Summer Classes

Posted July 15, 2020 by William Crouch

Hey everyone, long time since I last posted. Hope everybody has been staying safe during all this craziness. I’ve been keeping busy taking a summer course while history courses are being offered online. This summer, the history seminar being offered is divided into two different parts both focusing on how the United States functioned as an empire in the early 20th century. The first section was taught by Professor Frances Sullivan and focused on labor movements within United States territories like Puerto Rico or Hawaii. It was really interesting reading some of these groups’ thoughts about how they would gain a new government to try and gain more equity but that the governments would often revert back to being more unequal. Reading about these ideas in the midst of similar discourse occurring in the United States with the Black Lives Matter movement has been very enlightening. The second half of the course was taught by Professor Laura Prieto and focused on women’s suffrage movements within United States territories and how the United States womens’ suffrage movement affected them. As someone who only knew that suffrage happened and not much beyond that, the class has really helped me to gain a better understanding of the United States’ perception of their goodwill and how much good their efforts actually spread. Both classes have helped me a) stay sane during this pandemic and b) gain a much wider perspective about the United States’ involvement in world affairs as an empire. I would definitely recommend taking a course over the summer so that you keep yourself intellectually engaged over the summer and better prepared for the fall courses.