Lives of the Enslaved, Led by Daina Ramey Berry, University of Texas at Austin

This course is a study of enslaved people and the ways in which human beings coped with captivity. It is also a course that listens to their voices through audio files, diaries, letters, actions, and silences. Centering on the people of slavery rather than viewing them as objects shifts the focus to their commentary on slavery. In addition to listening to enslaved people, students will have the opportunity to engage some of the most cutting-edge scholarship on the subject. Although the early literature objectified enslaved people and hardly paid attention to their experiences, work published since the Civil Rights Movement and into the twenty-first century offers rich accounts of enslaved life. By approaching the institution of slavery in the United States from the enslaved perspective through firsthand accounts of their experiences, students will have the opportunity to engage a variety of sources, including narratives, plantation records, podcasts, short films, and other media. Some of the specific themes addressed include gender, sexuality, region, labor, resistance, pleasure, love, family, and community among the enslaved.

Origins of the Civil War, led by James Oakes, City University of New York

What was the Civil War all about? The answer lies largely in its origins. This course examines various aspects of what historians call "The Crisis of the 1850s," the crucial decade that ended in the secession of eleven slave states from the Union. Why did they secede? And why didn't Lincoln let them? The readings focus on two aspects of the crisis. We will first review conflicting interpretations of the origins of the Civil War, after which we will focus on specific aspects of the crisis of 1850, in particular the cascading series of events that led to war: the War with Mexico, the "Compromise" of 1850, the fugitive slave crisis, the struggle over Kansas, the Dred Scot decision, the collapse of the Whig Party, the rise of the Republican Party, the catastrophic fissure of the Democratic party, and finally the election of Lincoln and the secession crisis. No one methodology can adequately account for the origins of the Civil War-it requires economic, social, political, and cultural history. 

The American West, Led by Elliott West, University of Arkansas

This course will trace the expansion of the United States to the Pacific, the exploration of the West, the defeat and dispossession of its Native peoples, and environmental transformations unmatched at few if any other places on earth. The history of the West was as well a revelation of the industrial, social, technological, and scientific forces that were remaking the nation and world. Within all of this were compelling human stories and, with Indian peoples, some of the darkest tragedies of continental history. 

America's First Civil Rights Movement, Led by Kate Masur, Northwestern University

This course explores the little-known movement for racial equality in the free states from the nation’s founding to the Civil War and Reconstruction. While the abolitionist movement is a familiar part of many history courses, we’ve known far less about activists’ fight for racial justice in the free states themselves. The course emphasizes African Americans’ leadership in this struggle; the interpenetration of race, class, and gender oppression; the complex history of citizenship; the changing political landscape of the antebellum United States, and the US Constitution.

We’ll explore both small-scale histories and large structural changes. For instance, we’ll look at free Black sailors from places like Boston and New York, whose work brought them to southern ports where they were incarcerated simply because they were Black. We’ll also delve into the movement against racist “black laws” in midwestern states like Ohio and Illinois, examining Black political mobilization and the work of White allies who fought for racial justice. Students will also emerge with an enhanced understanding of the US Constitution, American federalism (that is, the division of power among local, state, and national governments), and the Reconstruction amendments.

History Essentials: 

The Civil War

This course, part of the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s History Essentials series, focuses on the American Civil War, from the breakdown of the Union in the 1850s through the end of the war in 1865, all while examining how we remember the conflict today. Professor Waugh discusses why it is essential to study the Civil War and introduces major themes of the era, including abolition, leadership, conflict, and memory traditions. Those who take the course will gain insight into the political, social, and military issues that contributed to the war as well as learn perspectives of the common soldier, men and women on the home front, and enslaved people. This course examines significant events and major players of the Civil War by looking inward at the power dynamics of the era.

History Essentials: Westward Movement

This course, part of the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s History Essentials series, examines the history of European and Anglo-American expansion into what would become the American West. Professor Scharff begins with an overview of the geographic and cultural landscape of Indigenous America, examining societies of Native peoples across the continent prior to European colonization and the ongoing clashes between peoples. She continues by discussing exploration and settlement, beginning with early colonization efforts, and ends in the twentieth century examining women’s suffrage and the Dust Bowl. The course concludes with the question “What should the West be?” and explores the tragic paradoxes between the displacement of Native Americans and the expansion of land, rights, and freedoms for invading groups of White settlers.