T/Th 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM; 10/13/2026 - 12/4/2026; 8 weeks
A survey of the history of the United States from the late 1870s to the present. Emphasis is placed on political as well as economic, cultural, and social forces which have shaped the American past.
Course Alignment
General Education Outcomes are the knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes, and behaviors that students are expected to develop as a result of their overall experiences with any aspect of the college, including courses, programs, and student services, both inside and outside of the classroom. The General Education Outcomes specifically learned in this course are:
- Critical Thinking
A survey of the history of the United States from 1877 to the present. Emphasis is placed on political as well as economic, cultural, and social forces that have shaped modern America. Students will examine industrialization, immigration, race and citizenship, reform, U.S. expansion and war, the Great Depression and New Deal, World War II, the Cold War, civil rights movements, and major transformations of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Course AlignmentUsing both primary and secondary sources, students will analyze historical evidence, formulate arguments, explore multiple perspectives, and examine connections among political, social, cultural, and economic developments in U.S. history.
Faculty Contact Information
Tues 1-2:30pm; Wed 2-3:30pm; or by appointment
Course Information
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Distinguish between primary and secondary sources as the foundation of modern historical scholarship
- Interpret primary sources critically by analyzing their historical contexts
- Formulate historical interpretations, both orally and in writing, and defend them critically with reference to primary and secondary sources
- Demonstrate an understanding of the various political, social, and economic movements within the United States, including the origins and development of its peoples and cultures to 1877
- Winning the West
- The Rise of Industrial America
- Life in Industrial America
- The Rise of the Urban Metropolis
- Politics in the Gilded Age
- The Populist Movement
- America Becomes a World Power
- Social Progressivism
- Political Progressivism
- America and the Great War
- The Roaring Twenties
- The Great Depression
- The First New Deal
- The Second New Deal
- The Road to the Second World War
- America and the Second World War
- The Rise of the Cold War
- Cold War America
- The Civil Rights Movement
- The Height of Liberalism
- The Vietnam War Era
- The Rights Movement
- America in Crisis
- The Conservative Revolution
- End of the Cold War Era
- Post-Cold Ware America
- America in a New Millennium
- An Era of Historic Firsts
Course Structure and Learning Approach:
Each week we will meet and have a mix of lecture, discussion, videos, primary-source work, and in-class activities. Students should attend lectures, take notes, read assigned materials before class, ask questions, and engage in class discussions.
| Assignment | Points |
| Attendance / In-Class Activities | 80 |
| Quizzes (4) | 100 |
| Milestones (4) | 200 |
| History Detective Project | 100 |
| Self-Reflective Essay | 20 |
Total: 500 points
Scale: A = 450–500 | B = 400–449 | C = 350–399 | D = 300–349 | F = 299 and below
A: 500-450
B: 449-400
C: 399-350
D: 349-300
F: 299- Lower
Evaluation and Assessment Methods:
Attendance and In-Class Activities (80 points)
You will be expected to attend every class and thoughtfully engage in class discussions, group discussions, and in-class activities. If a class is missed, you are still responsible for assigned readings, films, and other materials discussed in class. Borrow notes from a classmate and contact me if you are unable to attend. At the end of the last class of the week, in-class work will be submitted.
Quizzes (100 points)
There are four quizzes required in this course. Quizzes will cover assigned readings, lectures, primary sources, videos, and in-class activities. One quiz may be made up for an excused absence. Students are responsible for requesting the make-up within five days of the missed quiz.
Milestones (200 points)
There will be 4 Milestones comprising various skill development and learning projects.
Final Project (100 points)
Investigate a historical question that genuinely interests you from U.S. history since 1877. Rather than simply reporting facts, you will ask questions, evaluate sources and perspectives, and develop your own historical argument. Your goal is to answer: "What really happened, and why does it matter?"
Self-Reflective Essay (20 points)
Complete a written reflection discussing what you learned through your research, how your understanding of U.S. history has changed, and how your topic connects to larger historical themes or contemporary issues.
Extra Credit:
Extra Credit will be offered throughout the semester by the professor.
Liberal Arts & Sciences
Dean, Jennifer Huggins; 815-802-8484; R310; jhuggins@kcc.edu; Division Office- W102; 815-802-8700
College Policies, Resources and Supports
College Policies
For information related to the Student Code of Conduct Policy, Withdrawal Policy, Email Policy, and Non- Attendance/Non-Participation
Policy, please review the college’s Code of Campus Affairs and Regulations webpage, which can be found at catalog.kcc.edu under the
Academic Regulations & Conduct Guide.
Resources
KCC offers various academic and personal resources for all students. Many services are offered virtually, as well as in person. Please visit
Student Resources - Kankakee Community College to access student resources services such as:
• Clubs and organizations
• Counseling and referral services
• Office of disability services
• Student complaint policy
• Transfer services
3 KCC Syllabi
• Tutoring services, etc.
Copyright & Syllabus Disclaimer
The materials on this course are only for the use of students enrolled in this course for purposes associated with this course. Further
information regarding KCC's copyright policy is available at https://kcc.libguides.com/copyright.
AI Policy
Text- generating software (such as ChatGPT, iA Writer, Marmot or Botowski) should be avoided. These programs should not be used to evade doing your own work and/or copy text/ideas without proper citation.
In addition, AI programs can have implicit bias, and even present incorrect information.
The course runs October 12–December 4, 2026. Because the class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays, our first meeting is Tuesday, October 13. The schedule below follows the same accelerated 8-week structure as HIST 2513.
| Week | Dates | Theme | Topics | Learning Materials |
| Week 1 | Oct. 13–15 | Reconstruction's Legacy, the New South & the American West | Oct. 13: Course introduction; end of Reconstruction; Compromise of 1877; Jim Crow and racial violence. Oct. 15: Western expansion; Native nations; reservation policy; resistance and the Dawes Act. | OpenStax Ch. 17 review; Ch. 20.1; Ch. 17.1–17.3 |
| Week 2 | Oct. 20–22 | Industrialization, Labor, Urbanization & Immigration | Oct. 20: Industrial capitalism; railroads; Carnegie and Rockefeller; workers, unions, and strikes. Oct. 22: Urbanization; immigration; tenements; political machines; settlement houses. | OpenStax Ch. 18–19 |
| Week 3 | Oct. 27–29 | Gilded Age Politics, Populism & Progressivism | Oct. 27: Gilded Age politics; farmers' movements; Populism; race and voting rights. Oct. 29: Progressive reform; muckrakers; labor reform; women's suffrage; limits of Progressivism. | OpenStax Ch. 20–21 |
| Week 4 | Nov. 3–5 | American Empire & World War I | Nov. 3: Hawai'i; Spanish-American War; Philippines; debates over imperialism. Nov. 5: World War I; U.S. entry; home front; Great Migration; civil liberties; aftermath. | OpenStax Ch. 22–23 |
| Week 5 | Nov. 10–12 | The 1920s, Great Depression & New Deal | Nov. 10: Consumer culture; Harlem Renaissance; Prohibition; immigration restriction; cultural conflict. Nov. 12: Great Depression; Hoover; FDR; New Deal programs and their legacies. | OpenStax Ch. 24–26 |
| Week 6 | Nov. 17–19 | World War II & the Early Cold War | Nov. 17: World War II; Pearl Harbor; home front; Japanese American incarceration; Holocaust; atomic bomb. Nov. 19: Cold War; containment; Korean War; Red Scare; postwar prosperity and suburbanization. | OpenStax Ch. 27–28 |
| Week 7 | Nov. 24 & 26 | Civil Rights, Vietnam & Social Movements | Nov. 24: Civil Rights Movement; Brown v. Board; Montgomery; sit-ins; Freedom Rides; Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts; Black Power. Nov. 26: Thanksgiving Day - no class. | OpenStax Ch. 29–30 |
| Week 8 | Dec. 1–3 | Conservatism, Globalization & the United States Today | Dec. 1: Vietnam's legacy; Watergate; rise of modern conservatism; Reagan; end of the Cold War. Dec. 3: Globalization; 9/11 and the War on Terror; technology; social change; course synthesis; student presentations. | OpenStax Ch. 30–32 Final Project & Self-Reflection due by Dec. 3 |
College Policies, Resources and Supports
For information related to the Student Code of Conduct Policy, Withdrawal Policy, Email Policy, and Non- Attendance/Non-Participation Policy, please review the college’s Code of Campus Affairs and Regulations webpage, which can be found at catalog.kcc.edu under the Academic Regulations & Conduct Guide.
KCC offers various academic and personal resources for all students. Many services are offered virtually, as well as in person. Please visit Student Resources - Kankakee Community College to access student resources services such as:
- Clubs and organizations
- Counseling and referral services
- Office of disability services
- Student complaint policy
- Transfer services
- Tutoring services, etc.
The materials on this course are only for the use of students enrolled in this course for purposes associated with this course. Further information regarding KCC's copyright policy is available at https://kcc.libguides.com/copyright.
|Course syllabus/calendar is subject to change.