Goals Fulfilled:

HIST 151, Historical Inquiry II, which I satisfactorily completed during the Spring 2020 semester, fulfilled my Civitae Pillar course requirement for Historical and Contemporary Insights as well as a major course requirement.

Reflection:

Historical Inquiry II is the companion course to HIST 150, Historical Inquiry I, which I previously completed the semester prior to enrolling in HIST 151. The course concentrated on the evolution of Western civilization between 1500 C.E. and the Cold War of the twentieth century, focusing primarily on the major European military campaigns of the late Middle Ages and the later World Wars.

Alongside textbook and primary source readings, HIST 151 revolved around in-class discussions led by Longwood History Department Lecturer and Professor Kyle Meadows. One of the most interesting aspects of the class was the fact that I was one of only six other students enrolled in the course, so formal lectures often evolved into informal discussions of life in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. Then, in the middle of March, in-person classes were unexpectedly suspended as Longwood closed its doors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While at home, I completed lecture assessments, quizzes, and a major writing assignment for Professor Meadows’s class. The assignment was a primary source analysis on the overarching themes of Charles Dickens’s literary classic, Hard Times, as they pertained to the emerging social philosophies of nineteenth century Europe. Though the semester ended abruptly, I very much enjoyed my time in HIST 150.

A PDF of my analysis, “Utilitarianism, Capitalism, and Exploitation: Grappling with Morality in Hard Times,” may be found below.