This lecture course surveys the history of the United States from the 17^th century to the 21^st century. Students are offered an overview and an evaluation of the events and issues shaping American history from the colonial period to the post-Cold War era.

The course introduces the history of the modern Civil Rights Movement from the struggle for Double Victory during World War II, the post-war dilemmas, to the struggle of the African-American community for civil rights and the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The objective of the course is to acquaint students with the historic events and icons of the movement as they trace the history of African Americans from the 1940s to the 1970s. We will study the social, legal, and political status of the African-American community by discussing some of the essential speeches and writings of civil rights icons of the era – including Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael –, and their first-hand accounts of the struggle for justice and equality, and Black empowerment.

During the semester we will discuss the history of sports in America, its significance within the social and political construct of American culture. The objective of the course is to depict some of the distinctive characteristics, values of sports in the U.S.