This is a continuation of the fall course--which covers Columbus to the Spanish American War.   STUDENTS WILL NEED THEIR OWN COPY OF THE BOOK for this course.  See the "Sources" section.

Publisher’s description:  “Beginning with a look at Christopher Columbus’ arrival through the eyes of the Arawak Indians; then leading the reader through the struggles for workers’ rights, women’s rights, and civil rights during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and ending with the current protests against continued American imperialism, Zinn presents a radical way of understanding America’s history. In so doing, he reminds readers that America’s true greatness is shaped by our dissident voices, not our military generals.”

Each week, students will be assigned readings (usually no more than 25 pages) as well as light research topics and online discussions using Schoology.  Parents will receive a parent link to review the work in Schoology (view is limited to the teacher's posts and your own students posts/work).  Students are given a list of discussion questions to prepare for, and these may require some additional internet research to learn about topics not covered in their book (which is a Young Persons edition).  Once each semester, they are given additional content to read from the adult version of the book (carefully screened for content) and offered using Perusall--a tool they are likely to see again as they get older and facilitates online collaboration on text/literature.

Class time will be a facilitated discussion of the week's readings that ask students to make connections between what they've read, what they've experienced, and what they think about how these all relate.  

The major themes embodied in this course are (adopted from "Teaching with Voices"):

1.  History matters. By studying the historic voices of all the people—the “important” and “unimportant” alike—Americans have a stronger foundation for understanding how and why the past tells us a great deal about the present and the future.

2. No telling of history is neutral or objective. By recognizing that all history, including that found in Voices, is selective and emphasizes some stories and some events more than others, we learn that history is really about making people think, ask questions, and demand answers.

3. History is usually told from the standpoint of the “victors.” By focusing on history only as it is perceived by the “important” people—presidents, general, and other leaders—we do not learn the stories of the ordinary people— folks like you and I.

4. Ordinary people make history. By hearing the voices of “unimportant” people—workers, women, slaves, American Indians, migrant farm workers— we get a more complete understanding of how history unfolded and the role ordinary people played in its making.

5. Injustices are remedied when ordinary people speak up, organize, and protest. By learning about the actions of those who acted outside the bounds of, or in opposition to, “legitimate” political institutions, we get a better understanding of how they made democracy come alive.


SEMESTER TOPICS (listed in the order covered with room to cover more complex topics over more than one week as needed at the discretion of the instructor)

* What we know so far (through this course)
* Class struggle
* World War I
* Jazz Age to the uprisings of the 1930s
* World War II
* Black revolt and Civil Rights
* Vietnam
* Women, gays and other voices of resistance 
* Losing control in the 1970s
* Politics of the 1980s
* Issues of resistance in the 1980s and 1990s
* The "War on Terrorism"
* War in Iraq and conflict in the US