U.S.-CARIBBEAN HISTORY: SOCIAL, CULTURAL, & POLITICAL EXCHANGE 1600-PRESENT
HIST 410 sec. 01

The United States and the Caribbean have been connected since before the first European contact, and that connection continues into modern-day. While often overlooked, the Caribbean has influenced and been influenced by the United States, and has played a crucial role in the development of our politics, culture, and foreign policy. From the island of Barbados, where enslaved Africans first touched land in the New World, to Haiti, the first Black nation to earn independence through revolution, resulting in the Louisiana Purchase, to Jamaica, the island whose independence movement inspired Martin Luther King, Jr., so much that he chose to write his final book there, this course will explore the fascinating and surprising shared histories of two seemingly distinct, separate regions. Throughout this course, students will rediscover American history by viewing it through a brand new lens, and will thread the connected histories of the US and the Caribbean together from first contact to the twenty-first century. Students can expect to explore the themes of race, freedom, revolution, labor, and religion as they related to U.S.-Caribbean history. Course meets the History major requirement for Group I; fulfills the Discovery requirement for HP and is Writing Intensive.