Same as HIST 2400

Satisfies Social Science General Education Requirement

This course will trace the social history of women in what is now the United States, beginning with the era of the first contact between Native Americans and Europeans. We will focus on the changing limitations and possibilities facing American women, examining the shifting strategies of consent and resistance with which women confronted these circumstances. In the process, we will study women in the context of family, work, education and politics. While we will generalize about American women, we will also consider the diversity of their lives according to age, race, ethnicity, region and social class. Finally we will study changing definitions of what it means to be a woman and a man, considering the ways in which a gender-conscious perspective can enhance our historical understanding.