Spring 2017 Course Syllabi

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Syllabus
Dakota College Course Syllabus
Course Title: HIST 104 - U.S. History Since 1877, Spring 2017
Instructor: Aimee Duchsherer Williamson
Email:
Please use iMail as your primary means of contacting me.
Credits: 3
Course Description:
This course offers students an introduction to the History of the United States from post-Civil
War Reconstruction through the 1990s. This course will follow major social movements such as
Prohibition, Women's Suffrage, Civil Rights, and the organization of labor and agriculture. The
semester will follow the continuing development of America as a nation, advances in
technology, the varied means by which Americans met social and economic challenges, and the
responses Americans had to their changing role in the world. Students will be introduced to key
events, people, and trends fundamental to any course in American History. Within and beyond
these key events, this course allows students significant freedom to explore those areas of
American History of greatest interest to them.
Course Objectives:
This course has three objectives. First, students will be able to identify key historical events and
people and the forces surrounding them. In other words, students will have a grasp of the basic
elements of early American History. Second, students will take from this course the many skills
that the study of History provides. Students will learn how to evaluate sources and how to cite
them. Students will learn how to craft a thesis and support it. Third, students will take from this
course the unique preparation a digital course offers for a digital age. More and more work is
done online, and this requires a new kind of professionalism. The ability to assert one's position
in a credible and collegial manner is crucial to communication through electronic media. Proper
grammar is of the utmost importance in establishing one's credibility in a world where the
written word is the primary means of communication as is the case in digital communication.
Particularly in the online world, the written word represents people. This course is designed to
prepare students for working in a digital community.
Texts:
 Ayers, Gould, Oshinsky, Soderlund, American Passages: A History of the United
States, Vol. 2: Since 1865, 4th Edition, Wadsworth Publishing, 2009. ISBN-13: 978-0-
547-16635-3.
 Free supplemental and primary source materials via the course site.