History (B.A.)
Faculty
Dr. Allen Pietrobon, Assistant Professor of Global Affairs (program chair)
Dr. Mercedez Callenes, Assistant Professor of Global Affairs
Dr. Erin Carriere-Kretschmer, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science
Dr. Kimberly Monroe, Assistant Professor of Global Affairs
Dr. James Stocker, Associate Professor of Global Affairs
Dr. Joshua Wright, Associate Professor of Global Affair
Description
Trinity’s Global Affairs program offers a major program in history; the Global Affairs and History majors may also be combined as double-majors. The study of history is integral to a liberal education. Students develop informed perspectives on the varieties and diversity of human experience and their own historical, social, political, and cultural traditions. They learn to study the past and to make connections between past events and issues of the contemporary world. Through an investigation of human experience, students develop an understanding of diverse institutions, ideas, and values, and, in turn, recognize and deepen their own values and contextual understanding. In the process, they acquire skills of interpretation and synthesis based on systematic inquiry and research, analysis of evidence, and the formation of critical judgment.
Training in history offers a foundation for many different careers. Broad reading, the development of critical perspectives, the discipline of research, organizational ability, logical presentation of evidence and conclusions, intuitive insight, understanding of human nature — all these prepare the student for a wide variety of professions. As a result of this academic preparation, Trinity history majors have pursued careers in law, business, print and broadcast journalism, public relations, teaching, and museum education and curatorial work.
The History Program offers both a major and a minor to students in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Prerequisites for History Courses
Only 100-level courses satisfy General Education Curriculum requirements.
200-level courses do not have pre-requisites and are open to all interested students.
Most 300-and 400-level courses require a research paper; therefore, familiarity with historical methodology is highly recommended.
Major Requirements
Required Courses (35 credits)
Students majoring in history must take the following distribution of courses at the 200-level or above. Within the Global Affairs program, students at Trinity may also earn a major in history by fulfilling the following requirements.
History Courses (27 credits)
- Five History courses at the 200-level or higher
- Four History courses at the 300-level or higher
Two Mentorship Courses (2 credits)
- GLBL 221 Global Affairs Mentorship IExplores career paths, experiential learning, and professional skills necessary for success in the field of global affairs. Should be taken in the second semester of sophomore year or first semester of junior year.
1 Credit
Prerequisites: None
- GLBL 222 Global Affairs Mentorship IIEngages students in guided preparation for professional and career opportunities outside of the classroom. Taken in second semester of junior year or first semester of senior year.
1 Credit
Prerequisites: None
One Applied Skills Course (3 credits)
- GLBL 491 InternshipProvides students in global affairs disciplines (including history and political science) with the opportunity to pursue an internship in the field of international affairs under the direction of a faculty member. Formerly INS 384 Internship in International Studies, INAF 491 Internship, POLS 491 Internship, HIS 491 Internship.
3 credits Internship
- Trinity Partnership Experience
- Study Abroad
Senior Seminar (3 credits; students double majoring in GLBL or Politics & Policy need only take senior seminar once)
- GLBL 499 Senior Seminar: Global AffairsProvides an opportunity for seniors in global affairs, history and political science compose their senior theses. Explores contemporary global issues through a wide range of sources and disciplinary perspectives. Formerly INS 481 Senior Seminar: International Studies, POLS 499: Senior Seminar; HIS 466: Senior Seminar.
3 credits
Pre-requisite: GLBL 201 Senior Seminar
Capstone Project
Where applicable, interdisciplinary courses may also fulfill requirements.
Minor Requirements
Required Courses (18 credits)
Students may earn a minor in history by taking any 18-credits of history courses at the 200-level or higher. If the student is a GLBL major, no more than six of these credits may be counted towards both the GLBL major and the history minor.
Program Policies
Advanced Placement:
A score of 4 or 5 on the AP examination is accepted for credit toward the degree. AP credit does not fulfill FLC, Core, major, or minor requirements.
CLEP Policy:
CLEP credit is not accepted to fulfill history major or minor requirements.
Grades in Major and Minor Courses:
Students are required to maintain an average of “C” (2.0) or better in the major and minor. All courses for the major or minor require a “C-“ or better.
Pass/No Pass:
With the exception of internships, courses fulfilling a major or minor requirement may not be taken pass/no pass
Senior Assessment:
To complete their comprehensive examination requirement, students will present their senior project (written during the Senior Seminar) before two professors. Generally, the student will briefly present their research question, arguments, evidence, and conclusions, then will respond to questions from the professors and other students present. In addition, students are highly encouraged to present their research at Research Day and in other public forums, including conferences on undergraduate research. With guidance from Global Affairs faculty, they may also wish to submit their work to undergraduate research journals.
Study Abroad:
To support their major, students are encouraged to study abroad, preferably in their junior year.
TELL Policy:
TELL credits may count towards the major if the student is able to document active participation in an event, movement, or issue that has shaped contemporary history.
Transfer Credits:
Students may apply transfer credits toward the major in history if the accepted courses parallel courses required for the major at Trinity. In all, transfer students must complete a minimum of 15 credits in history at Trinity, including a colloquium or seminar.
Course Descriptions
HIS 128 Creation of the Atlantic WorldExamines the contacts and interactions that shaped the culture and history of the ?Atlantic World?, the vast pathway linking Africa, the Americas, and Europe after Europeans crossed the ocean in the 15th century. Tells the story of the peoples who moved across the Atlantic and the ideas, texts, goods, and microbes they carried - all of which changed the course of human history. Explores cultural collisions between Africans, Indigenous populations, and Europeans while examining the early political, cultural, and economic development of Africa, South America, the Caribbean basin, Canada, and the United States.
3 credits
General Education: Knowledge and Inquiry Area
FLC Area II, History Cluster
HIS 130 Introduction to American CivilizationsExplores the major themes that have shaped the American experience from the Colonial period to 1890. Topics include the Age of Exploration and Discovery, the American Revolution, the causes of the Civil War, and industrialization and urbanization.
3 credits
General Education Curriculum: Knowledge and Inquiry
FLC Area II, History Cluster
HIS 132 Twentieth Century United StatesIntroduces the critical issues of 20th-century United States, including the transition to a post-industrial society, the challenge of the Civil Rights and feminist movements, the development of the modern welfare state, and the consequences of the United States' role as a global superpower.
3 credits
Core Area II: Understanding Self and Society
General Education: Knowledge & Inquiry
HIS 133
HIS 138 The African DiasporaExplores the collective historical and contemporary experiences of the African Diaspora. Examine the social, cultural and political relationships between Black communities, knowledge, and movements across the Diaspora. Examines the interwoven concepts of memory, culture and resistance, and span themes such as consciousness of Africa; the Haitian Revolution and resistance to slavery; African cultural transformation in the Americas; maroonage; Garvey and the UNIA; pan-African movements and global liberation struggles; women and resistance; Black Power, and issues of identity and race. Explore primary sources, historical terminology and themes and practices of the African Diaspora. Introduces students to major scholars of the African Diaspora through readings, films, group projects, and guest lectures.
3 credits
Core Area II: Understanding Self and Society
General Education: Knowledge and Inquiry
HIS 210
HIS 231
HIS 238 Washington, DC: People/PlacesExperience Unlimited: The Cultural Politics of Washington, DC. This interdisciplinary course introduces the cultural history of Washington, DC., tracing the city?s growth from slave trade center to becoming the nation?s first-majority black city in the late 1960s. Considers how the 1968 race riots, political battles for statehood, drug war of the 1980s-1990s, gentrification and immigration transformed the Capital from ?Chocolate City? to cosmopolitan status. Assesses impacts of local issues of class inequality, crime, education, LGBTQ rights; compares the city?s transformation with adjacent communities in the broader DMV. Explores significant DC landmarks, neighborhoods, museums, embassies, churches, individuals, sports teams, and cultural expressions such as Go-Go music, cuisines (mumbo sauce), and fashions. Also emphasizes critical inquiry about one?s environment, data collection and analysis, and communicating results. 3 credits General Education: Knowledge and Inquiry Area FLC Area II, History Cluster
HIS 239 HerStory: Trinity Oral HistoryIntroduces the academic field of oral history. Explores how oral histories represent unique historical sources both similar to and different from other more traditional sources, such as written documents. Defines goals, aims, and guidelines for the practice of oral history and how it has evolved, including use of technology, production of oral history transcripts, ethical issues, advocacy, digital humanities, and more. Offers exciting opportunities for nascent oral historians on a variety of projects.
3 credits
Prerequisites: None
HIS 241 US to1865: America Comes of AgeIntroduces the history of the United States from pre-Columbian times to 1865. Covers topics such as the Columbian exchange, European colonization of the New World, trans-Atlanticslavery, the causes and consequences of the US War of Independence, the negotiation of the US constitution, industrialization, women?s rights, the family, westward expansion, slave rebellions, the evolution of sectional conflict, and the US Civil War.
3 credits
HIS 242 Civil War to SuperpowerStudies the growth and development of the United States in the years after the U.S. Civil War. Explores American industrialization and urbanization and the growing wealth, gender, and racial inequality after 1865. Deals with major historical conflicts involving economic, political, social, racial & gender issues such as women winning the vote, Prohibition, the Great Depression, the African-American experience during WWII and the Civil Rights era. Explores political changes between the 1960s and 1980s and looks at U.S. actions in the world as it rises to superpower status after WWII. Examines how various people, ideas, and events influenced the development of the United States after 1865. *3 credits
HIS 251 The Western World in CrisisExploring selected events in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America, this course studies the significant societal changes that followed World War Two, including the emergence of the civil rights, and women?s movements; decolonization and the remaking of international politics; the reconfiguration of work, consumption, and the economy; and the political challenge of Communism. Students will explore how individuals, groups, institutions, and cultural forces shaped the development of ?Western? society by paying close attention to the everyday experience of these changes and to the intersection of politics, economics, and social movements. Students will deepen their understanding of the craft of history by sharpening their critical reading, writing, and analytical skills.
HIS 255
HIS 314 Modern Latin AmericaThis course traces the modern history of Latin America, focusing on the 19th and 20th centuries. Issues to be considered include Latin America in the global economy, relations between Latin America and the U.S., dictatorships and democracies in the twentieth century, Indigenous cultures, national revolutions in Mexico, Cuba, and Central America, and Latin American identity. Cross-listed with INAF 314.
3 credits
Prerequisites: None
HIS 317 The Cold War and Its LegaciesExamines the Cold War, the world order that it created, and its enduring effects on contemporary international issues, with particular emphases on its social, political, and economic contexts. Among questions to be addressed are: What events and ideas provoked the Cold War? How did the Cold War shape international political and economic institutions? How did advances in science and technology helpfuel a global arms race? How did the Cold War condition society and culture? What traces of the Cold War continue to influence world politics in the early 21st century? Formerly SCC 317 - The Cold War and Its Legacies.
3 credits
Prerequisites: None
HIS 337 The United States 1789-1865Studies the evolution of United States political and constitutional institutions, emphasizing the presidency, the extraconstitutional emergence of political parties, and the political implications of economic policy. Chronological development highlights the Federalist achievement, Jeffersonian period, the Market Revolution, and the causes leading to the Civil War.
3 credits
HIS 338 United States Comes of Age, 1865-1941Studies the political and economic consequences of the evolution of the United States to an urbanized, industrialized society, the dilemmas of Reconstruction, the formation of a national economy, the politics of equilibrium from 1865-1896, the Progressive Movement, the New Deal, and the emergence of the United States as a world power.
3 credits
HIS 339 African American HistorySurveys African American history. Topics covered include the impact of slavery and the consequences of Reconstruction, with a major emphasis on the social and intellectual history of African-Americans since 1877.
3 credits
HIS 342 The United States Since 1945Studies the end of World War II and the development of nuclear weapons, the Cold War, McCarthyism, the Civil Rights movement, the Great Society, Vietnam, the Reagan years, US global leadership in the post Cold War era. Formerly HIS 342 - US History from 1946-1988.
3 credits
Prerequisites: None
HIS 343 20th Century African American Liberation MovementsExamines the nineteenth-century origins of African American protest; provides an in-depth exploration of the earliest national protest organizations, the prologue to the Movement in the 1930's and 1940's, the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1965, the Black Power Movement, changing strategies after 1970; special emphasis on the role of women from the 1890's to the present.
3 credits
HIS 344A African American Women's HistoryExplores the history of African American Women from the years of slavery to the present, emphasizing their influence in the creation of African American culture. Topics include the experience of African American women as workers, as individuals in their communities, as intellectuals, and as leaders in reform movements and political organizations.
3 credits
HIS 345 The Civil Rights Movement in the Twentieth CenturyThis course explores the origins, evolution, and consequences of the Civil Rights Movement from the beginning of the twentieth century through the Black Power Movement and the liberation movements of the 1970's.Topics include the origins of protest in the 1890's and the first decade of the twentieth century, the transition from protest to resistance in the social movements of the 1930's and 1940's, the emergence of the mass movements of the 1950's and 1960's, and the Black Power Movement.
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: None
General Education: Civic Knowledge
HIS 358 The Modern Middle EastSurveys the Middle Eastern world from the 18th to the 21st century. Topics include the Islamic heritage, imperialism and the growth of nationalism, the struggle for independence, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the tension between tradition and modernity.
3 credits
HIS 362
HIS 363
HIS 365 The Great American Road TripExamines American history through the lens of travel narratives. Topics focus on the Underground Railroad, the settlement of the West and the modern cross-country road trip. Highlights female voices and those of African Americans, Native Americans, and stories of internal or cross-border migration. Explores why these stories are so popular in the U.S. and what they can teach us about American history, culture, and society.
3 credits
HIS 369
HIS 371 Modern AfricaTraces the modern history of Africa from the eve of colonial rule to the early post independence period. Central themes the course considers include: the role of gender in the experiences of ordinary men and women; the European scramble for Africa and African responses; colonial rule; African independence movements; the development of African nationalism; and post-colonial challenges.
3 credits
HIS 393
HIS 399
HIS 485