Senior Colloquium: Reading Reconstruction

Fulfills Senior Colloquium requirement for History Majors. This course offers senior History majors an opportunity to delve into the historiography of the wartime destruction of slavery and Reconstruction in the United States. By reading a selection of both classic and recent books and articles on the era, students will investigate how historians' interpretations have changed over time--paying close attention to their sources, their engagement with the work of other historians, periodization, regional focus, narrative scope, and approaches to central themes (like freedom, labor, land, capitalism, racism, citizenship, gender, the revolutionary character of the period vs. enduring or changing battles for freedom during and after Reconstruction's end).