History 2276: African American History Since 1865<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n![\"Students](\"http:\/\/jasonhiggins.vt.domains\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Solitude-tour-1024x769.jpg\")
Students on a tour of Solitude plantation on Virginia Tech campus, outside of the Fraction House, listening to Vicky Ferguson, program coordinator at Solitude, telling stories about the enslaved community and the Tutelo\/Monacan people who once lived on these lands.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFrom a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote these immortal words on a few scraps of paper: \u201cWe shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but bends toward justice.\u201d But he did not mean that progress is inevitable in society, intrinsic in history, or even inherent to humanity. The arc bends toward justice because generation after generation of Black people and their allies have struggled, fought, and died for liberation since the birth of the United States. History\/ African American Studies 2276 will explore the social, cultural, and political history of African Americans since the Civil War. From Black Reconstruction <\/em>to #BlackLivesMatter, this course will trace the long Black freedom struggle, studying the victories, the limitations, and the inevitable backlashes. We will examine the anatomy of race massacres, lynchings, and rebellions throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and we will also study mass political movements against state-sanctioned violence and structural inequality under law. A content warning: The readings, films, and course materials will focus on the lived experiences of Black people, who inherently faced discrimination, racial terror, trauma, and violence. But this class will also demonstrate the power of grassroots activism; amplify Black culture, music, art, and literature; and it will highlight individual acts of moral courage, everyday resistance, and the stories of ordinary people who enacted extraordinary social change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nTeaching Resources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\nSyllabus<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nUn-Essay Prompt<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nCalendar of Assignments and Activities<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A student’s un-essay assignment, a digital collage of images, depicting the long Black freedom struggle in America. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nHistory 3254: The Vietnam War<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/jasonhiggins.vt.domains\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Counting-Down-the-days-of-tour-on-helmet-1-707x1024.jpeg\")
Photograph 111-SC-647323; Vietnam….A Sky Trooper from the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) keeps track of the time he has left on his “short time” helmet, while participating in Operation Pershing, near Bong Son; 1968; Photographs of American Military Activities, ca. 1918 – ca. 1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, Record Group 111; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nHistory 3254 will trace the legacies, record the impacts, and make sense of the Vietnam War. In American national memory, the Vietnam War has become sanitized; Dr. King had a dream, we all remember, but most schools don\u2019t teach you that it was \u201cbroken and eviscerated . . . [by] a society gone mad on war.\u201d Students will disentangle the connections between the expansion of the U.S. military power abroad and the restrictions on civil liberties at home. We will explore the roots of revolutionary nationalism and U.S. involvement in Vietnam; foreign policy in the Cold War era; experiences of soldiers, veterans, and civilians on all sides of the conflict; class, race, and gender; the antiwar movement; as well as legacies, collective memory, and lasting consequences. Content warning: Histories of violence can elicit vastly different responses from students and the public today. The consequences of this history have very real <\/em>impacts on many people who are still alive, some you may know personally. Some of you may be veterans, ROTC, or military members. Others may be the grandchildren of refugees, victims, and survivors. Our lives are inherently shaped by the history of war. As an optional final project, students will record oral history interviews with veterans and others whose lives were affected by the war in Vietnam. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nTeaching Resources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
From a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote these immortal words on a few scraps of paper: \u201cWe shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but bends toward justice.\u201d But he did not mean that progress is inevitable in society, intrinsic in history, or even inherent to humanity. The arc bends toward justice because generation after generation of Black people and their allies have struggled, fought, and died for liberation since the birth of the United States. History\/ African American Studies 2276 will explore the social, cultural, and political history of African Americans since the Civil War. From Black Reconstruction <\/em>to #BlackLivesMatter, this course will trace the long Black freedom struggle, studying the victories, the limitations, and the inevitable backlashes. We will examine the anatomy of race massacres, lynchings, and rebellions throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and we will also study mass political movements against state-sanctioned violence and structural inequality under law. A content warning: The readings, films, and course materials will focus on the lived experiences of Black people, who inherently faced discrimination, racial terror, trauma, and violence. But this class will also demonstrate the power of grassroots activism; amplify Black culture, music, art, and literature; and it will highlight individual acts of moral courage, everyday resistance, and the stories of ordinary people who enacted extraordinary social change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n History 3254 will trace the legacies, record the impacts, and make sense of the Vietnam War. In American national memory, the Vietnam War has become sanitized; Dr. King had a dream, we all remember, but most schools don\u2019t teach you that it was \u201cbroken and eviscerated . . . [by] a society gone mad on war.\u201d Students will disentangle the connections between the expansion of the U.S. military power abroad and the restrictions on civil liberties at home. We will explore the roots of revolutionary nationalism and U.S. involvement in Vietnam; foreign policy in the Cold War era; experiences of soldiers, veterans, and civilians on all sides of the conflict; class, race, and gender; the antiwar movement; as well as legacies, collective memory, and lasting consequences. Content warning: Histories of violence can elicit vastly different responses from students and the public today. The consequences of this history have very real <\/em>impacts on many people who are still alive, some you may know personally. Some of you may be veterans, ROTC, or military members. Others may be the grandchildren of refugees, victims, and survivors. Our lives are inherently shaped by the history of war. As an optional final project, students will record oral history interviews with veterans and others whose lives were affected by the war in Vietnam. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nTeaching Resources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nHistory 3254: The Vietnam War<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Teaching Resources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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