Over the last three years I have taught primarily History 1301 (US History to 1877) and History 1302 (US History since 1877). My sections consistently fill up, and both my completion and success rates are high by college and department standards. I have also endeavored to diversify my classes in terms of content and pedagogy. Below are some of the ways in which I have accomplished this, including thematizing my courses as "Oral History" or "Film in History/History in Film."

"Thank you so much for this semester - it has been fantastic. I honestly can't convey how much I appreciated this class. You created a great environment where I felt open to create something I felt passionate about (I think I just like the creation process). I also now have a relationship with a relative that I wouldn't have had before. The interview experience was nerve-wracking but that and related anxieties were things I needed to get over."

"Professor Davis is AWESOME!! He really opened my eyes to the world of History - I learned things that I don't recall ever learning back in high school. He is very helpful, sincerely cares about his students and is there to help you. I really enjoyed the online group discussions too. Highly recommend him for history or oral history! He's great."

Local Oral History Projects

To date, LSC students have collected and archived a range of oral-history narratives from family and community members in the local area, such as the following:

• Life histories of the Great Depression
• Veteran and home-front experiences of foreign wars, incl. WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq & Afghanistan
• Settlement and development of Humble, TX
• History of local cuisine and food culture
• Immigrant journeys to Houston from around the world
• Legacies of Jim Crow, segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement
• Labor in the Texas cotton fields
• Impact of Hurricane Ike
• Memories of Pearl Harbor, the Cuban Missile Crisis, 9/11

International Oral History Projects

My students have also explored the wider world through the discipline of oral history, producing innovative oral-history projects with an international scope, often in a foreign language. Projects focusing on international historical and political events include the following:

• Erection/destruction of the Berlin Wall and the division of Germany during the Cold War
• Exodus of Vietnamese "boat people" at the end of the Vietnam War (1978–79)
• National Reorganization Process and the "Dirty War" under Argentinia's dictatorship (1976–83)

Assigned Oral History Texts

Assigned Film & History Texts

"I took this class for Honors History and absolutely LOVED this class. He very clearly loves history and inspires that in his students. Class discussions were very engaging and were very helpful in really understanding the parts of history we discussed. Lots of reading but the books were all super interesting."

""Having Davis was wonderful. I was intimidated at first, but upon talking to him I realized that he really cared and that I shouldn't be worried. We went on a wonderful trip to research for our projects, and the sense of community was great as well. Would recommend if you're willing to do the work. A bit nerve-wracking but it's well worth it."

In spring 2017, my honors-level US History class conducted archival research at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. Training students to undertake this type of primary-source research is one of the learning objectives in LSC's social-science and humanities curricula, and a key part of the Honors College experience. I plan to teach another Honors US History course in spring 2019, using oral history as one of its themes. I plan to lead students in future research activities at museums and archives in and around Houston, such as the Houston Metropolitan Research Center (HMRC). In spring 2019, I'll also be piloting with Prof. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, who is the director of the VOCES Oral History Institute at UT, an oral-history project recording the experience of Houston-area Latinos during the Vietnam War (incl. home front, protest movements, as well as veterans). We’re planning on conducting a MIIS (Multiple Individual Interview Session) at LSC-Kingwood or Humble High School. Interviews will be conducted by LSC-Kingwood students alongside some dual-credit students from Quest Early High School; they will be monitored by some of Prof. Rivas-Rodriguez’s undergraduate students. The idea is to build a kind of working relationship and learning/teaching agenda between 4-yr colleges/universities, community colleges, and public high-schools.

This proposed community group with an LSC English professor would be paired with ENGL 1302 at a future date, covering American literature and History through the prism of the last century of American involvement in foreign wars, culminating with a sustained examination of the Vietnam War. From the history side, topics covered will include (but will not be limited to) nineteenth-century imperialism, colonialism (and then decolonization after WWII), and the Cold War; American economic, diplomatic, and military engagement in Asia/the Pacific, from the Philippine–American War at the turn of the century, to the Pacific campaigns in WWI & II in the first half of the twentieth century, to the Korean and Vietnam wars in the second half; and, on the home front, American Anti-Imperialist League and various anti-war movements in the US dating back to the Philippine–American War and WWII, and the role Vietnam played in the Civil Rights Movement. All of these topics and events will be connected to core topics covered in 1302 and will, moreover, serve to highlight the experience of minorities in America’s overseas wars. I might also teach the course in reverse chronological order, or else start mid-twentieth century and circle back. There are many of possibilities.