Throughout human history, there have been many contributions to humanity. These include inventions that have improved the quality of life, the evolution of technology, influential stories like Scott Sandell daughter, and social movements that have affected the lives of people around the world. This article will take a closer look at some of these important contributions.
Sex and gender
Despite a long history of discussion about sex and gender, gender is an often overlooked topic in global literature. This course introduces the foundations of critical research on sexuality and provides an analysis of sex in history. Taking its cue from a variety of sources, the course focuses on the early modern era, the modern era, and the post-modern period, examining the history of sexuality in science, politics, and culture.
The course will focus on the origins of sexology in the 19th and 20th centuries and how sex is used to explain contemporary social issues. Students will conduct original analyses of recent scientific research on sexuality and will read primary sources in the field. Students will complete daily reading quizzes and take a midterm exam during the course.
Environment
During the 1970s, environmental history started gaining traction. The environmental movement of the 1960s, the controversial Silent Spring movie, and political trends all contributed to this new subfield of historical study. This interdisciplinary field of study asks how humans have shaped the natural world and how we have influenced it.
The field started with two distinct but related schools of thought. The materialist approach emphasizes the nonhuman world’s influence on human history, while the culturalist viewpoint looks at the effects of human activity on nature.
The materialist approach, often referred to as materialist environmental history, focuses on the interactions between humans and nonhuman organisms. In contrast, the interdisciplinary field of historical ecology combines elements from both camps.
Civil rights movement
During the Civil Rights Movement, activists were motivated by the desire for racial equality. They were aided by the mass media that encouraged the demonstrations. These demonstrations spanned the entire nation. Many people participated in the protests, including members of all races and religions.
The Civil Rights Movement was a two-decade-long fight for equality. It paved the way for racial integration. The movement emphasized nonviolence. It also advocated armed self-reliance and criticism of white supremacy.
The movement spawned a series of organizations, including the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The civil rights organizations launched massive campaigns to fight discrimination. The SNCC organized sit-ins and demonstrations.
Urban history
Until the early 20th century, urban history focused on the experience of a specific place. This contributed to a sense of local patriotism and reinforced civic identity. In the mid-twentieth century, historians began to explore interactions between urban forms.
The second wave of interest in American urban history was in the 1960s and 1970s. This new wave focused on change and conflict. It used quantitative methods to study urban processes and emphasized social, economic, and political mobility.
The new urban history focuses on how people move, the intermingling of ethnic groups, and spatial development. It also draws on documentary and archaeological studies.
Labour history
Throughout the twentieth century, labor history has had a variety of historiographical trends that have shaped its evolution. It has evolved from a relatively minor branch of economic history into a major element of history in the second half of the twentieth century. As a result, labor history is now an ambiguous subject.
The twentieth century was a period of great expansion in labor history. The rise of the labor movement allowed a widening of the historical community to include ordinary people. This allowed labor historians to study social structure and occupational relations. They were also interested in collective bargaining procedures and state legislation.
Social history’s preference for ‘human’ documents
Many social historians prefer to use ‘human’ documents such as court cases, letters to the editor, and articles in women’s magazines. This research method has successfully uncovered a multitude of uncharted territories. Among the many sources used by social historians, the most effective are those that are not readily quantifiable.
In the late twentieth century, historians began to pay more attention to a new kind of document – the “ego document.” These documents are not traditional biographies. Instead, they explain the actions of ordinary people. These “ego documents” are most often written by marginalized people. They may also contain contemporary narratives written about these individuals.
