienable rights’ at the core of our national identity?” with a series of constitutional amendments. The unfinished revolution of Reconstruction sought to “establish Justice” for four million Americans previously held in bondage. However, by the turn of the twentieth century, White Americans imposed new restrictions on those rights through law and practice. Throughout the United States’ emergence as a global superpower, Americans have struggled to balance liberty, safety, and individual rights. In this course, students will learn how people reshaped the United States through their demands for “a more perfect Union.”
Archival Explorations
In Archival Explorations, students learn and practice archival research while investigating the contributions of people of color to Centenary College of Louisiana’s 200-year history. Using primary sources, students uncover stories that have often gone unrecognized and create a final project worthy of sharing with the larger community. Students choose how to tell those stories: through a podcast, artwork, historical fiction, poetry, or another creative medium. Whatever form they choose, their projects recognize that people of color have always enriched our campus, even when their contributions were involuntary or overlooked. Offered as a local May Module in irregular years. Conveys TREK culture credit. Requires module payment.