People Power Movements in United States History

Catalog description

This seminar course will offer a unique perspective on the history of the United States, focusing on the social movements that have significantly influenced this nation and its policies. We will delve into the formation of these movements, their tactics, and their lasting effects, making the course directly relevant to the social issues of today. We will begin by focusing on a people’s history of abolitionism, beginning with the revolutionary Atlantic uprisings of the 18th century that led up to the revolutionary abolition of slavery throughout much of the Americas. This will lead into course work on the civil disobedience tradition in the United States, with particular focus on the Underground Railroad, the guerrilla warfare that led up to the Civil War, and the general strike of the Black southern proletariat. From there, we will consider how the blossoming of the women’s movement and the workers’ movement in the late 19th century led to the peak of revolutionary radicalism in the United States in the early 20th century, ultimately achieving access to birth control and the New Deal. We will then examine the numerous people’s movements against the mid-20th- century social order throughout the 1960s-1970s, including the Civil Rights movement, Black Power, the LGBTQ movement, the antiwar movement, and second- wave feminism. With these foundations in place, we can then appreciate the ongoing movements of the 21st THE CURRICULUM 148 century, beginning with a focus on the anti-globalization movement at the turn of the century. In our present era, we will follow these currents through movements such as Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, the numerous uprisings of the 2018-2020 period, and contemporary movements against fascism. As a seminar-based course, academic expectations will include participation in daily class discussions, biweekly discussion posts, and…