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- 13 Colonies: How They Got Their Shapes and Sizes – Online
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Item Number: W25HIST308
Dates: 1/8/2025 - 2/19/2025
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Days: W
Sessions: 7
Maximum Enrollment: 299
Building: Online
Room: (Zoom)
Instructor: Michael Reynolds
Did the colony of Virginia ever cover about half of America? (Yes) Did Massachusetts cover most of the rest? (Sort of) And Carolina? Was it just one single colony at first and not split into a North and South? (That’s right.) The book, “How the States Got Their Shapes,” by Mark Stein, examines these questions for all 50 states. This course takes a look at the first 13. It will serve as a prequel to the “Battles of the American Revolution” course taught for nine years for OLLI at SOU. How every colony got its shape and size has surprising stories, including the wars, economics, and politics of the period. We’ll learn all about them. The course will utilize PowerPoint slides of graphics and photographs prepared mostly by the instructor. The Mark Stein book is recommended but not required; other sources of information will also be included.
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- Gutenberg to TikTok: Media History and Its Impact – In-Person
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Item Number: W25HIST305A
Dates: 1/6/2025 - 3/10/2025
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Days: M
Sessions: 8
Maximum Enrollment: 53
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room D
Instructor: Phil Meyer (he/him/his)
In 2020, the average U.S. consumer spent seven hours and 50 minutes consuming media daily, up 15 minutes from 2019, with 58% of respondents saying that their total media consumption had grown. Most people know very little about the history of media or its economic and societal impacts. Over eight 60-minute classes, students will learn about the evolution of media from the invention of the printing press to everyone having a world of information in the palm of their hand. No prior knowledge is required. No assignments outside of class. No required reading. Topics to be covered include: the origins of print, radio, TV, social media and the size of their audiences; how different types of media generate income; how media is or is not regulated; news vs. journalism; commercial vs. noncommercial media; an attempt to forecast what might be in the future for media. Discussion and interaction will be encouraged, but the course will not be about blame, anger, grievance, opinions, or entertainment.
NOTE: There is no class on Monday, January 20, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day; there is no class on Monday, February 17, in observance of Presidents Day.
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- Indigenous Genocide and US Military Imperialism – In-Person
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Item Number: W25HIST307A
Dates: 1/23/2025 - 2/27/2025
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Days: Th
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 16
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room B
Instructor: Daniel Guy
Learn a more truthful version of American history with open primary historical sources, including settler violence against indigenous people in the 1637 Pequot genocide; Wounded Knee in 1890; militarist imperialism and the killing of brown skinned Morro (Muslim) women and children on the Island of Jolo in the Philippines in 1906; and My Lai, Vietnam, in 1968. Art; first-person testimony; prose and poetry by Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, and Daniel Ellsberg; as well as vintage photography reveal the dark side of our glorious national story. A small class size will allow for thoughtful discussion.
NOTE: This course covers sensitive material that some may find disturbing.
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- Revisionist Video History of Western Civilization – In-Person
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This course will view and discuss Raoul Peck’s video series, “Exterminate All the Brutes.” This series has been called a “revisionist” history of Western Civilization. Peck was interviewed on “Democracy Now” when the series was first released. He is also the director of “I Am Not Your Negro,” a documentary on James Baldwin. Participants will be expected to watch each episode in class, followed by guided, civil discussion. No prior knowledge or outside reading is required. The content to be discussed is primarily the question of the origin, history, and continuity of genocidal practices in the West, and the suppression of those practices in official historical narratives. At the present time “revisionist” histories have come under attack. It is hoped that in this class students will come to see why such “revisionist” histories are an essential part of our education. As James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
NOTE: This course covers controversial material that some may find disturbing.
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- Sapiens: From the Age of Science to the Modern Age – In-Person
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Item Number: W25HIST201A
Dates: 1/21/2025 - 2/18/2025
Times: 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 5
Maximum Enrollment: 53
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room D
Instructor: Bob Wetmore
This course explores the history of Homo sapiens as our species emerged from the Middle Ages and embarked on the age of science, exploration, and conquest of the New World (about 1500). We end up with sapiens in the world of AI and biotech. We consider: Where have sapiens been? Where are we going? What is our place in the cosmic setting? This course is a continuation of the course in the fall, which brought the story through the hunter-gatherer period and the invention of agriculture, but attendance at the earlier course is not a prerequisite. The course is conceived as a deep dive into history involving archaeology, economics, astrophysics, and philosophy. To make the subject manageable, there will be a template, “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,” by the Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari. To help us along, we will hear directly from noted scholars, scientists, and thinkers. The predominant mode of presentation in this lecture course will be PowerPoint and videos.
NOTE: Students should have a copy of Harari’s book, as critical weekly readings will be assigned.
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- The Pig War – In-Person
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Item Number: W25HIST304A
Dates: 2/27/2025 - 3/13/2025
Times: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Days: Th
Sessions: 3
Maximum Enrollment: 32
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room D
Instructor: James Cannon
Would you believe a pig almost changed the course of American history? When a potato-loving British pig was shot by an American settler in 1859, the resulting dispute set loose simmering passions that very nearly led to war between the United States and Great Britain, just as America was on the eve of the Civil War. This course will examine competing territorial claims to the Pacific Northwest and how imprecise language in the Oregon Treaty of 1846 resulted in disputed ownership of the San Juan Islands. Besides covering the conflicting claims to the San Juan Islands, the course will examine: the mutually provocative actions of the U.S. Army and the Hudson’s Bay Co.; and how the disputes (including the pig shooting) were eventually settled; the controversial actions and motives of two Southern-born American Army officers, George Picket and William Selby Harney, who seemed hellbent on provoking war with Great Britain in 1859.
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