Upcoming Semester History Courses

HISTORY DEPT COURSE OFFERINGS FOR FALL 2025

Whether you’re a major, minor, or just eager to experience the intellectual depth and breadth the study of history offers, there’s sure to be a course (or two or three!) on the list below to interest you.   Most of our courses do not have prerequisites, and many are appropriate for first year students.  (Prerequisites, when required, are noted.)    

REGIONAL HISTORY COURSES
Learn the history of a geographical place during a particular time-period, either broadly (100-level courses) or in closer focus (200-levels): 

HIST 101, The Age of Faith:  Medieval Europe Between Church and State (Prof. Schadler) - MWF 9:30
This survey course will study the development of European civilization during the period c.400 to 1500 with special attention to the rise of the papacy and religious conflict. It will consider the impact of such events as the decline of the Roman Empire, the Germanic invasions, the development of Christianity and the Church, the emergence of feudalism, the expansion of Islam and the Crusades, and the creation of romantic literature.  Cross-listed as RELG 209.  
Attributes: Humanities, INST European Course, MEMS Elective, Social Sciences

HIST 106, Early Modern Europe to 1799 (Prof. Sweeney) – MWF 9:30
Society, culture and politics from the Renaissance through the French revolution.  Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, INST European Course, MEMS Elective, Social Sciences

HIST 117, American History to 1877 (Prof. Bilodeau) – MWF 8:30
This course covers colonial, revolutionary, and national America through Reconstruction. Include attention to historical interpretation.  Attributes:  AMST American History Elective AMHI; Social Sciences DV2; Appropriate for First-Year FY; US Diversity US

HIST 118, American History from 1877 (Prof. Hawk) – MR 3
This course covers aspects of political evolution, foreign policy development, industrialization, urbanization, and the expanding roles of 20th century central government. Includes attention to historical interpretation.  Attributes:  AMST American History Elective AMHI; Social Sciences DV2; Appropriate for First-Year FY; US Diversity US

HIST 120, East Asia from Ancient Times to the Present (Prof. Young) – TF 1:30
This course explores the diverse and interrelated histories of the region currently composed of China, Korea, and Japan, over the past two thousand years. We begin by studying the technologies and systems of thought that came to be shared across East Asia, including written languages, philosophies of rule, and religions. Next, we examine periods of major upheaval and change, such as the rise of warrior governments, the Mongol conquests, and engagement with the West. The course concludes by tracing the rise and fall of the Japanese empire and the development of the modern nation states that we see today.This course is cross-listed as EASN 120. Attributes:  Social Sciences DV2; East Asian Social Sci Elective EASS; Appropriate for First-Year FY; Global Diversity GD; INST Asia Course.  

HIST 170, African Civilizations to 1850 (Prof. Ball) - MWF 9:30
This course provides an overview to the political, social, and ecological history of Africa. We will examine the peopling of the continent, the origins of agriculture, the growth of towns and the development of metal technology. Written sources before the 1400s are almost nonexistent for most of Africa, and so we will use archaeological and linguistic sources. The geographic focus of the course will be the Middle Nile, Aksum in Ethiopia, the Sudanic states in West Africa, Kongo in Central Africa, the Swahili states of the East African coast, and Zimbabwe and KwaZulu in Southern Africa. We will also examine the Atlantic Slave Trade and the colonization of the Cape of Good Hope.
This course is cross-listed as AFST 170.  Attributes:  AFST - Africa Course, Appropriate for First-Year, Global Diversity, Social Sciences, Sustainability Connections

HIST 213, Roman History (Prof. Farrington) - MR 1:30
An introduction to the history of ancient Rome focusing on the rise and fall of the Republic, the Augustan Age, and the Principate. Topics include race, gender, and sexuality. Students develop habits for reading ancient and modern sources critically. Assignments introduce students to the primary tools, methods, and conventions of researching and writing in the field of ancient history.  This course is cross-listed as CLST 253.
Attributes: ARCH Area A Elective, Social Sciences, Writing in the Discipline

HIST 253, Autocracy, Uprisings, and Daily Life in Medieval Ukraine, Russia, and Its Empire (Prof. Qualls) – MWF 12:30
This course will survey the first 1000 years of the eastern Slav lands that are now Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus and the expanding empire of the former into Central Asia and the Caucasus. Students will gain a better understanding of the region’s political, economic, social, and cultural development and how it can inform our understanding of Russia today. We will examine the early formation of multi-ethnic clans into a large multinational empire while highlighting state formation, the role of women, church power, the arts, and nationality conflict. The course concludes with the impending collapse of the Russian empire under Tsar Nicholas II.
This course is cross-listed as RUSS 253.  Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, INST Russia/USSR/Post-Soviet, MEMS Elective, Social Sciences

HISTORIES OF SOCIETIES AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, POLITICS, AND CULTURES
Explore one of these compelling, complex topics from a historical perspective:

HISTORY 211-02, US Constitutional History (Prof. Pinsker) - MR 3PM
This course surveys advanced topics in US constitutional history from the framing of the government in 1787 to the recent past.  Students will study various landmark Supreme Court cases, key constitutional amendments and selected constitutional crises, such as the nation's historical impeachment battles.  Attributes:  Social Sciences, Appropriate for First Year.  

HIST 273, African Americans Since Slavery (Prof. Hawk) – MR 1:30
Focuses on the history of Americans of African ancestry in the years following the American Civil War, which ended in 1865. The course examines several important transformations of African Americans as a people. In the first, we consider the transition from slavery to a nominal but highly circumscribed "freedom," which ended with the destruction of Reconstruction governments in the South. We consider the institution-building and community-building processes among African Americans, and the development of distinctive elite and folk cultures among various classes of black people. We examine the Great Migration north and west between 1900 and 1920, and the urbanization of what had been a predominately rural people. Fifth, we consider the differential impact of World War I, the Great Depression, and the New Deal and World War II on African Americans, and the creation of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950's - 1980's.
Cross-listed as AFST 220.
Attributes: Social Sciences, US Diversity,Africana Studies Elective

HIST 274, The Rise and Fall of Apartheid (Prof. Ball) - TR 9
The peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa in the early 1990s was widely hailed as the "South African Miracle." This course asks why such a transition should be considered miraculous. In order to answer our question, we will begin with South African independence from Britain in 1910 and study the evolution of legalized segregation and the introduction in 1948 of apartheid. After reviewing opposition movements we will move to a discussion of the demise of apartheid and the negotiated political order that took its place. We will examine the machinery and the deliberations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and debate its accomplishments. The course ends with an examination of memory and history.  Cross-listed as AFST 220.
Attributes: Global Diversity, Social Sciences, Africana Studies Elective, INST Africa Course

HIST 277, European Empires (Prof. Sweeney) - MWF 11:30
This course will investigate the building, celebration and dissolution of the European empires moving from the 15th century into the 20th century. Definitions of imperialism as it developed over time will be discussed. The readings look at the effects of empire in Europe as well as some of the effects in the colonies, including works by Christopher Columbus, William Shakespeare, George Orwell, and Chinua Achebe. 

HIST 376, The Holocaust (Prof. Qualls) - TF 3PM
The course explores the causes of the Shoah/Holocaust, including anti-Semitism, the eugenics movement, the growth of the modern state, and the effects of war. Themes will also explore perpetrator motivation, gendered responses, bystanders and rescuers, and the place of the Holocaust among other genocides. Students will approach the Holocaust through its historiography, which will equip them to interpret facts and understand how and why scholars have shifted interpretations over time.
This course is cross-listed as JDST 316 and German 250.  Attributes:  Social Sciences, Judaic Studies Elective, Taught in English, Writing in the Discipline.  

HISTORIES OF SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
 

HIST 151, History of Environment (Prof. Pawley) – MWF 10:30
Examines the interaction between humans and the natural environment in long-term global context. Explores the problem of sustainable human uses of world environments in various societies from prehistory to the present. Also serves as an introduction to the subfield of environmental history, which integrates evidence from various scientific disciplines with traditional documentary and oral sources. Topics include: environmental effects of human occupation, the origins of agriculture, colonial encounters, industrial revolution, water and politics, natural resources frontiers, and diverse perceptions of nature.  Attributes:  Social Sciences, ENST Env Stud Spec, Food Studies Elective, Appropriate for First Year, INST Sustain & Global Environ, Sustainability Investigations

HISTORICAL METHODOLOGIES
Study and practice the skills and approaches historians use to think about, research, represent and write about the past: 

HIST 204, Intro to Historical Methodology (Prof. Bilodeau), MR 1:30   
Local archives and libraries serve as laboratories for this project-oriented seminar that introduces beginning majors to the nature of history as a discipline, historical research techniques, varied forms of historical evidence and the ways in which historians interpret them, and the conventions of historical writing.  Attributes:  Social Sciences DV2; Writing in the Discipline WID
Prerequisite:  One previous course in history at Dickinson. 

HIST 211-01, Archives and Practicing Public History (Prof. Varner), TR 10:30 
This course will explore the practice of public history with a special concentration on archival preservation and management. Through firsthand experience, students will learn the principles, practices, and theories behind maintaining historical records. Archival codes of ethics and emerging technologies in the field will be studied. The class will visit several archival repositories across the region, and students will meet with archival professionals virtually and in person to learn about the types of institutional settings where archives are held. Dr. Lindsay Varner, who will be teaching this course, is Executive Director of the Cumberland County Historical Society.  Attributes:  Social Sciences, Appropriate for First Year
No prerequisite

HIST 404, Senior Research Seminar (Topic:  Jacksonian Democracy and the Imperial Presidency, with Prof. Bilodeau), W 1:30-4:30
In this course we will study the rise of what is called “Jacksonian Democracy.” In 1828, Andrew Jackson ascended to the presidency after losing a deeply contested election in 1824, and he brought with him a sense of populist democratic possibility, anger at his political enemies, and a program that relied on loyal advisors over appointed government officials. In doing so, he attempted to centralize power in the executive branch of the federal government all the while arguing for “states rights.” How did these at times contradictory notions mesh together? In what ways did he and his supporters insist on the political power and dignity of the common man? In what ways were his most salient policies—slashing government monopolies, tariffs against foreign goods to support small American owners and workers, and removing native peoples from lands east of the Mississippi River—a reflection of changing democratic norms? And what did this mean for his political opponents? We will study these issues, and many others, as we analyze the rise of democratic populism and the central part Jackson played from roughly 1810s to the 1830s..  Attributes:  Social Sciences DV2
Prerequisites:  History 204 and a 300-level history course, or permission of instructor