LARTS 369 — Civil War, Reconstruction, and Slave Emancipation

3 credits
Spring
Lisa Andersen

Prerequisite: LARTS 112 . This course explores the role of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and slave emancipation in catalyzing a massive transformation in America’s political economy and social organization. Slaves, abolitionists, freed people, Northerners, Southerners, politicians, workers, women, and intellectuals debated the advent of war, the strategic decisions made throughout its development, and the form of post-war Reconstruction. They advanced social and political movements that were imbued with the war’s legacy. This course will conclude by considering how diverse groups of Americans “” both historians and citizens “” have posited dramatically different interpretations of the war and its significance, often using war memorialization to advance social and political claims.