United States History before 1877

This course serves as a survey of the social, political, economic, cultural, and intellectual history of the United States from the pre-Columbian era to the Civil War/Reconstruction period. United States History I includes the study of pre-Columbian, colonial, revolutionary, early national, slavery and sectionalism, and the Civil War/Reconstruction eras. Themes that may be addressed in United States History I include: American settlement and diversity, American culture, religion, civil and human rights, technological change, economic change, immigration and migration, and creation of the federal government.

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United States History after 1877

This course serves as a survey of the social, political, economic, cultural, and intellectual history of the United States from the Civil War/Reconstruction era to the present. United States History 1302 examines industrialization, immigration, world wars, the Great Depression, Cold War, and post-Cold War eras. Themes that may be addressed in this course include: American culture, religion, civil and human rights, technological change, economic change, immigration and migration, urbanization and suburbanization, the expansion of the federal government, and the study of American foreign policy.

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History of Anti-Semitism from Ancient Times to the Present

This course will examine the phenomenon of antisemitism through its various stages of historical development. Our emphasis will be two-pronged. Primary focus will be directed at the intellectual, religious, political, and social roots of Jew-hatred. No less important is the attention devoted to the impact of antisemitism on Jewish life and thought. Our survey of antisemitism and its impact will begin with the ancient period (Egypt), continuing to the late nineteenth century, and will conclude with the roots of modern genocide, the Holocaust, and contemporary anti-Semitism.  Topics include pagan responses to Jews, Christian theological anti-Semitism, the first Crusade, the ritual murder accusation, the blood libel, the Inquisition, impact of the eformation, Russian pogroms, anti-Semitism in America, the Holocaust, Holocaust denial, and Arab anti-Semitism.

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The American Jewish Experience

This course examines the Jewish experience in America from the colonial period to the present. Topics include Jewish immigration, shaping American Jewish social, cultural, intellectual, religious, political, demographic and economic transformations and identities, American Judaism, anti-Semitism, American Jews and the Holocaust, Zionism, and Israel. The course is divided into three thematic units. The first lays the foundations of Jewish settlement in America and examines the ways in which Jewish Americans have grappled with issues of religion and citizenship. The second looks at cultural and political adaptation, historical memory and American Jewish identity. The final unit will examine the evolving place of Jews in the American ethnic/racial hierarchy, often cast as the relationship of Jews to “whiteness”.

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