Independence & Identity: 250 Years of Opportunity, Diversity, and Belonging in America

This course will be available soon

Description
Curriculum

Americans have sought independence, opportunity, and belonging for 250 years, while also facing hardship, exclusion, and change. This course looks at our nation’s history through the everyday lives of families and communities, demonstrating how their choices were shaped by shifting social, political, cultural, and economic forces. From the Revolution to today, we’ll follow people on the move, those seeking land, work, and new futures. We’ll hear the voices of women, workers, immigrants, and others who are often left out of the story, and see how reform, war, innovation, and recovery reshaped family life and community ties. Together we’ll uncover how ordinary people created, endured, and redefined what it means to belong in America.

Course Meet and Greet: Sunday, September 13, 5pm Mountain

Part I – From Revolution to Republic: Independence, Land, and Early Migrations (1776–1820s)

Week 1, September 15

Independence and Obligation: Families in the First Republic, 5:00-6:15pm

Explore how America’s founding reshaped family life, as independence brought both new freedoms and civic responsibilities in a young nation struggling to define itself.

Instructor: Katherine R. Willson

Opportunity and Pursuit: Land, Labor, and the American Dream, 6:45-8:00pm

Trace how families pursued prosperity in the early republic through land acquisition, labor, and enterprise, with some achieving success while others faced sharp limits to opportunity.

Instructor: Katherine R. Willson

Week 2, September 22

Chasing Opportunity: Migrations in the Early Republic, 5:00-6:15pm

Follow the migrations of the early 19th century, as families moved across states, territories, and borders in search of stability and a better future.

Instructor: Debra Dudek

Voices of the People: Census, Newspapers, and Reform Records, 6:45-8:00pm

Discover how ordinary people made themselves heard in a growing republic, from political debates and reform movements to local community initiatives.

Instructor: Katherine R. Willson

Part II – The Restless Republic: Expansion, Reform, and Civic Identity (1830s–1860s)

Week 3, September 29

Expanding Borders, Expanding Lives, 5:00-6:15pm

Examine how territorial expansion and shifting national boundaries reshaped communities, identities, and family life in a rapidly changing republic.

Instructor: Katherine R. Willson

Mapping Identity: Everyday Lives in a Growing Nation, 6:45-8:00pm

See how geography and community shaped identity, as towns expanded, farms multiplied, and new settlements altered the American landscape.

Instructor: Rick Sayre

Week 4, October 6

Reform and Resilience: Social Movements in the Young Republic, 5:00-6:15pm

Explore how reformers pushed for change—advocating education, temperance, and institutional reform—transforming civic life and challenging existing norms.

Instructor: Katherine R. Willson

Liberty Extended: Women, Reform, and the Struggle for Equality, 6:45-8:00pm

Trace how women demanded recognition through activism, reform societies, and the early suffrage movement, reshaping the boundaries of civic participation.

Instructor: Amber Oldenburg

Part III – Struggles for Belonging: War, Economic Hardship, and Exclusion (1860s–1890s)

Week 5, October 13

Resilience in Times of Crisis: Families in War and Hardship, 5:00-6:15pm

Uncover how families endured upheaval during the Civil War and its aftermath, navigating loss, displacement, and fragile recovery.

Instructor: Roz Kelley

Opportunity and Exclusion: Immigration, Citizenship, and Legal Barriers, 6:45-8:00pm

Explore the dual forces of hope and hostility that shaped immigrant lives in the 19th century, as new arrivals faced both opportunity and systemic exclusion.

Instructor: Katherine R. Willson

Week 6, October 20

Everyday Records, Extraordinary Stories: Reconstructing Ordinary Lives, 5:00-6:15pm

Discover the overlooked stories of workers, laborers, and marginalized families whose contributions sustained communities but often went unrecognized in traditional histories.

Instructor: Michelle Chubenko

Fortunes and Failures: Economic Opportunity and Family Survival, 6:45-8:00pm

Examine the boom-and-bust cycles of the 19th century that brought prosperity to some families while plunging others into hardship and loss.

Instructor: Katherine R. Willson

Part IV – Progress and Peril: Immigration, War, and Epidemics (1900–1930s)

Week 7, October 27

Immigrants in the 20th Century: Gateways and Guardrails, 5:00-6:15pm

Witness how new immigration waves were met with both open doors and restrictive laws, shaping the lives of families at America’s borders.

Instructor: Katherine R. Willson

Progress and Protest: Labor and Reform in America, 6:45-8:00pm

Trace the rise of labor movements and reform campaigns that fought for safer workplaces, fair wages, and social justice in an industrializing nation.

Instructor: Katherine R. Willson

Week 8, November 3

Service & Sacrifice: The World War I Generation, 5:00-6:15pm

Follow the generation transformed by World War I, both on the battlefield and the home front, as families faced service, sacrifice, and global change.

Instructor: Liz Gomoll

In Sickness and Survival: Community Stories of Epidemics, 6:45-8:00pm

Explore how polio, tuberculosis, and influenza reshaped communities, altered family dynamics, and tested resilience, while tracing responses from quarantines and sanatoriums to public health campaigns and vaccine drives.

Instructor: Lori Lyn Price

Part V – War, Recovery, and Reflection (1930s–2026)

Week 9, November 10

Voices of Progress: Families in the Era of Reform and Innovation, 5:00-6:15pm

Examine how innovation, from electricity and automobiles to mass communication, transformed daily life and family identity in the 20th century.

Instructor: Cheri Passey

American Grit: Resilience in the 20th Century and Beyond, 6:45-8:00pm

Discover how the American story encompasses the ability to overcome, adapt, and learn from the past, making each person’s experience a valuable asset to improving not only self and family but society at large.

Instructor: Kathleen Norris