Department of History

HSTY 1301. U.S. History to 1876. 3 Hours. [TCCN: HIST 1301]

Students examine the colonial origins of the United States and growth of the republic to 1876. Course Equivalents: HIST 1301 .

HSTY 1302. U.S. History Since 1876. 3 Hours. [TCCN: HIST 1302]

Students examine the history of the United States from 1876 to the present. Course Equivalents: HIST 1302 .

HSTY 2311. World History to 1500. 3 Hours. [TCCN: HIST 2311]

Students examine the history of the world from the dawn of civilization in Mesopotamia, China, India, Egypt, and Mesoamerica through the Middle Ages in Europe and Asia. Topics may include the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Reformation, and the rise of nation states. Course Equivalents: HIST 2311 .

HSTY 2312. World History Since 1500. 3 Hours. [TCCN: HIST 2312]

Students examine the history of the world from 1500 to the present. Topics may include European expansion overseas; imperialism and colonization; the Industrial Revolution; the Enlightenment; the French Revolution; nineteenth century nationalism and democracy; the colonial rebellions in Africa, Latin America, and Asia; World War I; World War II; the Cold War; and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Course Equivalents: HIST 2312 .

HSTY 3300. Historian's Craft. 3 Hours.

Students learn the fundamental architecture and tools of the discipline, including the analysis, interpretation, and contextualization of evidence. Students conduct research in primary and secondary sources, and apply historical writing skills. Course Equivalents: HIST 3300 .

HSTY 3301. Public History. 3 Hours.

Students examine topics in the field of Public History, including architectural preservation and restoration, museum studies, and oral history. Topics vary from semester to semester, but each semester students analyze oral sources, primary textual materials, and historical artifacts of various types, including architectural dwellings, tools, and local and family records. Course Equivalents: HIST 3388 .

HSTY 3302. Applied Public History. 3 Hours.

Students apply the theories and best practices of public history to develop an original exhibit or event for the public. The course promotes the collaborative study and practice of history and may be offered with Academic Community Engagement distinction. Course Equivalents: HIST 3301
Prerequisite: HSTY 3388.

HSTY 3310. African Civilizations to 1800. 3 Hours.

Students examine the history of Africa between 16,000 BC and 1800 AD. Topics may include the historical roots of Africa's cultural diversity; evolutions in agriculture and technology; trade and commerce; the Indian Ocean Slave Trade; and the development of social, economic, and political institutions. Course Equivalents: HSTY 3310 .

HSTY 3311. African Civilizations since 1800. 3 Hours.

Students examine the problems, potentials, and upheavals of Modern Africa. Topics may include the effect of the slave trade on African society, racial conflicts, apartheid, the emergence of African nationalism, the end of white colonial rule, and the difficulties of achieving economic and political stability in contemporary Africa. Course Equivalents: HIST 3389 .

HSTY 3312. Early Christianities. 3 Hours.

Students engage in an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural examination of central themes in the history of early Christianities beginning with the transformation of the Jesus Movement into a separate Christian religion and concluding with the divisions made permanent by the Fourth Crusade. Course Equivalency: HIST 3350 .

HSTY 3315. Middle East to 1600. 3 Hours.

Students examine the political, social, economic, and cultural development of the Middle East from the eve of the rise of Islam through the seventeenth century. Topics may include the Middle East before Islam; the Rise of Islam; the faith and practices of Islam; the Rightly-Guided Caliphs; Shi'ah and Sunni Islam; the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates; the Crusades and Islam; Islam and the Steppe Empires; the rise and apogee of the Ottoman Empire; and Islam's initial response to the encroachment of the west. Course Equivalents: HIST 3362 .

HSTY 3316. Modern Middle East. 3 Hours.

Students examine the political, social, economic, and cultural development of the Middle East since the seventeenth century. Topics may include the decline of traditional empires; the encroachment of Europe; the Eastern Question; the development of nationalism among the Turks, Arabs, and Iranians; Islam and modern ideologies; and the Middle East in the twentieth century. Course Equivalents: HIST 3336 .

HSTY 3317. Silk Roads to Mongol Empire. 3 Hours.

Students engage in an interdisciplinary investigation of the contexts, impulses, and implications of long-distance interplay among cultures in both pre-modern and modern times. Students apply scholarly models of cross-cultural interactions using three specific case studies: the ancient Silk Roads, the trans-Eurasian Mongol Empire, and the trans- Atlantic Columbian Exchange. Course Equivalents: HIST 3358 .

HSTY 3318. Japan: Age of the Samurai. 3 Hours.

Students examine medieval and early modern Japanese history. Beginning with the emergence of warrior bands, students explore how military men established regimes, managed vendettas, and mobilized resources. Topics may include warrior ideology, samurai rule, and the dissolution of the samurai caste. Course Equivalents: HIST 3351 .

HSTY 3319. War & Revolution in China. 3 Hours.

Students examine the profound changes that China has undergone from the early twentieth century until the present day, focusing on the themes of war and revolution. Topics may include the collapse of the old dynastic system, the Japanese invasion of China, the Chinese Civil War, the Cultural Revolution, and protest movements in the late twentieth century. Course Equivalents: HIST 3317 .

HSTY 3321. Modern Asian History. 3 Hours.

Students examine Asian history since the fourteenth century. Topics may include the modernization of Asia and the influence of colonization, nationalism, and industrialization on present-day Asia. Course Equivalents: HIST 3332 .

HSTY 3322. Pacific War. 3 Hours.

Students examine Japan's participation in the Pacific War, and the effect of WWII on Japan and East Asia. Topics may include the rise of militarism in Japan, the Sino-Japanese War, colonial expansion, total war, the U.S. occupation, post-war economic growth, and war memories. Course Equivalents: HIST 3348 .

HSTY 3323. Modern China. 3 Hours.

Students examine major political, social, and cultural developments of Communist China from 1949 to the present. Topics may include the history of Chinese communism, the Great Famine, the Cultural Revolution, China after Mao Zedong, China's involvement in the Cold War, the era of post-socialist market reforms, and its role in the age of globalization. Students also examine how revolution and reforms were experienced by those who lived through them. Course Equivalents: HIST 3349 .

HSTY 3330. Ancient History. 3 Hours.

Students examine the history of the civilizations of the Ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome with special emphasis upon their contribution to the cultural heritage of the western world. Course Equivalents: HIST 3370 .

HSTY 3331. Roman Empire to Byzantium. 3 Hours.

Students engage in a cross-disciplinary investigation of the Roman Empire from Augustus to Heraclius, including the transformation of the Roman Empire into Christian Byzantium and its complex relationship with the rival Parthian and Sasanian Empires based in modern-day Iran. Topics include the multi- and cross-cultural dimensions of Romano-Byzantine society and the generation of a tri-continental Byzantine "commonwealth." Course Equivalents: HIST 3352 .

HSTY 3332. Medieval Europe. 3 Hours.

Students examine the political, economic, social, intellectual, and religious institutions and developments in Europe from the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century to the Renaissance. Course Equivalents: HIST 3371 .

HSTY 3333. Renaissance Europe. 3 Hours.

Students examine the intellectual, political, social, and cultural history of Europe from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, a period that saw, starting in Italy, a rebirth of the values and culture of Classical Greco-Roman civilization. Topics may include intellectual and artistic movements and the profound implications these had for European values, worldview, politics, and art. Course Equivalents: HIST 3334 .

HSTY 3334. Euro Christianities 1350-1750. 3 Hours.

Students examine the religious, social, and cultural history of Europe from the sixteenth into the seventeenth centuries, a period that saw the fracturing of a unified Christendom. Topics may include religious and theological changes and the profound implications these had for European politics, social norms, cultural values, and economic endeavors. Course Equivalents: HIST 3337 .

HSTY 3335. Europe & the World 1618-1789. 3 Hours.

Students examine major developments in Europe and in its relations with the world between 1618 and 1789. Topics may include the rise of absolutism and constitutionalism, development of Baroque and Rococo art, global impact of mercantilist and capitalist systems, changes produced by scientific discovery and Enlightenment thought, and effects of tensions within a society of orders.

HSTY 3336. Nineteenth Century Europe. 3 Hours.

Students examine the history of principal European powers during the long nineteenth century. Topics may include the legacies of the French Revolution and Napoleonic era, the impact of the Congress of Vienna, early political ideologies, Romanticism, the First Industrial Revolution, the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848, urbanization, nationalism, mass politics, Realism, New Imperialism, and the origins of World War I.

HSTY 3337. Austria-Hungary and its Legacy. 3 Hours.

Students explore the history of the Habsburg Empire and its successor states from the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire to the region's integration into the European Union. Topics include nationalism; democracy and multiculturalism; the struggle for women’s rights; industrialization and workers’ movements; Jewish history; war and political collapse; intellectual history; and the Cold War. Course Equivalents: HIST 3356 .

HSTY 3338. Britain to 1714. 3 Hours.

Students examine the development of the British peoples from prehistoric times to the end of the Stuart dynasty. Topics may include the peoples of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Course Equivalents: HIST 3363 .

HSTY 3339. Modern Britain. 3 Hours.

Students examine the effects of industrial change, the enmity of France in foreign affairs, Great Britain's renewed expansion overseas following the American Revolution, movements favoring social and economic reform, and political trends to the present. Course Equivalents: HIST 3364 .

HSTY 3340. British Empire. 3 Hours.

Students examine the British Empire and Commonwealth to the present time. Topics may include the rise of colonial and dominion nationalism, the imperial conferences, and the unfolding of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Course Equivalents: HIST 3381 .

HSTY 3341. Early Modern France. 3 Hours.

Students examine major political, cultural, economic, social, intellectual, and artistic developments in France between 1453 and 1789. Topics may include the crisis of the Later Middle Ages, Renaissance France, the Protestant Reformation and the French Wars of Religion, the French Counter-Reformation, Absolutism, Overseas Expansion, the Enlightenment, and France on the eve of the French Revolution. Course Equivalents: HIST 3347 .

HSTY 3342. French Revolution & Napoleon. 3 Hours.

Students examine the history of France during the French Revolution Napoleonic Era, 1789-1815. Topics may include the military and political history of the era, with a detailed examination of the battles and campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars. Course Equivalents: HIST 3339 .

HSTY 3343. Germany at War and Peace. 3 Hours.

Students examine the history of militarism and warfare in Germany, from the rise of the Prussian state in the eighteenth century through the present. Topics may include the relationship between warfare and the development of German politics, society, and culture. Major historical figures include Frederick the Great, Clausewitz, Otto von Bismarck, and Adolf Hitler. Students examine how contemporary, pacifist German politics emerged out of two difficult centuries of warfare. Course Equivalents: HIST 3359
Prerequisite: Junior standing.

HSTY 3344. Russian and Soviet Empires. 3 Hours.

Students track the complex development of the Russian Empire, its Soviet successor, and the Russian Federation. Topics may include imperialism, ideology, culture, economy, society, war, nationalism, gender, and decolonization.

HSTY 3345. History of Medicine. 3 Hours.

Students trace the history of western medicine from antiquity to the present. Topics may include humoral medicine, bacteriology, gender and race in medicine, public health, pandemics, medical ethics, and vaccines.

HSTY 3346. Medical Violence. 3 Hours.

Students probe the violent aspects of the history of medicine in this class. Medicine has historically demonstrated a great capacity to ease human suffering, but it has also perpetrated prodigious harms. Students analyze the historical contexts that gave rise to violent medical practices and how definitions of violence in medicine have changed over time. Topic may include biological weapons, human experimentation, eugenics, and colonial health policy.

HSTY 3347. World War I (1914-1918). 3 Hours.

Students examine World War I from its European origins to its emergence as a global conflict. Topics may include the formation of political and military alliances; emerging role of the state; role of industrial economies in waging war; home front cultures and societies; major land campaigns of the Eastern and Western Fronts; war at sea; the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, which emerged out of the war; and the complexity of the peacemaking process. Course Equivalents: HIST 3357
Prerequisite: Junior standing.

HSTY 3348. World War II. 3 Hours.

Students examine the inter-war and World War II era from 1919 to 1945, emphasizing the events leading to the war in Europe, the rise of Nazi Germany, the major battles and campaigns in the European theatre, and the aftermath of the war. Topics may include the rise of the Japanese Empire, the events leading to the outbreak of war in Asia and the Pacific, and the major battles and campaigns of the Pacific war through the defeat of Japan. Course Equivalents: HIST 3387 .

HSTY 3350. Aztec, Maya, & Zapotec. 3 Hours.

Students examine the history of Mesoamerica, a broad geographic area comprised of peoples, including the Maya, Zapotec, and Aztec. Students analyze how the peoples of this region accomplished their achievements in architecture, calendrics, astronomy, art, the sciences, and literature. Course Equivalents: HIST 3310 .

HSTY 3351. Modern Mexico. 3 Hours.

Students examine the national history of Mexico from the era of independence (c.1810) to the present. Students explore the challenges that the Mexican people faced after gaining independence, their resilience during years of political and economic change, and the rich culture that has emerged in the wake of those struggles. Attention is also given to the US-Mexican border as a site of complex cultural interaction. Equivalent Courses: HSTY 3351 .

HSTY 3352. Colonial Latin America. 3 Hours.

Students examine the conquest and development of the colonial institutions of Spain and Portugal in the Americas, including the Spanish borderlands as the center of Spanish colonial activity and power in the Americas. Course Equivalents: HIST 3391 .

HSTY 3353. Modern Latin America. 3 Hours.

Students examine the development of the South American Republics from their independence to the present. Topics may include social, economic, and political development. Course Equivalents: HIST 3329, HIST 4395 .

HSTY 3354. Slavery & Freedom in Americas. 3 Hours.

Students examine slavery and other forms of unfree labor throughout the Americas and the Atlantic world from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Topics may include the transatlantic slave trade and Middle Passage; Native American enslavement; enslaved resistance and revolt; economics of slavery; abolitionist movements; the Haitian Revolution; and comparative processes emancipation.

HSTY 3360. Native America to 1840. 3 Hours.

Students examine Native American history from the peopling of the continent to the mid-nineteenth century. Students analyze Indigenous societies before 1500, investigate indigenous people's reactions to European colonization, and Native nations' perseverance as the U.S. grew.

HSTY 3361. Native America sn 1840. 3 Hours.

Students examine Native American history from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Students analyze Native responses to nineteenth century U.S. military campaigns, allotment, and assimilation policies. Students then explore the struggles of twentieth century Native Americans to preserve Native culture, land, and sovereignty.

HSTY 3362. Colonization of America. 3 Hours.

Students examine early American history from the beginnings of European colonization through the American Revolution and the War for American Independence. Course Equivalents: HIST 3376 .

HSTY 3363. Age of Independence. 3 Hours.

Students examine the issues of conflict between English continental colonies and British imperial policy which led to the movement for independence. Topics may include internal colonial conflicts and attempts to solve the federal problem culminating in the formation of the Constitution. Course Equivalents: HIST 3325, HIST 4368 .

HSTY 3364. United States Early Republic. 3 Hours.

Students examine United States history from 1783 to 1877. Topics may include the origins of the U.S. Constitution, the early republic and rise of the two party-system, the nature of Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy, the sectional crisis and the Civil War, and the era of Reconstruction. Course Equivalents: HIST 3377 .

HSTY 3365. United States Civil War Era. 3 Hours.

Students examine the sectional conflicts of the 1850s, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. Topics may include the military, political, social, and diplomatic history of the era. Course Equivalents: HIST 4369, HIST 3380 .

HSTY 3367. Incorporating America. 3 Hours.

Students examine United States history from 1877 to 1933. Topics may include the industrial revolution, Gilded Age, American expansion and imperialism, populist and progressive movements, World War I, Jazz Age, and the Great Depression.

HSTY 3368. The American Century. 3 Hours.

Students examine United States history from the New Deal to the rise of conservatism. Topics may include the New Deal, World War II, Cold War, civil rights movements, environmentalism, Vietnam War, immigration, and the role of federal government in American life.

HSTY 3369. Boomers to Zoomers. 3 Hours.

Students explore the history of the United States from the age of Ronald Reagan to the present, with an emphasis on the people and ideas that shaped this period and the experiences of various generations of young people who lived during it. Topics may include the decline of industry and the rise of finance, immigration and demographic diversity, technology, media and art, political realignment and division, the Cold War and the Global War on Terror, wars on crime and drugs, and social and political activism on issues ranging from LGBTQ+ rights to gun rights.

HSTY 3370. African American Hist to 1865. 3 Hours.

Students examine the formation and expansion of African American identity, slavery and freedom before Emancipation in British North America and the United States. Topics may include West and West Central Africa civilizations on the eve of the transatlantic slave trade, the Middle Passage, the Second Middle Passage, Free Black society and culture, abolitionism, resistance, community agency in slavery, Emancipation and Reconstruction, and the systemic impact of slavery on the enslaved and their descendants.

HSTY 3371. African America Hist sn 1865. 3 Hours.

Students examine the African American experience in the United States form 1865 to the present. Topics may include the various forces shaping race relations in the United States since 1865.

HSTY 3373. Black Civil Rights Movement. 3 Hours.

Students examine the black civil rights struggle in the United States from the late 19th century to the present. Topics include the black response to Jim Crow laws, the emergence of national civil rights organizations as well as local activism and historical events that have served as catalysts for change in civil rights legislation. Course Equivalents: HIST 3322, HIST 4333 .

HSTY 3374. Witches, Quakers, Shakers. 3 Hours.

Students examine the history of US religious ideas, practices, and traditions between European first contact and the Civil War. Topics may include indigenous religions, colonialism, Puritanism, dissent, the constitutional laws on religious liberty, new religious movements, Catholicism, and the Civil War. Special attention will be given to diverse and competing religious expressions. Course Equivalents: HIST 3374 .

HSTY 3375. Social Gospel to Mega Church. 3 Hours.

Students examine the history of US religious ideas, practices, and traditions between the end of the Civil War and the present. Topics may include the growth of secularism, immigration, modernism and fundamentalism, the religious right, and religion during the world wars and civil rights movement. Special attention will be given to diverse and competing religious expressions. Course Equivalents: HIST 3375 .

HSTY 3376. Mexican American Hist to 1848. 3 Hours.

Students examine the history of Mexican Americans throughout the United States prior to the US-Mexico War. Topics may include: empire, borderlands, the rise and fall of native and African slavery, early global economies, mission secularization, and Texas independence.

HSTY 3377. Mexican American History Since 1848. 3 Hours.

Students examine the history of Mexican-Americans in what is now the United States Southwest. The course begins with the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the war between the United States and Mexico and created a Mexican-American minority within the U.S. Topics may include such themes as the indigenous background of this population, the Chicana/o perception of the Southwest as a homeland, and the effect of that perception on the history of this ethnic group. Course Equivalents: HIST 3340 .

HSTY 3379. U.S. Women to 1900. 3 Hours.

Students examine U.S. women's history up to 1900. Topics may include work, marriage, family, sexuality, reproduction, education, and the social forces that have aided or blocked change in women's roles in American society. Particular attention is paid to differences in race, class, and ethnicity.

HSTY 3380. U.S. Women since 1900. 3 Hours.

Students examine U.S. women's history since 1900. Topics may include work, marriage, family, sexuality, reproduction, education, and the social forces that have aided or blocked change in women's roles in American society. Particular attention is paid to differences in race, class, and ethnicity.

HSTY 3381. U.S. South to 1865. 3 Hours.

Students examine the colonial roots of the U.S. South and its emergence during the early U.S. Republic. Topics may include the various peoples and subregions, politics, economic development, culture, society, and religion to the U.S. South in the period prior to 1865.

HSTY 3382. U.S. South sn 1865. 3 Hours.

Students examine the development of the Southern United States from the end of slavery to the present. Topics may include the various peoples and subregions, politics, economic development, culture, society, and religion unite to the U.S. South following the U.S. Civil War.

HSTY 3383. The U.S. West. 3 Hours.

Students examine the settlement and development of the Trans-Mississippi West and its influence upon national and international affairs. Course Equivalents: HSTY 3326, HIST 4370 .

HSTY 3384. Texas History. 3 Hours.

Students examine the history of Texas from precontact era to the present. Topics may include the Native societies of Texas, Spanish exploration and colonization, Mexican independence, the Texas Revolution and the Republic of Texas, the Civil War and Reconstruction in Texas, slavery, immigration, oil and industrialization, political movements and leaders, and the Black and Mexican American civil rights movements.

HSTY 3385. Borderlands History. 3 Hours.

Students examine the history of borderlands, border-making, and border-crossing. Topics may include: legal regimes, labor, migration, human rights, sovereignty, nationalism, borderland typologies, comparative borderlands, territorial conflict, and the opening and closing of borders.

HSTY 3386. Rise of Convservatism. 3 Hours.

Students explore the history of American conservatism from the New Deal onward. Topics may include intellectual roots and traditions, conservative legal and constitutional theory, the demographics, geography, and strategy of conservative politics, conservative media, conservative religion and culture, the conservative relationship to other major political and social movements such as the Black freedom and women's rights movements, and conservative political leaders from the early 20th century to the present.

HSTY 3387. American Immigration. 3 Hours.

Students examine ethnic group relations, nativism, and racism in the historical development of American civilization, with special emphasis on the patterns of assimilation and non-assimilation of ethnic groups. Course Equivalents: HIST 3382 .

HSTY 3388. United Stated Military History. 3 Hours.

Students examine the U.S. military experience, from the colonial period to the present. Topics may include the military, political and diplomatic history of the great conflicts of the United States. Course Equivalents: HIST 3386 .

HSTY 3390. Vietnam War. 3 Hours.

Students examine the United States involvement in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1975. Topics may include the issues of nationalism and communism in Southeast Asia; the first Indochina war between the French and Vietnamese; the United States military effort in Indochina from 1965 to 1975; the postwar political, economic, and social problems in the region; the effect of the Vietnam War on American culture and foreign policy. Course Equivalents: HIST 3361 .

HSTY 3392. Historiography. 3 Hours.

Students survey various historical interpretations and develop research skills. Course Equivalents: HIST 3372 .

HSTY 3393. Environmental History. 3 Hours.

Students examine topic in environmental history including agricultural systems and foodways; the impact of weather and climate on human societies; diseases and natural medicines; the relationship between human societies and non-human animals; capitalism and the environment; and the emergence of conservationist and environmentalist movements.

HSTY 3394. History of Capitalism. 3 Hours.

Students examine economic, social, political, and cultural transformations associated with the emergence of capitalism from the early modern period to the present. Topics may include merchant communities and commercial network; the Industrial Revolution; slavery and capitalism; commodities and consumption; finance banking; labor and labor movements; poverty and inequality; and economic crises including the Great Depression.

HSTY 3395. Working Class History. 3 Hours.

Students explore the history of work and workers. Topics may include the free and unfree labor, the relationship between workers and capital, worker organizations such as guilds and labor unions, the legal and political institutions that shape labor, and the impact of technology, including artificial intelligence, on work.

HSTY 3396. Gender and Sexualities. 3 Hours.

Students examine how the understanding of gender and sexuality differs historically according to factors such as race, class, ethnicity, religion and/or sexual orientation. Course Equivalents: HIST 3327, HIST 4383 .

HSTY 3397. Urban/Suburban History. 3 Hours.

Students examine the growth and development of cities and suburbs in the U.S., paying particular attention to public policy, race, class, ethnic enclaves, and connections between American and global cities. Topics may include major metropolitan areas, such as Houston, Texas. Students conduct research into the city and its surrounding suburbs and locales. Credit 3 .

HSTY 3398. History of Popular Culture. 3 Hours.

Students examine the creation and expansion of popular culture from the mid-19th century to the present. Topics may include the development of mass culture and the ways popular cultural forms such as music, film, television, comics, novels, fashion, and sports reflected, shaped, and promoted American values at home and abroad.

HSTY 3399. Special Topics in History. 3 Hours.

Students examine various specialized topics in history not normally covered in detail by other upper-level courses. Course Equivalents: HIST 3399 .

HSTY 4399. History Senior Seminar. 3 Hours.

Students examine specific topics and conduct historical research, producing an extensive research paper using primary and secondary sources. Course Equivalents: HIST 4399
Prerequisite: Senior standing in history or departmental approval.