MERCIE
Spring 2014 Dr. Oliver A. Rosales,
DST 1011 Associate Professor of History
TR 9:35 – 11:00 orosales@bakersfieldcollege.edu Office/phone: DST 1113, (661) 720-2065
Office Hrs: M 3-4 pm, T 1-2 pm, W 10-11 am and 2:30 – 3:30. Virtual hour TBA
History B17A (31289) – History of the United States – Syllabus
Course Description: This course is an introduction to the history of the United States from European colonization of North America to the Reconstruction. It is also an introduction to ways historians look at the past and think about evidence. There are two main themes. One is to understand the origins of the groups known as European‐Americans, Native Americans, and African‐Americans. Far from timeless categories, these “groups” and their “cultures” were created through concrete interactions among people from Europe, Africa, and North America in the place that became the United States. The second theme is to understand how political, economic, and social institutions emerged in the United States during this period. These require an assessment of what “democracy” actually meant as a series of practices by participants within the context of an economy that depended on slave labor and often‐violent land acquisition, as well as the subsequent implication of such interaction on social institutions.
Required Reading: Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty, volume I; Eric Foner, Voices of Freedom, volume I; William L. Andrews and William S. McFeely, eds., Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
Miscellaneous Rules: Cell phones must be turned OFF during class. NO AUDIO OR VIDEO RECORDING IS PERMITTED. You may take notes on a computer if you wish, but note that access to electrical outlets is limited. You will be asked to leave class if you are found to be messaging, emailing, surfing, blogging, or using electronic devices for other non‐class activities. I am very serious about this academic etiquette. I cannot allow you to distract others
DST 1011 Associate Professor of History
TR 9:35 – 11:00 orosales@bakersfieldcollege.edu Office/phone: DST 1113, (661) 720-2065
Office Hrs: M 3-4 pm, T 1-2 pm, W 10-11 am and 2:30 – 3:30. Virtual hour TBA
History B17A (31289) – History of the United States – Syllabus
Course Description: This course is an introduction to the history of the United States from European colonization of North America to the Reconstruction. It is also an introduction to ways historians look at the past and think about evidence. There are two main themes. One is to understand the origins of the groups known as European‐Americans, Native Americans, and African‐Americans. Far from timeless categories, these “groups” and their “cultures” were created through concrete interactions among people from Europe, Africa, and North America in the place that became the United States. The second theme is to understand how political, economic, and social institutions emerged in the United States during this period. These require an assessment of what “democracy” actually meant as a series of practices by participants within the context of an economy that depended on slave labor and often‐violent land acquisition, as well as the subsequent implication of such interaction on social institutions.
Required Reading: Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty, volume I; Eric Foner, Voices of Freedom, volume I; William L. Andrews and William S. McFeely, eds., Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
Miscellaneous Rules: Cell phones must be turned OFF during class. NO AUDIO OR VIDEO RECORDING IS PERMITTED. You may take notes on a computer if you wish, but note that access to electrical outlets is limited. You will be asked to leave class if you are found to be messaging, emailing, surfing, blogging, or using electronic devices for other non‐class activities. I am very serious about this academic etiquette. I cannot allow you to distract others