HIST A175H: History of the United States Since 1876 Honors

Course Outline of Record
Item	Value
Eff Term	Fall 2026
Curriculum Committee Approval Date	11/12/2025
Top Code	220500 - History
Units	3 Total Units (Lecture Units 3)
Hours	54 Total Hours (Lecture Hours 54)
Total Outside of Class Hours	108
Total Student Learning Hours	162
Course Credit Status	Credit: Degree Applicable (D)
Material Fee	No
Basic Skills	Not Basic Skills (N)
Repeatable	No
Open Entry/Open Exit	No
Grading Policy	Standard Letter (S), Pass/No Pass (B)
Associate Arts Local General Education (GE)	Area 3 Arts and Humanities 3A Theory (OC1) Area 4 Social and Behavioral Sciences 4A U.S. History and Constitution and American Ideals (OD1)
Associate Science Local General Education (GE)	Area 3B Humanities (OSC2) Area 4 Social and Behavioral Sciences (OSD)
California General Education Transfer Curriculum (Cal-GETC)	Cal-GETC 3B Humanities (3B) Cal-GETC 4 Social & Behavioral Sciences (4) Cal-GETC 4F History (4F) US1 CSU American Institutions (US1)
Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC)	IGETC 3B Humanities (3B) IGETC 4 Social&Behavioral Sci (4) IGETC 4F History (4F)
California State University General Education Breadth (CSU GE-Breadth)	CSU American Institutions (US1) CSU C2 Humanities (C2) CSU D6 History (D6)

Course Description

Formerly: HIST A175H, History of the United States Since 1876 Honors. Part 1: This course is a historical survey of the United States from the end of the Civil War to the present. The course also introduces students to historical reasoning skills. This is an honors course. Part 2: A continuation of the survey of American history development since 1876. Enrollment Limitation: HIST C1002; students who complete HIST C1002H may not enroll in or receive credit for HIST C1002. Transfer Credit: CSU; UC. C-ID: HIST 140.C-ID: HIST 140.

Course Level Student Learning Outcome(s)

Upon the successful completion of this course, students will display the ability to develop and persuasively argue a historical thesis in a written assignment that identifies and explains major social, economic, political and/or cultural historical themes or patterns that are relevant to the United States since 1865CE.
Students will analyze the impact of peoples and their political ideologies, religions and technology from one geographic region of the United States upon other peoples of other geographic regions of the United States over time, since 1865CE.
Students will analyze origin of major issue or problem in United States history since 1865CE.

Course Objectives

Part 1:\\nDemonstrate the ability to interpret primary and secondary sources and to compose an argument which uses supportive evidence.
Demonstrate an understanding of U.S. History through analytical categories such as race, class, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity.
Analyze economic, political, and cultural developments as well as social movements and assess their historical significance
Analyze the relevance of Modern American History to the present day.
Part 2: \\nDemonstrate the ability to interpret primary and secondary sources and to compose an argument which uses them, as appropriate, for support.
Demonstrate an understanding of U.S. History through multiple categories such as race, class, gender, and ethnicity.
Demonstrate an understanding of America's growth in a global context.
Explain the major economic, technological and scientific developments and their historical significance.
Analyze major political trends, attitudes, conflicts and events--including both mainstream and reform efforts--and explain their historical significance.
Explain the major social and cultural developments, their causes and effects, and their historical significance.
Analyze the relevancy of history in today's world.

Lecture Content

Part 1:

Themes may include but are not limited to class, race, gender, and ethnicity; immigration; systems of labor; intellectual, technological, environmental, social, and cultural history; and foreign relations.

1. Introduction to basic methods of historical research and analysis.

2. Reconstruction and the New South.

3. Immigration, industrialization, and urbanization in the Gilded Age.

4. Closing of the frontier and Resistance of Indigenous Peoples.

5. Progressive Era Reform Movements.

6. Imperialist expansion and emergence of the United States as a world power.

7. World War I.

8. Post-War America and the 1920s.

9. The Great Depression and the New Deal.

10. World War II and Its Aftermath.

11. Cold War Era.

12. Civil Rights Movements.

13. Vietnam, the Great Society, and the Transformation of America.

14. From Nixon to Reagan.

15. Entering the New Millennium.

16. Twenty-first century and the recent past.

Part 2:

Reconstruction (1865-1876)
The Historical Context of Change (1876-1900)
1. Industrialization and urbanization
  1. Sources of industrialization/commercial expansion
  2. Immigration
  3. The changing structure of the city
  4. Consequences of urban and industrial change
2. National politics
  1. Reform movements
  2. Beginnings of a new foreign policy
  3. From isolation to empire
The Quest for Order and Justice (1900-1920)
1. Progressivism
2. The new foreign policy and World War I
The United States in Prosperity, Depression, and War (1920-1945)
1. The 1920s--prosperity, cultural change and government policy
2. The Great Depression and New Deal
3. World War II
The United States Since World War II (1945-present)
1. Building economic security and the affluent society
2. The Cold War
3. The Civil Rights Movement
4. Vietnam War era
5. The Conservative Turn
6. Globalization
7. The twenty-first century and global change

Method(s) of Instruction

Lecture (02)
DE Live Online Lecture (02S)
DE Online Lecture (02X)

Instructional Techniques

Instructional Techniques This course is classified as a lecture course, but instructors will use a variety of methodologies to help students achieve instructional objectives and student learning outcomes. These may include: Lecture enhanced with Power point, overhead, white board, and/or handouts to highlight concepts Audiovisual materials to establish historical context Discussion with full class and in small groups Role playing Group activities Guest speakers Field trips ------- Additional Variations for Distance Education: The online environment will allow students to have expanded access to all of the students in the class. Methods of Instructor-Student communication for a Distance Ed. class include: 1. Use of Camtasia and/or ConferZoom (provided to instructors by OCC) to create recorded lectures and video content. 2. Canvas allows for the use of e-mail, video conference, tele-conference and written communication as forms of regular contact between the instructor and the student. 3. Discussions Boards and Chat Rooms provides an opportunity for students and instructors to discuss issues in a live-format or with a time-delay. 4. Through Canvas, students may be assigned projects for class activities through the use of historical databases such as census records, virtual museums and archives, digitized print, graphic, audio, and video primary and secondary source documents, and global e-communications with subject-matter peers and experts. Specific types and frequencies of regular Instructor-Student communication include: Announcements/Bulletin Boards: Instructor will utilize Canvas' Announcement feature at least every week to communicate class news, assignment updates and grading progress to the students. Chat Rooms: group-ongoing Discussion Boards: Canvas-hosted discussion boards will be maintained by the instructor on a weekly basis, with the intent to have students communicate with each-other and the instructor on formative questions of the curriculum. The instructor will pose questions and moderate student responses, along with regular feedback, as might be done in a live classroom setting. Email Communication: as needed

Reading Assignments

Students will read 1-2 textbook chapters and related primary/secondary source material per week. (54 hours total)

Writing Assignments

Students will write essays in which they apply appropriate historical information in answering questions related to the course objectives/student learning outcomes. Students will write an essay/report in which they interpret primary and secondary sources and compose an argument which uses them, as appropriate, for support. (27 hours total)

Out-of-class Assignments

Students may be assigned homework to help them develop and/or assess their ability to Derive pertinent information from assigned readings Prepare for class discussion Find appropriate primary/secondary sources through library research Interpret primary/secondary sources correctly Manage the steps of a research project. (27 hours total)

Study Non-Contact Hours Recommended

108

Methods of Student Evaluation

Midterm Exam
Final Exam
Short Quizzes
Written Assignments
Essay Examinations
Objective Examinations
Report
Projects (Individual/Group)
Problem Solving Exercises
Oral Presentations
Skills Demonstration

Demonstration of Critical Thinking

Required Writing, Problem Solving, Skills Demonstration

Resources Subscreen

Textbook: Carnes, Mark C. and John A. Garraty. The American Nation. Pearson (2021).
Textbook: Corbett, P. Scott, Janssen Volker, John Lund. “U.S. History OpenStax Free Textbooks Online.”. OER (2024).
Textbook: Faragher, John Mack, Mari Jo Buhle, et al.. Out of Many: A History of the American People.. Pearson. (2021).
Textbook: Foner, Eric, Kathleen DuVal, and Lisa McGirr. 2022.. Give Me Liberty!. W.W. Norton Company. (2022).
Textbook: Kamensky, Jane, Carol Sheriff, et al.. A People and a Nation: A History of the United States.. Cengage (2017).
Textbook: Locke, John and Ben Wright. American Yawp (OER). Stanford University Press (2019).
Textbook: Murrin, John, Pekka Hämäläinen, et al.. Liberty, Equality, Power. Cengage Learning (2019).
Textbook: Nash, Gary, Julie Roy, et al.. The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society. Pearson (2023).
Textbook: Roark, James L., Michael P. Johnson , et al.. The American Promise. Bedford/St. Martin’s (2022).
Textbook: Tindall, George Brown and David E. Shi. America: A Narrative History. W.W. Norton & Company (2022).
Textbook: Calloway, Colin G.. First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of Native American History. Bedford/St. Martin's (2024).
Textbook: Brown, Leslie, Jacqueline Castledine, et al.. U.S. Women’s History: Untangling the Threads of Sisterhood. Rutgers University Press (2017).
Textbook: DuBois, Ellen and Lynn Dumenil. Through Women’s Eyes, Combined Volume: An American History with Documents.. Macmillan Learning (2024).
Textbook: White, Deborah Gray, Mia Bay, et al.. Freedom on My Mind: A History of African Americans, with Documents. Macmillan Learning (2020).
Textbook: Kendi, Ibram X. Christopher Dontrell Piper, et al.. Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. Bold Type Books (2017).
Textbook: Choy, Catherine Ceniza, Cindy Kay, et al.. Asian American Histories of the United States. Beacon Press (2023).
Textbook: Ling, Huping. Asian American History. Rutgers University Press (2023).
Textbook: Gonzales, Manuel G. Mexicanos, Third Edition: A History of Mexicans in the United States. Indiana University Press (2019).

Eligible Discipline(s)

History: Master’s degree in history OR bachelor’s degree in history AND master’s degree in political science, humanities, geography, area studies, women’s studies, social science, or ethnic studies OR the equivalent. Master's degree required.

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