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At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:
1. Examine, discuss, and evaluate the experiences, roles, achievements, and contributions of
European Americans, African Americans, Latinos, and new immigrants after World War II.
2. Use the social historical approach to analyze the past and identify an awareness of historical
methods used by historians to interpret the past.
3. Identify examples of how class, race, and gender have shaped and reproduced power relations
in American society since 1945.
4. Employ appropriate vocabulary to analyze American political history and political parties
after 1945.
5. Assess major social movements including labor, civil rights, feminism, environmentalism,
religious fundamentalism, neo conservatism, and their impacts on American society and
politics in the postwar era.
6. Compare and contrast different historical interpretations that explain major historical events
and social change over time.
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I. Social History: Methods of Inquiry
II. Study of History: Methods of Inquiry and Promoting Critical Thinking
III. The Legacy of World War II: Race, Class and Gender on the homefront
A. "Double V" and A.P. Randolph's March on Washington Movement
B. G.I. Forum and League of United Latin Americans
C. Bracero program
D. "Rosie the Riveter" goes home
IV. Extending the New Deal Reform Agenda
A. G.I. Bill
B. Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and postwar labor-liberalism
C. Interstate Highway Bill
V. Origins of the Cold War
A. NATO and the Warsaw Pact
B. Global Arms Race
C. Korean War
VI. McCarthyism, the Anticommunist Crusade, and Postwar Liberalism
A. Civil rights
B. Organized labor
C. The disarmament movement
VII. The Suburbs
A. Consumer culture
B. The new Cult of Domesticity
C. Redlining, restrictive covenants, and racial/ethnic exclusion
VIII. The Civil Rights Movement
A. Wartime and postwar migration and the black vote
B. Brown versus Board of Education
C. The Montgomery Bus Boycott and SCLC
D. Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965
E. Equal Employment Opportunity Commision
F. Malcolm X
IX. The United Farm Workers, Latinx, and Hart-Cellar Act
X. American Indian Movement
A. Occupation of Alcatraz 1969
B. Trail of Broken Treaties
C. Wounded Knee 1973
XI. The Cold War in the 1960s
A. The Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis
B. Vietnam: From Dien Ben Phu to the Tet Offensive
XII. Escalation and the Anti-War Movement
A. LBJ and the Gulf of Tonkin
B. Increasing Protests
1. College Campuses
2. G.I. Resistance
3. Chicano Moratorium
C. "Credibility Gap" and theTet Offensive
XIII. Lyndon Johnson's Great Society
A. The War on Poverty
B. Structural inequality and urban riots
XIV. Second Wave Feminism
A. Betty Friedan and NOW
B. Women's Liberation
XV. 1968
A. MLK Assassination
B. RFK Assasination
C. Growing dissent over Vietnam
D. Nixon and the Silent Majority
XVI. Stonewall Riots and Gay Liberation
XVII. The Cold War in the 1970s
A. Vietnamization and "peace with honor"
B. Détente and normalization of relations with China and the Soviet Union
XVIII. Richard Nixon
A. Watergate
B. Expansion of Presidential Power and Constitutional Crisis
XIX. The Carter Presidency
A. Camp David
B. Iran Hostage Crisis
C. Decline of domestic manufacturing
D. Economic decline
XX. The Reagan Era: Rise of Neoconservatism
A. Deregulation and "supply side" economics
B. Decline of organized labor
C. Questioning the welfare state and its impact
D. White flight to suburbs
E. 3rd wave of immigration
F. Intervention in Central America
G. Iran-Contra scandal
XXI. George H. W. Bush
A. Collapse of the Soviet Union
B. 1991 Gulf War
XXII. The Clinton Era
A. 1992 Los Angeles Riot
B. The Information Revolution
C. 1990s boom and growth across the socio-economic spectrum
XXIII. The Bush Era
A. 9/11
B. Patriot Act and the debate over civil liberties
C. Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
D. Housing crisis and economic downturn
XXIV. The Obama Era
A. Obama Care
B. American Recovery Act
C. Social Movements and Divisions
1. Gay Marriage
2. Black Lives Matter
XXV. The Election of Donald Trump
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A History of Our Time: Readings on Postwar America, 6th ed. Chafe, William, Bailey, Beth, and Sitkoff. Oxford. 2003 (classic)
Postwar Immigrant America: A Social History. Ueda, Reed. Bedford. 1994 (classic)
The Unfinished Journey: America Since World War II. 8th ed. Chafe, William. Oxford University Press. 2014 (classic)
Instructor prepared materials