In this lecture, Professor Totten argues American workers suffered from horrible working conditions during the Gilded Age. Unions were used as vehicles to address such issues, but they often were met with violence at the hands of business and government alike. This period also saw the expansion of immigration into the United States, with different ethnic and racial groups than the previous few centuries. Southern and Eastern Europeans, Jews, Catholics, and Asians came in great numbers, which in turn, led to the rise of Nativism. As workers and immigrants crowded into cities, urbanization increased. Without regulations and city planning, urban areas became polluted, crowded, and crime ridden. As a result, reformers attempted to alleviate such problems through the use of settlement houses and public awareness campaigns. But conditions continued to be a problem, leading to the Progressive Era in the early 20th century.

In this lecture, Professor Totten argues massive industries dominated the Gilded Age. These businesses grew due to the hard work and brilliance of their leaders, as well as oppressive business practices that ground the common man under their foot. Horizontal and Vertical integration were integral to this process. The owners of these firms, alternatively called "Robber Barons" or "Captains of Industries," by their supporters or detractors, believed in Social Darwinism, though they also engaged in philanthropic activities. In opposition to Social Darwinism, reformers began the "Social Gospel Movement" which argued that it was a Christian duty to help reform society and make it fit for the return of the Kingdom of Heaven. With increased hardship among American workers, the federal government took limited steps to regulate business, but these attempts often undercut unions. Next lecture, Professor Totten will describe the working conditions for the American worker that motivated Progressive reformers to push for greater regulation at the turn of the 20th century.

In this lecture, Professor Totten argues against the mythic memory of the West. He contends that large corporations, rather than small homesteads, dominated the West. In addition, it was government investment and subsidies to businesses that fueled western development, rather than a "pull yourself up by your bootstrap" mentality. While government investment helped fuel the transcontinental railroad, western settlement, and higher education, it also led to corruption, genocide, and environmental disasters. The west of American memory was promulgated to reinforce partisan rhetoric and was spread through political parties and popular culture, particularly television and movies. In the end, the myth of the American West left an indelible mark on American perceptions of themselves.

In this lecture, Professor Totten argues misunderstandings over the concept of private landownership, white supremacy, and the desire to subjugate all rival sovereignties to federal authority led to numerous wars between the United States and native tribes. Combined the suppression of native cultures and the near eradication of the buffalo, native populations dropped to their lowest point by the turn of the 20th century. This ethnic cleansing enabled new European immigrants, Chinese, extractive industries, and white and black Americans to settle the West. There, they joined existing Latino populations, who had lived on the land with Native Americans for centuries. This new racial geography perplexed many American politicians and pseudo-scientists. Meanwhile, extractive industries created a near colonial like relationship in the West, which sent raw materials to the East, in order to fuel industrialization.

This lecture for HIST 2013 covers the creation of Lost Cause ideology by white southerners in the aftermath of the Civil War. It details how these individuals disseminated a falsified memory of the war that emphasized states rights, rather than slavery, as the true cause of the conflict. It posits that Reconstruction was also vilified by pro-Confederate groups that portrayed terrorist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan as heroic defenders of white womanhood and demonized black men as savage rapists incapable of wielding political power. It recounts how national reconciliation efforts hid the continued animosity between northern and southern veterans. It describes how northerners became disenchanted with their veterans and ignored the creeping infiltration of Lost Cause ideology into school curriculums by memorial groups like the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

This lecture for HIST 2013 covers the successes and failures of Reconstruction 1865-1877. It describes the gains made by black families, communities, institutions, and politicians in the face of horrific white supremacist terrorist violence. It details the legislative efforts by Radical Republicans to protect black freedoms and the right to vote. It recounts the death of Reconstruction but posits that the gains made by black Americans were revolutionary in the global context of emancipation.

HIST 2013: Week One. This lecture covers the second half of the American Civil War.

HIST 2013 Week One

Week One Lecture: The Road to Disunion. Follow along with the PPT found on Blackboard.