United States History and Geography:
Continuity and Change in the Twentieth Century
Major turning points in American History following a review of the nation's beginnings and the impact of the Enlightenment on U.S.democratic ideals; the impact of technology and a corporate economy; the change in ethnic composition; the movement toward equal rights; the U.S. as a major world power; the expanding role of the federal government and federal courts; the major social problems and their causes in historical events; how the U.S. has served as a model, and how it must have an educated populace in order to uphold its position.
- The policies of Presidents Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover
- The international and domestic events, interest and philosophies that prompted attacks on civil liberties, including the Palmer Raids, Marcus Garvey's "back-to-Africa" movement, the Ku Klux Klan and immigration quotas and the responses of organization such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Anti-Defamation League to those attacks
- The passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution and the Volstead Act (Prohibition)
- The passage of the Nineteenth Amendment and the changing role of women in society
- The Harlem Renaissance and new trends in literature, music and art, with special attention to the work of writers (e.g., Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes)
- The growth and effects of radio and movies and their role in the worldwide diffusion of popular culture
- The rise of mass production techniques, the growth of cities, the impact of new technologies (e.g., the automobile, electricity) and the resulting prosperity and effect on the American landscape
11.6 THE DIFFERENT EXPLANATIONS FOR THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND HOW THE NEW DEAL FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED THE ROLE OF THE FEDERAL GOV'T
- The monetary issues of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that gave rise to the establishment of the Federal Reserve and the weaknesses in key sections of the economy in the late 1920s
- The explanations of the principal causes of the Great Depression and the steps taken by the Federal Reserve, Congress and Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to combat the economic crisis
- The human toll of the Depression, natural disasters and unwise agricultural practices and their effets on the depopulation of rural regions and on political movements of the left and right, with particular attention to the Dust Bowl refugees and their social and economic impacts in California
- The effects of and the controversies arising from New Deal economic policies and the expanded role of the federal government in society and the economy since the 1930s (e.g., Works Progress Administration, Social Security, National Labor Relations Board, farm programs, regional development policies and energy development projects such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, California Central Valley Project and Bonneville Dam)
- The advances and retreats of organized labor, from the creation of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations to current issues of postindustrial, multinational economy, including the United Farm Workers in California
11.7 AMERICA'S PARTICIPATION IN WWII
- The origins of American involvement in the war, with an emphasis on the events that precipitated the attack on Pearl Harbor
- U.S. and Allied wartime strategy, including the major battles of Midway, Normandy, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the Battle of the Bulge
- The roles and sacrifices of individual American soldiers, as well as the unique contributions of the special fighting forces (e.g., the Tuskegee Airmen, the 442nd Regimental Combat team, the Navajo Code Talkers)
- Roosevel's foreign policy during WWII (e.g., Four Freedoms speech)
- The constitutional issues and impact of events on the U.S. home front, including the internment of Japanese Americans (e.g., Fred Korematsu v United States of America) and the restrictions on German and Italian resident aliens; the response of the administration to Hitler's atrocities against Jews and other groups; the roles of women in military production; and the roles and growing political demands of African Americans
- The major developments in aviation, weaponry, communication and medicine and the war's impact on the location of American industry and use of resources
- The decision to drop atomic bombs and the consequences of the decision (Hiroshima and Nagasaki)
- The effect of massive aid given to Western Europe under the Marshall Plan to rebuild itself after the war and the importance of a rebuilt Europe to the U.S. economy
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