History Courses

These listings are sourced from Curricunet, and some courses may not be offered every semester. For additional information, contact the academic department, speak with counseling or refer to the current Class Schedule and College Catalog.

HIS 1 - History of Western Civilization to 1600    ( 3.00 - Units )
This course covers the origin and development of civilization in the Mediterranean and its expansion into Europe - the Near East, Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, Renaissance and the Reformation. Influences in religion, culture, technology and political structures that develop into European society of the early modern period will be studied.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change.
  2. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them.
  3. Demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time.

HIS 2 - History of Western Civilization Since 1600    ( 3.00 - Units )
History of the Modern Western World from the end of the medieval period to the present. The course develops the western world, (Europe and the Americas), as these societies develop modern ways of thinking and producing, and tracks the rise of the modern nation-state. Interaction with other civilizations, and globalization will be studied.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change.
  2. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them.
  3. Demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time.

HIS 3 - World History: Beginnings to 1500    ( 3.00 - Units )
A survey of world history from the beginning of civilization and ancient cultures to 1500 C.E. Interconnections and divergence among cultures and civilizations in a global context will be emphasized. During the classical period, up to 500 C.E., similarities and differences as civilizations developed will be examined. The postclassical period, 500 to 1500, will look specifically at contact and interaction among peoples. Broader forces that affect civilizations such as trade patterns, migration, nomadism, syncretism, and disease patterns will be studied.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Assess themes, changes in power arrangements, and significance of events, decisions, movements, and natural forces in the human past.
  2. Identify the similarities and differences among ancient civilizations as they developed in various regions and time periods.
  3. At the end of the course the student will be able to describe and give examples from history of cultural interactions that include acceptance, blending, and rejection of practices and beliefs from contact with different cultures.

HIS 4 - World History: 1500 to the Present    ( 3.00 - Units )
A survey of world history from 1500, including the early modern and modern eras. Interconnections and exchange will be emphasized. Similarities and differences among cultures will be examined. Cultural, intellectual, and technological developments and exchange will be explored. Broader forces that affect civilizations such as borderlands, exploration and travel, gender and class will be studied.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Compare and contrast various civilizations as they developed.
  2. Trace themes over time within a civilization, including, cultural interaction, gender, politics, environment, religion, and the arts.
  3. Explain the impact and importance of speedy communication on cultures in modern world.

HIS 5 - Critical Thinking in History    ( 3.00 - Units )
Introduction to critical thinking, reading, writing skills and practical logic and reasoning through study of historical method. Emphasis on the techniques and principles of effective written and oral argument in case studies and historical problems. Includes the perspective of Middle Eastern and Arab Americans, European Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans and Mexican Americans.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change
  2. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them
  3. The students will demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time

HIS 7 - U.S. History Through Reconstruction    ( 3.00 - Units )
A survey of United States history from its pre-colonial, indigenous origins through the end of Reconstruction. Emphasis on (1) distinctively American patterns of political, economic, social, intellectual and geographic developments, (2) the interaction amongst and the experiences of diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups in American history, and (3) the evolution of American institutions and ideals including the U.S. Constitution, representative democratic government, the framework of California state and local government, and the relationships between state/local government and the federal government.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them.
  2. The students will demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time.
  3. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change.

HIS 8 - U.S. History Since Reconstruction    ( 3.00 - Units )
A survey of United States history from 1877 to the present with a special emphasis on the interaction amongst and the experiences of diverse racial/ethnic (African Americans, European Americans, Native Americans, Chicano/Latino Americans, Asian Americans, and Middle Eastern Americans), gender and socioeconomic groups in American History. Includes analysis of (1) the U.S. Constitution as a living document in the context of historical change, and (2) significant issues related to California state and local governments.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them;
  2. demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time;
  3. analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change.

HIS 12 - History of California    ( 3.00 - Units )
Historical development of California, including Spanish exploration and settlement and the Mexican Revolution. Transformation of California under United States control: the American conquest, the Gold Rush, and dynamic expansion to the present day. Includes Native Americans, Mexican Americans, European Americans, Asian Americans and African Americans. Emphasis on political, economic, and social factors which transformed American California from a relatively simple rural society to a highly complex ethnically diversified agricultural-industrial system. Analysis of historical issues and current problems.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Evaluate how the voyages of exploration brought the Spaniards to California and why they delayed settlement.
  2. Explain how the Constitution of California broke with past practice of statehood process established by Congress and the Constitution.  Identify the salient features of the California's first constitution.
  3. Identify how the Gold Rush transformed California from a frontier society to a rural mining society and into an industrialized urban society by the end of the 19th century

HIS 19 - Hist Modern China and Japan    ( 3.00 - Units )
History and culture of modern China and Japan. Social, political, economic and cultural structures and processes; ideologies and leadership; modernization and development; and selected aspects of regional and international interactions.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change
  2. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them
  3. The students will demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time

HIS 22 - Mexican American History and Culture    ( 3.00 - Units )
A survey of Mexican American history from pre-Columbian period through the present. Special emphasis on Mexican Americans’ role in the political, economic, social and geographic development in the United States. Major topics include European colonization, native cultures and slavery, the U.S. – Mexican War, World War I and World War II, industrialization, immigration and labor, and the Civil Rights Movement. This course includes analysis of the U.S. Constitution, Supreme Court Rulings, and California state and local government issues related to the rights of Mexican Americans. May not receive credit if ES 22 has been completed.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them.
  2. Students will demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time.
  3. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic, and social change.

HIS 25 - American Indian History and Culture    ( 3.00 - Units )
Historical survey of American Indians in the United States from earliest times to the present day. Emphasis on Indian societies and cultures, Indian relations with predominant cultures, Indian movement for self-preservation, and historical background necessary to understand contemporary problems of the Indians. Emphasis on the Indians of California and the West.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them.

HIS 28 - Supplemental Instruction in U.S. Women's History    ( 1.00 - Units )
Introduction to and review of context-based skills for effective participation and completion of U.S. Women's History. Emphasis on building skills to succeed in a history survey course.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. The students will demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change
  2. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them.
  3. Analyzing the causes and consequences of political, economic, and social change.

HIS 32 - Colonial Latin America    ( 3.00 - Units )
This introductory course examines how the convergence of Indigenous, European, and African, peoples in "Latin America" created many complex and dynamic cultures and societies, in the regions we call the American Southwest (in the north), all the way to Chile and Argentina (in the south), and everything in between. This course will assess over three hundred years of history from the late fifteenth to the early nineteenth centuries. Interrogating a robust selection of primary and secondary sources will allow for an in-depth coverage of the men and women who reflected the peoples, places, events, beliefs, practices, institutions, cultures, and conflicts of their own times and will allow us to foreground the lived experience of a diverse array of “Latin Americans.” This course will also demonstrate that one cannot understand "modern" Latin America without studying its colonial past. No previous study of Latin American history is required for this course.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Analyze the Pre-Columbian era and the transformations Indigenous societies experienced during and after the European conquest.
  2. Evaluate the impact of European colonization in the Americas and the foundations for the independence movements.
  3. Evaluate the experiences of women and colonized groups within the context of colonial Latin America.
  4. Distinguish between primary and secondary sources as historical evidence.

HIS 33 - Modern Latin America    ( 3.00 - Units )
This introductory course provides an overview to twentieth-century Latin American history with a focus on the social circumstances and experience of people across social classes. We will consider how larger processes of change such as urbanization, revolution, civil war and U.S. intervention have all critically shaped everyday life in this region. Yet we will also focus on how Latin Americans have adapted and responded to these forces using an assortment of strategies. This course will seek to develop a critical perspective of modern Latin America by interpreting diverse forms of representation such as feature films, documentaries, literature, memoirs, and testimonios.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Demonstrate an understanding of the formation of new nations in Latin America and the social, political, and economic struggles those countries faced to move beyond the colonial period.
  2. Assess U.S. intervention in Latin America and how those circumstances have shaped repressive regimes and national identity.
  3. Evaluate the role of popular culture as a mode of political and social resistance.
  4. Distinguish between primary and secondary sources as historical evidence.

HIS 42 - Asian American History: 18th Century to 1945    ( 3.00 - Units )
An exploration of Asian American history from the 18th century to WWII. A critical and comparative analysis of the impacts of race, racialization, white supremacy, orientalism, colonialism, imperialism, war, social inequity, and migration on the first wave of immigrants from China, Japan, Korea, India and the Philippines. Special emphasis will be placed on labor and immigration policies, citizenship, community, social and political resistance, solidarity, and on the intersection of race, ethnicity, immigration status, gender, and class. This course will ask students to examine how Asian American history transforms U.S. history. This course includes analysis of the U. S. Constitution, Supreme Court Rulings, and California State and local government issues related to the rights of Asian Americans.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them.
  2. Demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time.
  3. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change.
  4. Compare and contrast the struggles and contributions of Asian Americans in the formation of the United States and California, with other major groups like European Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Chicanx/Latinx.

HIS 43 - Asian American History: Early 20th Century - 21st Century    ( 3.00 - Units )
A historical survey and critical comparative analysis of the impacts of race, racialization, white supremacy, imperialism, war, social inequity, and migration on Asian Americans from the early 20th century to the present. Major topics will include wars, refugees, immigration policies and settlement patterns, citizenship, laws, labor and socioeconomic class, decolonization, anti-racist struggles, resistance and solidarity, education, discrimination, and social identity. An intersectional frame will be applied, examining the role of race, ethnicity, immigration status, religion, language, gender, sexuality, and class. The course will interrogate the term “Asian American” and apply comparative analysis among diverse groups including Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, South Asian, and Southeast Asian. This course includes analysis of the U. S. Constitution, Supreme Court Rulings, and California State and local government issues related to the rights of Asian Americans.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them.
  2. Demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time.
  3. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change.
  4. Compare and contrast the struggles and contributions of Asian Americans in the formation of the United States and California, with other major groups like European Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Chicanx/Latinx.

HIS 48 - U. S. Women's History Through Reconstruction    ( 3.00 - Units )
A survey of United States women's history from its pre-colonial, indigenous origins through the end of Reconstruction. Emphasizes the interaction and experiences of diverse racial/ethnic groups that include at least three of the following groups: African-Americans, Chicana/Latina Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, Native Americans, and Middle Eastern Americans. Emphasis on (1) distinctively American patterns of political, economic, social, intellectual and geographic developments, (2) the interaction amongst and the experiences of diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups in American history, and (3) the evolution of American institutions and ideals including the U. S. Constitution, representative democratic government, the framework of California state and local government, and the relationships between state/local government and the federal government.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify connections between them
  2. Demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their events and ideas and the process of change over time.
  3. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change over time.

HIS 49 - U.S. Women's History Post-Reconstruction    ( 3.00 - Units )
A survey of United States women's history from 1877 to the present with a special emphasis on the interaction amongst and the experiences of diverse racial/ethnic (African Americans, European Americans, Indigenous North Americans, Chicana/Latina Americans, Asian Americans, and Middle Eastern Americans), and socio-economic groups in American history. Includes analysis of (1) the U. S. Constitution as a living document in the context of historical change, and (2)significant issues related to California state and local governments.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change.
  2. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them.
  3. The students will demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time.

HIS 52 - United States History from a Chicano Perspective I    ( 3.00 - Units )
A survey of the social, political, economic, and cultural history of the Chicana/o experience within the context of U.S. history from Mesoamerican origins to the Reconstruction era. Students will critically analyze the struggles of Chicanas/os in the historical development of the United States with comparisons to other groups. Students will also analyze and critique race and racism, colonialism and white supremacy, while also centering movements for sovereignty, self-determination and anti-racism. Major topics include European colonization, Indigenous cultures and slavery, the formation of the American political system, structural racism and segregation, the U.S. War with Mexico, and the American Civil War. This course includes analysis of the U.S. Constitution, Supreme Court Rulings, and California State and local government issues related to the rights of Mexican and Mexican Americans.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic, and social change.
  2. Demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time.
  3. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic, and social change.
  4. Critically analyze the struggles and contributions of Mexican Americans in the development of California and the United States with comparisons to other major groups like European Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders.

HIS 53 - United States History from a Chicano Perspective II    ( 3.00 - Units )
A survey course of the social, political, economic, and cultural history of the Chicana/o experience within the context of U.S. history from the Reconstruction era to the present. Students will critically analyze the struggles of Mexican Americans in the historical development of California and the United States with comparisons to other groups. The course will also include analysis and critique of structural racism, white supremacy and racial violence while also centering movements for civil rights, self-determination, and anti-racism.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic, and social change.
  2. Demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time.
  3. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them.
  4. Critically analyze the struggles and contributions of Mexican Americans in the development of California and the United States with comparisons to other major groups like European Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders.

HIS 62 - The African-American Experience in U.S. History Through the Civil War    ( 3.00 - Units )
This course presents a survey of the history of the United States from the perspective of African Americans. It presents that perspective in the contexts of the experiences of Native peoples, European Americans, Asian Americans and Latinos/Latinas before 1865. A critical and comparative analysis of the impacts of race, racialization, white supremacy, gender, class, colonialism, imperialism, war, social inequity, and migration on African Americans. Special emphasis will be placed on labor, citizenship, community, social and political resistance, solidarity, and the intersection of race, gender, and class. Early African history, the trade in African slaves, and exploration of the political, economic, demographic and social influences shaping African American life and culture prior to 1865 will be examined. The U.S. government and the Constitution, the California government and Constitution, and other constitutional models for comparison and contrast will also be covered.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change.
  2. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them.
  3. Demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time.
  4. Compare and contrast the struggles and contributions of African Americans in the formation of the United States and California, with other major groups like European Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Chicanx/Latinx.

HIS 63 - The African American Experience in U.S. History From Reconstruction    ( 3.00 - Units )
This course presents a survey of the history of the United States from the perspective of African Americans. It presents that perspective in the contexts of the experiences of Native peoples, European Americans, Asian Americans and Latinos/Latinas after 1865. A critical and comparative analysis of the impacts of race, racialization, white supremacy, gender, class, colonialism, imperialism, war, social inequity, and migration on African Americans. Special emphasis will be placed on labor, citizenship, community, social and political resistance, solidarity, and the intersection of race, gender, and class. The course explores the economic, cultural, institutional, political history of African Americans from the post-Civil War period to the present. The African American relationship with national, California state and local governments will also be covered.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)
  1. analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change.\;
  2. synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them;
  3. demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time.
  4. Compare and contrast the struggles and contributions of African Americans in the formation of the United States and California, with other major groups like European Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Chicanx/Latinx.