Week 6: Rivers to Oceans: The Frontier and the "West"

This week we explore the concept of the "West"--a term we will continue to revisit later in the course. The readings investigate the formation of trading networks outside of the Atlantic World.  We will also explore the impacts of the Great Awakening and the growing divide between frontier and urban colonial communities.

Points of Entry:

Pacific Northwest

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/pacific/

From "Frontier" to "Heartland" website:

http://publications.newberry.org/frontiertoheartland/

Lakota Winter Counts:

http://wintercounts.si.edu/

Thoughts/Questions for blog discussion:

List and analyze 2 quotes from the reading.  What are some of the arguments?  How are they related to the larger themes of the week discussed in class?

Week 5: The Tensions of Colonial Identities

This week we will explore colonial identities through the lens of gendered, racial, ethnic, and religious ideologies. We will also closely analyze some of these themes through the world and words of Olauadah Equiano (see week 4 for a link to the "Equiano Project").

Readings: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

Taylor, chaps. 12-13

Points of Entry:

The Lives of Colonial Cities:

Albany: An Early American City

http://www.engr.psu.edu/MTAH/essays/colonialcities.htm

The Great Awakening

The First Great Awakening, Divining America, TeacherServe®, National Humanities Center

Gender and the Colonial World:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/07/opinion/07faludi.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/06/opinion/saving-private-lynch.html

List and analyze 2 quotes from the Equiano reading.  What is Equiano arguing in these passages?  How is this related to the larger themes of the week discussed in class?

Week 4: The African Diaspora and Indian Country

This week covers the early impact of African Americans and Native Americans in North America. Despite the brutality of slavery and incessant land seizures, both groups produced enduring legacies that survived the colonial and early national periods.

Readings:

Taylor, chaps. 8-11

Equiano, intro.

Points of Entry:

slavery in colonial Williamsburg:

http://www.history.org/almanack/people/african/aaintro.cfm

Equiano Museum:

http://www.equiano.org/about_equiano.html

Deerfield Raid in New England:

http://www.1704.deerfield.history.museum/home.do

Captivity Narrative:

http://www.archive.org/details/captivity_restoration_rowlandson_0912_librivox#

Questions for blog discussion:

List and analyze 2 quotes from the reading.  What is Taylor arguing in these passages?  How is this related to the larger themes of the week discussed in class?

Week 3: Foundations and Formations in the U.S. - Ideas and Goods

This week explores the concept of "conquest" and early globalization. During the 16th century, many Native societies of the Americas experienced various forms of conquest and colonialism. Conquests, though, were sometimes ambivalent and not so clear cut.

At the same time, the foundation of the U.S. is not only built on conquest, but the exchange of ideas and goods.




Points of entry:

"Devil's Miner" website:

http://www.thedevilsminer.com/index_new.html


The account of Cabeza de Vaca, an early Spanish explorer kidnapped and sold into slavery for 7 years provides a fascinating window into the more "ambiguous" conquests that occurred during this period. See the link below for this account:



http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/one/cabeza.htm

Questions for blog discussion:

List and analyze 2 quotes from the reading.  What is Taylor arguing in these passages?  How is this related to the larger themes of the week discussed in class?