Honors U.S. History: Course Outline
Course Overview
The content of this class will be the events of the twentieth century in the United States. Beginning with the dawn of the
1900s, students will examine the economic and political growth of the US and its emergence as a superpower after WWII.
Students will be asked throughout the year to analyze the social effects of these events in order to explain the changing
definition of what it means to be an American citizen. For each decade or unit of study, students will be asked to consider
events through the lenses of race, class and gender. These themes will provide the context in which a complex narrative of
the American people is created and interpreted. By the end of the year, students will be able to reflect on current issues in
the U.S. with a deep historical context and be prepared to reach their own decisions about the future of the nation and take
a position on national issues.
Units of Study
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Tools of Historical Analysis & Purpose: Defining race, class and gender
The Dawn of the American Century & Historiography
Industrial Era: Building American Capitalism (pre-WWI)
WWI: Foreign Policy & America’s Role in the World
1920s: American Culture
Great Depression: Challenges of the Free Market
WWII
1950s: Cold War and Conformity
1960s: Protest, Unrest, Change?
Watergate: Challenges of a Superpower
Reagan: The Right Rises
1990s-present: End of an Era?
Description of Units
Unit: Tools of Historical Analysis & Purpose: Defining race, class and gender.
Investigative Question: How and why do we make sense of the past? To what extent do social forces such as racial
identities, social class divisions and gender norms shape the way individuals experience and view history?
Topics: Students will use multiple historical interpretations (including their own) to develop working definitions of race,
class and gender. Students will explore how these social constructs effect the way history is studied and taught. An inquiry
method of historical analysis will be introduced and students will practice interpreting significant historical documents.
Students will begin to “think like historians” and view history as a shifting narrative that can be told from many different
perspectives. Ultimately, this will be a foundation for the rest of the course, setting the stage for a critical re-analysis of
American history.
Sample Assignment: Using the primary source documents that students read over the summer, they re-analyze the
significance or meaning of the document in light of what it says (or does not say) using the lens of race, class or gender.
Students were originally asked to think about how the document contributed to the definition of “democracy.” Students
will now answer the question thinking specifically about how race, class or gender might shift the meaning of democracy.
Students will discuss the significance of multiple interpretations of the classic documents of the United States.
Documents used: Declaration of Independence; The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, Seneca Falls; “On Resistance to
Civil Government”; The Emancipation Proclamation; The Gettysburg Address.
Unit: The Dawn of the American Century & Historiography
Investigative Question: What factors in the early 1900s contributed to rising political and economic power of the U.S.?
Topics: Students do a brief review of international events to set the context of the turn of the 20 th century. Students also
examine conditions in the U.S. during this time period. This is setting the context for explaining the rise of America as a
superpower. Students consider political factors and national economic developments as well as social conditions for
average Americans, questioning whether the dominate narrative of American strength applies to all Americans equally.
Sample Assignment: Students read accounts from diverse Americans in the early 1900s. They then compare these
individual experiences to the description of America from the textbook and additional “mainstream” historical accounts.
1
Students create a list of things that may be missing from the text as well as connecting how national events affected
individual Americans from different stations in life.
Unit: Industrial Era: Building American Capitalism
Investigative Question: What were the costs and benefits of industrial production in the 20th century before WWI?
Topics: Students study the continued growth of industrial production and free market capitalism in the early part of the
20th century. Students consider the growth of capital and the accumulation of wealth by some as well as the poor working
and living conditions of the working class. Particular attention is focused on the labor movement of the era, and students
identify the varying concerns and objectives of different labor leaders. Students also consider the unique effects of
industrialism, as well as the labor movement, on women and people of color. Students will understand the varying levels of
radicalism in challenges to capitalism and democracy made by unions, socialists and anarchists.
Sample Assignment: Students read campaign speeches by Taft, Bryan and Debs from the 1908 Presidential campaign.
Students contrast the candidates’ economic and political positions and identify what kind of voters would likely support
each candidate. Students then hold a mock debate among the candidates and vote for their choice.
Unit: WWI: Foreign Policy & America’s Role in the World
Investigative Question: To what extent were WWI and the Treaty of Versailles a defining moment for American foreign
policy in the 1920s?
Topics: Students examine the events leading up to the American entry into WWI. Students spend time looking at the
controversy surrounding America joining WWI and then try to explain why so little dissent was tolerated during the war.
President Wilson’s Moral Diplomacy is examined and contrasted with his domestic policies and social attitudes. Students
analyze the failure of the U.S. to join the League of Nations and compare the goals set out in the 14 Points to the stipulations
of the Treaty of Versailles. Students also analyze the new image of America held by Americans, Europeans and colonized
people in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Sample Assignment: Students analyze each of the 14 Points, trying to separate Wilson’s ideology from his rhetoric to
justify entry into the war. Students must argue in a brief essay whether they believe the document to be an authentic
statement of beliefs or a political document meant to gain political support. Were they genuine objective or just a means to
soothe a reluctant public?
Unit: 1920s: American Culture
Investigative Question: What were the contradictions of 1920s culture, particularly for women?
Topics: Students study the youth culture of the 1920s. This begins with an explanation of the effects of WWI on people
coming of age as it ends. Students consider the causes of the generation gap and analyze the changes in fashion, music and
behaviors of the 1920s. Students study the growth of “pop culture” and the significance of the media. Extensive literature
from the era will be read, including Langston Hughes, Dorothy Parker, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Zora
Neale Hurston.
Sample Assignment: Students will deconstruct the image of The Flapper as the “new woman” of the 1920s. Using primary
source images, literature and popular stars of the era, students must argue whether The Flapper image represented
liberation for young women or simply a different type of repression of the female character.
Unit: Great Depression: Challenges of the Free Market
Investigative Question: How did the Great Depression affect communities of color?
Topics: Students will study the banking crisis of the late 1920s and its impact on the newly emerging middle class.
Students will study the effects of the Dust Bowl on rural communities, with particular focus on farm workers. They will also
study the reforms of the New Deal, analyzing their effects on capitalism. Students will also compare and contrast the effects
of both the Depression and the New Deal on Americans of different races and in different geographic regions of the U.S.
Students will use a variety of visual primary sources in order to contrast the propaganda of the era to the realities of life, as
well as examining the boom in movies as a form of escape and fantasy.
Sample Assignment: Students will read accounts of Dust Bowl farmers from the Library of Congress. They will identify
similarities and difference among the experiences of farmers of different races. They will also read about the effects of
white Dust Bowlers migrating to the West on Mexican-American farm workers. Based on their own identities, students will
write accounts of how they think their family would have experienced the Great Depression.
2
Unit: WWII
Investigative Question: What was the significance of WWII on domestic conditions in the U.S.?
Topics: Students will focus on the Home Front during WWII. A brief review (from World History) of the military aspects of
the war will begin the unit, but the majority of study will focus on the war at home. Women in the work place, the role of
African-American servicemen and Japanese Internment will be analyzed for significance in either increasing rights of
minorities or restricting them. Students will study wartime propaganda as a means of reinforcing social norms. Students
will decide to what extent the experience of WWII opened the door for major social changes, particularly in light of the civil
rights movement(s) of the late 1950s and 1960s.
Sample Assignment: Using wartime propaganda, students will analyze the message the U.S. government was attempting
to convey to its civilians. Students debate whether or not the propaganda is effective in accomplishing its goals. Students
identify what groups were not included in much of the propaganda and produce their own piece of visual propaganda.
Student must write an explanation of why such propaganda was valuable for the government.
Unit: 1950s: Cold War and Conformity
Investigative Question: To what extent did post-war anxieties create the “American Ideal” of the 1950s?
Topics: Students will examine the social conditions after the end of WWII. Students will study the Baby Boom, the GI Bill,
the growth of suburbs and the beginning of the Cold War with the Soviet Union as events which lead to the creation of an
American Ideal. Students will assess to what extent that ideal still dominates and question who was left out of this image
and why. Students also analyze McCarthyism and the Red Scare. Gender norms and racial attitudes will also be studied and
contrasted with the American image being portrayed in pop culture of the time.
Sample Assignment: Students will perform a simulation of the HUAC testimonies, using research from the era to recreate
some of the questions and answers given by those brought in front of the committee. Students debate the motives of those
who “named names” and those who risked the black list rather than testify.
Unit: 1960s: Protest, Unrest, Change?
Investigative Question: What forces caused the many social movements of the 1960s? Did these movements represent
rebellion, reform or revolution?
Topics: Students will study several of the major protest movements of the 1960s including civil rights and black
nationalism, the student movement, women’s liberation, AIM, the UFW and Chicano Power and the antiwar protesters. The
focus will be on the specific goals and motivations of each movement as well as the connections among the different
movements. Students will be asked to analyze the results of each movement and protests to assess their significance.
Students will also study the Vietnam War as a defining event for a generation with special attention to the effects on people
of color and the working class. Students will use popular music, movies and literature of the era to trace changing beliefs
about American identity and America’s place in the world.
Sample Assignment: Students will read the Port Huron Statement which established Students for a Democratic Society.
After reading the document, students will identify specific parts of the text that represent the generation gap that develops
between the Baby Boomers and their parents. Using a graphic organizer, students will compare and contrast the
generational conflicts of the 1960s with those of the 1920s. As a final product, students will prepare a brief presentation on
one point of conflict from both the 1920s and 1960s. Students will write a short reflection on whether or not a generation
gap still exists today.
Unit: Watergate: Challenges of a Super Power
Investigative Question: What is the significance of the presidency of Richard Nixon?
Topics: Students will focus on the election and presidency of Richard Nixon. His campaign strategy and political appeal,
including the Southern Strategy and the rhetoric of the “silent majority,” will be analyzed. Students will begin to assess the
long-term effects of Nixon’s administration, particularly as it applies to political realignment and class identification. The
events of the Watergate scandal and the political process that lead to his resignation (just prior to impeachment) must be
deconstructed so students can come to an understanding of its impact on the American perception of government.
Sample Assignment: After studying the Watergate scandal, students create a comic strip explaining the series of events
that culminated with the resignation of President Nixon. As a conclusion, students will discuss the reasons for and against
granting him a pardon. Students then write a memo to President Ford with their recommendation.
3
Unit: Reagan: The Right Rises
Investigative Question: Were the 1980s a time of increased civil rights and democracy or a rejection of the social
progressiveness of the 1960s and 1970s?
Topics: Students examine social conditions in the 1980s, including unemployment, economic changes, decline of big cities
and the increasing appeal of conservativism. Students also study the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and the government
and media’s handling of crisis. Students also take a look at race and class identities in the in 1980s and assess whether
minority groups were making new gains or losing progress made during the civil rights movement. Students also discuss
the changing nature of the American family. Finally, students study American involvement in Central America and its
significance on immigration and demographic changes in the U.S.
Sample Assignment: Using online resources, students examine the birth of rap in the early 1980s. Students will analyze
music from early in the era in order to either support of challenge Chuck D’s statement that, “Rap was the CNN of the
ghetto.” Students compare that music to contemporary “conscious hip-hop” and commercially successful hip-hop and
decide if it still has political significance or not.
Unit: End of an Era?
Investigative Question: What does “the American Dream” mean at the end of the 20 th century? How will this shape the
beliefs and expectations of your generation?
Topics: Students begin with a review of the end of the Cold War with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Students examine
foreign policy events of the 1990s, such as the Rwandan genocide, intervention in Somalia and the Balkans, and Operation
Desert Storm to assess America’s new role in the world as the only super power. Students also look at domestic events of
the era, such as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the L.A. riots and the bombing in Oklahoma City in order to contrast them with very
recent events to find both continuity and change.
Sample Assignment: Students will study the events leading up to the impeachment of President Clinton. Like they did for
Watergate, students create a comic strip and conclude whether or not they would have voted to remove him from office.
They will write a concluding essay comparing and contrasting the two scandals and drawing a conclusion about how the
experience of Watergate may have influenced or shaped the treatment of President Clinton.
4