This course fulfilled the Historical and Contemporary Insights Pillar requirement. As is clear by the class title, this course focused on the history of the United States of America between 1877 until the early 2000s. Using our textbook and critical sources, we were able to learn about and understand the importance of events from our country’s past. The class was lecture based but, instead of staring at powerpoint slides and mindlessly jotting down notes, our professor used slides of pictures related to the topics being discussed and wrote key words on the board for us to write down. I found that I prefer this style of lecturing because it kept myself and my classmates engaged in what was being discussed. It was also interesting to see real photos from important historical events because it made them feel more real than a bunch of words on a slide does.

Click Here! HIST 222 CSA 3 – Stella Morris

Stella Morris, Fall 2018: Above is an assignment from this course, known as a Critical Source Analysis (CSA). In this CSA, I compared and contrasted three sources from the 1960s.

Reflection: In order to help us as students learn more about the important historical events discussed in class, we were assigned critical sources to analyze; comparing and contrasting them as well as connecting them to our class lectures. While sitting in class and taking notes is helpful in understanding the course material, the CSA essays allowed us to delve deeper into how the American people were affected by important events in history. Through this assignment, I was able to learn more about relations between the Soviets and the United States post WWII as well as LBJ’s “War on Poverty” during the 1960s. It is these critical sources that truly allow us to see into the minds of those who lived before us; helping us to better understand why our history is so important and why we must continue to learn more about it.