• HIS 320: SL:Leadership In World Biography II Opens in a new window or tab.

  3.00 Credits

  Tennessee Wesleyan UniversityExternal linkOpens in a new window or tab.

  
  Leadership in World Biography is a two-semester seminar course and is the study component of the Higgins Honors Program in Leadership Development. The program provides an opportunity for the most talented students of the College to study together, with a team of faculty and community leaders, the problem of leadership from the perspective of the liberal arts. The backbone of the seminars will be assignments and discussions from masterpieces of autobiographies, biographies, and prosopographies concerning recognized leaders in the fields of politics, business, the military, religion, social activism, science, and the arts. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
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• HIS 341: History Of The South I Opens in a new window or tab.

  3.00 Credits

  Tennessee Wesleyan UniversityExternal linkOpens in a new window or tab.

  
  A study of the economic, cultural, social, and political development of the American South from the Jamestown settlement to the present, with particular emphasis on the origin and continuity of Southern distinctiveness, slavery, the plantation economy and society of the Old South, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the origin and progress of the New South. (Fall, alternate years)
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• HIS 345: Social/Cultural History U.S. I Opens in a new window or tab.

  3.00 Credits

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  A survey of American life and thought emphasizing the origin and evolution of American ideas, practices, and institutions, with specific reference to immigration, social reform movements, religion, education, science, literature, and the arts. Particular attention will be given to the complex interaction between forces of social cohesion and social conflict caused by the rapid social change resulting from urbanization and industrialization. (Fall, alternate years)
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• HIS 361: US History 1914-1945 Opens in a new window or tab.

  3.00 Credits

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  The years 1914-1945 formed one of the most pivotal and fascinating periods of American history. The United States emerged from World War I as both an enormous economic power on the world stage, and an extremely important military power as well. The nation entered the post-WWII era as the preeminent world power in both areas, and ushered in an era that the journalist Henry Luce entitled �The American Century.� Interestingly, however, the years that fell between the two world wars were among the most tumultuous in our history. The 1920s brought dizzying change that shook American traditions to their core, and frightened many in the national heartland. The decade which preceded World War II, of course, left many Americans asking fundamental questions about the wisdom of its economic and governmental systems. As President Franklin Roosevelt came into office in the dark days of 1933, he told the people quite bluntly, �I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day...I see one third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.� Over the course of the semester, we will examine how Americans came to grips with these tremendous national challenges, and how they emerged with a nation which not only recovered, but ushered in an era of unprecedented American prosperity and power.
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• HIS 362: US History 1945-1960 Opens in a new window or tab.

  3.00 Credits

  Tennessee Wesleyan UniversityExternal linkOpens in a new window or tab.

  
  In his best-selling book, Tom Brokaw has called them �The Greatest Generation�: Americans who had conquered the brutal, racist Nazi regime, and now set about conquering the world with their juggernaut economy and unflagging commitment to contain the Communist threat. We built the world�s premier economy while rebuilding war-torn Europe at the same time through unprecedented generosity. The journalist William Luce declared post-war times �The American Century.� But 1945-1960 was full of undeniable contradictions. While wholesome entertainment such as �Father Knows Best� and �Leave it to Beaver� prevailed on the airwaves, many Americans feared a dreadful national moral decay: from the emergence of Marilyn Monroe and Playboy magazine to the Kinsey report on sexual habits to the rising concerns over juvenile delinquency. While most Americans celebrated the massive growth of the suburbs and middle class life, others saw a crushing conformity imposed on themselves and rebelled: from Beatniks to Rock and Roll artists. While we emerged from WWII as the undeniable dominant military power in the world, a sinking dread also prevailed that Communists were in our midst and at our heels. That fear led to one of the most controversial episodes in American history as Sen. Joe McCarthy and others emerged to root out Communism from within. We will also examine the apparently dramatic shift from the conformist, more conservative 1950s to the explosion of the liberal reform in the next decade.
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• HIS 363: US Social/Cultural Hist. 1960-1980 Opens in a new window or tab.

  3.00 Credits

  Tennessee Wesleyan UniversityExternal linkOpens in a new window or tab.

  
  This course will focus on a pivotal period of American history: 1960-1980. It was a time of tremendous change beginning with President Kennedy�s declaration that �we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty� around the world, and ending with the national disgrace of South Vietnam�s collapse and the Iran hostage crisis. It began with high hopes of a nation that seemed so endlessly prosperous that it planned a �Great Society� and ended with a crippling gasoline shortage, rising unemployment, and skyrocketing inflation. If the 1960s was the culmination of liberalism that had emerged in the New Deal era, then the 1970s would pave the way for the conservative revolution of the 1980s and beyond. We will examine this remarkable transformation by exploring such topics as the Civil Rights Movement and many of the resulting movements for change (the Student Movement, the Counterculture, the Chicano Movement, Red Power, Black Power, the Women�s movement, Gay Power, etc.), the Vietnam War and its implications for American society, the Watergate crisis, the rise of Christian fundamentalism and alternative religious movements in the 1970s, the emergence of musical forms such as Disco and Punk rock and what they say about 1970s culture, and the national �crisis of confidence� which President Carter claimed plagued the nation by the end of the 1970s.
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• HIS 364: Reagan Revolution 1964-present Opens in a new window or tab.

  3.00 Credits

  Tennessee Wesleyan UniversityExternal linkOpens in a new window or tab.

  
  Ronald Reagan may just be the most influential political figure of a generation, catapulting his conservative political philosophy to great success in late 20th and early 21st century. So much so, that� as many analysts have noted� he forced even his Democratic opposition to change so significantly that Bill Clinton announced the �era of big government is over.� But at the center of all this may have also been one of the most enigmatic of our presidents. Sharp debates over Ronald Reagan began during his administration and have by no means lessened in continuing years. Was he a genius who engineered a decisive shift in governmental direction and policy attitudes, or a spokesman for far craftier advisors and public relations specialists who surrounded him? Was he man of great moral principles and �family values,� or a mischievous mastermind behind the Iran-Contra scandal? Did he produce a generation of young people today who revere American greatness with his infectious optimism, or a generation who have grown deeply cynical about their democratically elected leaders and government through his largely anti-government stance? We will address not only these concerns, but look backward to understand the context which helped create the enormous popularity of Reagan, and forward to see his legacies.
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• HIS 369: History of American Cinema Opens in a new window or tab.

  3.00 Credits

  Tennessee Wesleyan UniversityExternal linkOpens in a new window or tab.

  
  From its earliest years, motion pictures have been widely recognized as a powerful and influential cultural force in American society. As such, films have been scrutinized by public and civic officials and endured official and unofficial censorship campaigns; many have used films to generate sympathy for cherished causes; many others have rallied to protect alleged moral or patriotic threats agains controversial films. This course will closely examine the history of cinema by viewing a select number of mtion pictures. This course will analyze and discuss these films as primary documents, and ask what those films reveal about the times in which they were created. Cinema will be used as an important prism to view the changing social landscape of the United States in the twentieth cinema.
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• HIS 461: Seminar In History: Terrorism Opens in a new window or tab.

  3.00 Credits

  Tennessee Wesleyan UniversityExternal linkOpens in a new window or tab.

  
  An intensive study of selected topics in history, including research in the materials of history and the writing of analytical reports. May be repeated for credit. At least one seminar is offered each semester. Topics change on a rotating schedule and include the Second World War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Arts in Modern European History, the Protestant Reformation, Science and Religion in European and American History, Chinese Historical Biography, and the Civil War. (Fall, Spring)
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• HLT 161: Environmental & Public Health Opens in a new window or tab.

  3.00 Credits

  Tennessee Wesleyan UniversityExternal linkOpens in a new window or tab.

  
  A study of health problems of community living with emphasis on environmental concerns, prevention and control of communicable disease, available health services, consumer health concerns, aging, and dying. (Fall or Spring, depending on demand)
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