History of Urban America

Catalog description

Upper-division undergraduate course surveying urban history in the United States from the colonial period through the late twentieth century. Topics include colonial origins, westward expansion, industrialization, technological change, urban social and spatial change, politics, migration and immigration, city boosterism, suburbanization, national urban policy, social movements, economic decline, and central city revitalization, with emphasis on race, gender, and class as key factors in urban development. The course links historical patterns of urban life to contemporary urban issues and includes significant written assignments designed to develop students’ understanding of historical content and the practice of historical scholarship.