The goal of the History Department is to develop in students an appreciation of studying the past both for the wisdom it affords and for the ways in which studying history can promote critical thinking, effective communicating, and responsible citizenship. The curriculum exposes students to both the breadth and depth of historical inquiry, and successful majors will be able to demonstrate the knowledge and skills on which the discipline is based. This knowledge and these skills provide an appropriate background for graduate and professional school and many kinds of non-academic employment. See University catalog for full details.

Majors are required to complete successfully 10 or more courses (30 semester hours). The three introductory courses, HIS 111, 112 and 165 are required of all majors. Students who receive at least three hours of either transfer or AP credit for introductory United States History are considered to have fulfilled the requirement for HIS 165. Majors are also required to take History 295, “The Historian’s Craft,” preferably in their sophomore year, but no later than their junior year.

In their senior year, majors must complete HIS 495. Of the five remaining courses, at least one must be taken from the Pre-Modern Europe and Non-Western history courses or Modern Europe history courses and at least two must be taken from United States history courses.

Upon successful completion of the upper-level requirement, majors will be able to communicate a detailed knowledge of specific pre-modern European, modern European, and American historical eras and fields. They will also be proficient in historical methodology and both written and oral historical argumentation.

In their senior year, history majors must pass separate comprehensive examinations in European and American history, each requiring an essay response.

A minor in history consists of at least five courses, three of which must be from the upper division and which must come from at least two of the categories listed above. Minors will be able to demonstrate similar knowledge and skills.

Students who major in history may attain Departmental Honors by earning a grade of B+ or better in HIS 495 and by attaining a grade point average of 3.75 in courses in the major and an overall grade point average of 3.50.

Secondary Teacher Certification Program in History

Teacher certification in history (grades 6-12) is available to history majors. Students planning to teach history in secondary school should notify their advisor and contact the secondary education advisor in Tift College of Education. Additional information is available through Mercer’s Tift College of Education.

Courses

HIS 111. The Making of the West (3 hours)
A history of Western Civilizations from their Near Eastern origins through the formation of overseas empires, emphasizing the distinctive traditions and ideals that have come to define societies as Western.

HIS 112. The West and the Modern World (3 hours)
A globally conscious history of the social, political, and intellectual forces of the modern West. The development of distinct religious, regional, and cultural identities is emphasized, as is the West’s role in shaping the modern world.

HIS 165. Problems in American History (3 hours)
A topical introduction to some of the major problems in American history from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. The course will focus on efforts to deal with a single problem or issue particular to American history. Topics include freedom, religion in public life, war and diplomacy, laws and constitutions, and race. May only be taken once for credit towards graduation. Students entering Mercer prior to the Spring of 2000 who have taken HIS 151or 152 will be considered to have satisfied the HIS 165 requirement for majors.

HIS 295. The Historian’s Craft (3 hours)
Prerequisites: HIS 111, 112, or 165, and sophomore standing.
An introduction to basic historical vocabulary, historiography, source materials, and research and literary methodologies in the discipline of history, with a rigorous emphasis placed on improving writing and analytical skills. Required for the major; majors are strongly encouraged to take this course during their sophomore year and are required to take it before their senior year.

HIS 301. Ancient History: The Near East and Greece (3 hours)
A study of the rise of civilization in the Near East, its flowering in Greece, and its merging into a Mediterranean culture.

HIS 302. Ancient History: Rome (3 hours)
A study of the rise of Rome in the Italian peninsula, Roman hegemony over the ancient world, and the empire’s final dissolution.

HIS 310. The Middle Ages (3 hours)
A survey of the medieval world: the rise of Christianity and the Germanic West; the apogee of medieval civilization with Gothic architecture, scholasticism, and the chivalric tradition; and the late medieval impact of technology, commerce, and the nation-state.

HIS 315. Early Modern Europe (3 hours)
A comparative study of the intellectual, religious, political, and social structures and movements that defined Europe’s distinct identity between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries. Themes include the development of Renaissance thought, conflicts over religion and devotion during the Reformation, the growth of the monarchial state and conflicts between absolutism and constitutionalism, the birth of Europe’s colonial empires, and the rise of rationalism and secularism.

HIS 317. Europe in the Nineteenth Century (3 hours)
A general history of Western and Central Europe in the century after the Congress of Vienna. The course emphasizes the politics and diplomacy of the major European states.

HIS 318. Twentieth Century Europe (3 hours)
A general history of twentieth-century Europe, emphasizing totalitarianism’s threats to liberal institutions and ideals in continental Europe.

HIS 320. Medieval England (3 hours)
The development of England under the Norman and Plantagenet dynasties (1066-1485) with emphasis on evolving political, social, and economic institutions.

HIS 321. Early Modern Britain (3 hours)
A study of the peoples of the British Isles from the close of the Middle Ages through the eighteenth century. Topics include the development of distinct religious, cultural and national identities in Britain, the causes and consequences of Britain’s constitutional conflicts, the quest for a colonial empire, and the origins of the Industrial Revolution.

HIS 322. Modern Britain (3 hours)
A comparative study of the peoples of the British Isles since the eighteenth century with special emphases on the Industrial Revolution and the expansion and subsequent collapse of Britain’s empire.

HIS 324. Sub-Saharan Africa to Independence (3 hours)
A study of sub-Saharan Africa before and during imperialism, with an emphasis on social and cultural history. Literature, anthropology, and sociology are used to examine the effects of European rule on African cultures.

HIS 325. Revolution and Its Legacy in France (3 hours)
A detailed study of the French Revolution, followed by a broader study of how the revolution's liberal, egalitarian, secular, and assimilationist ideals have defined and often polarized public life in France since 1789.

HIS 327. The Rise of Modern Russia (3 hours)
A history of the political, social, economic, religious, and intellectual development of Kievan and Muscovite Russia and the formation and ascendancy of the Russian Empire to 1855.

HIS 328. The Russian Empire and the Soviet Regime (3 hours)
Russian history since 1856 with emphases on social, political, and diplomatic developments, the Russian Revolution, and the rise of the Soviet state.

HIS 330. The First and Second World Wars (3 hours)
An examination of the technology, military campaigns, war aims of the belligerents, and development of strategy and tactics during and between the world wars of the twentieth century.

HIS 332. An Intellectual History of Modern Europe (3 hours)
A study of the Western identity in its rational, romantic, and existential forms. Close attention is given to the relation of ideas to social change since the Renaissance.

HIS 333. Russian History Study Tour (3 hours)
Prerequisite: one HIS course or permission of the instructor.
A study tour to historic and cultural points of interest in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and one other Russian city. Seminars, to be conducted both abroad and on campus, may include such topics as the history of the Kremlin; post-Cold War Russian society; Peter the Great and the westernization of Russia, and the like. Several papers will be required. The travel component of this course may be offered during May Term or between fall and spring terms. If the latter, students will officially enroll in and complete the work for the course during the following spring term.

HIS 335.Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe (3 hours)
An examination of changing notions of gendered identity and authority with particular focus on ideas concerning the body, sexuality, and the family in European culture from the dawn of modernity during the Renaissance through the cataclysmic changes of the nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution. Topics include the lifecycles of early modern people, religious and medical theories relating to the body and sexuality, structures of family-life and attitudes towards domestic violence, as well as the impact of class, nationality, and ethnicity on gender and identity.

HIS 340. Critical Themes in Western Civilization (3 hours)
A course dealing with crucial themes that transcend conventional fields of Western history. The course is team-taught by several or all members of the History Department and will examine themes, common to several historical areas.

HIS 352. Colonial and Revolutionary America (3 hours)
The development of a noticeably American society from its European, African, and Indian roots. Topics include cultural interaction, early Chesapeake and New England settlements, mercantilism, the Great Awakening, and the causes of revolution.

HIS 353. Jeffersonian and Jacksonian America (3 hours)
An examination of the early republic. Attention is paid to political, social, and economic topics, including the Constitution and political parties, reform movements, revivalism, slavery, westward expansion, industrialism, and democratic and republican ideologies.

HIS 354. Frontier and Indian History (3 hours)
A survey of eastern North American Indians and their relationship with Europeans on the frontier from earliest contact to the Indian Removal of the 1830s. Topics include Indian culture and society, changes in Euro-Indian relationships over time, and the impact of the frontier on European-American history.

HIS 356. The Civil War and Reconstruction (3 hours)
A study of the causes of the American Civil War, the major military campaigns and engagements, and the problems of the nation after the war.

HIS 361. The Old South (3 hours)
The study of the American South from the beginnings of European settlement to the Civil War. Slavery, the development of southern culture, and other topics are emphasized.

HIS 362. The New South (3 hours)
A study of the American South from Reconstruction to the present. Race relations, the evolution of southern culture, and other topics are emphasized.

HIS 363. African American History (3 hours)
An overview of the African American experience with emphasis on the following topics: life under slavery; conditions among free blacks during the antebellum period; actions of blacks during the Civil War and Reconstruction; reactions of blacks to the rise of virulent white racism after Reconstruction; and the roots, achievements, and transformation of the civil rights movement.

HIS 365. History of Georgia (3 hours)
A political, economic, social, and cultural survey of Georgia from its founding to the present day.

HIS 370. Intellectual History of America (3 hours)
A study of the main economic, political, religious, and social ideas that have shaped American history from its European origins to the present.

HIS 377. U.S. Women’s History, Colonial Era to the Present (3 hours)
A study of the meaning and place of women in U.S. society from the colonial era to the present by reading major secondary works and selected primary documents in the field. Students will address major themes in U.S. women’s history, including family, sexuality, work, and reform, within the broader context of American history. In addition, this course addresses the historiography, implications, methodologies, and future directions of the discipline.

HIS 380. Changing Interpretations of American History (3 hours)
A survey of American historians and their changing interpretations of the major periods and events in American history.

HIS 401. Practicum in Public History (1-3 hours)
Prerequisites: HIS 165, 295, and permission of the instructor.
A research-oriented internship on a topic of local or regional historical interest, culminating in a written project appropriate to the topic addressed. The course does not count towards the minimum credit requirements for the 30-hour major or the 15-hour minor.

HIS 481. Seminar on Selected Topics in American History (3 hours)
A seminar involving reading, discussion, and independent research of a specific topic in American history.

HIS 491. Seminar on Selected Topics of European History (3 hours)
A seminar involving reading, discussion, and independent research of a specific topic in European history.

HIS 495. Research Seminar in History (3 hours)
Prerequisite: HIS 295
A course restricted to students majoring in history. Emphasizing intensive research conducted by the individual student and directed by instructors, the seminar enables students to compare historical methods and perspectives, examine specific historical problems, and sharpen their skills as researchers and writers.

HIS 499. Supervised Independent Research (3 hours)
Prerequisite: junior or senior status and consent of the instructor.
Intensive reading on a selected topic in an area of special interest to the student. The program of study must be agreed upon with the instructor and cleared with the chair of the department in advance of registration.