Historical Theme Selection Lesson

Directions: Read the prompts below and answer in as much detail in the boxes. This exercise will be repeated several times on different days to help you understand what you want to study. There is information in page 2 of this doc to help name different kinds of history.

1. Write down historical events that you want to study.

 

2. Write down historical people or groups that you want to study.

 

3. Write down a place you would like to study.

 

4. Write down the kind of history you would like to study.

 

General Perspectives
in American History

Directions: History is immense, therefore one person or a group cannot hope to study all of it. Choose a general area of history that fits with specific events, people, or places that you want to study, or just choose a general type of history in order to become a specialist in that field. Use the chart below to help you complete the prompts on the previous page.

 

Memory/Historiography

  • Addition of contemporary evidence
  • Changing modern perspectives

Native American studies

Religion

  • Groups
    • Native American tribal religions
    • Catholicism
    • Islam
    • Judaism
    • Protestant
    • Lutheran
    • Mormonism
    • Quakers
    • Puritans
  • Events
    • The Great Awakening

War and Society

  • Post-war effects on soldiers and societies
  • The military institution and defense establishment
  • Battlefield studies
  • Leadership studies

Science and Technology

  • Mechanization
    • Transportation
    • Agriculture
  • Urbanization
  • Health issues-Medicine
  • Weapons

Social Issues

  • Black Civil Rights
  • Woman suffrage
  • Humanitarianism
    • Populism
  • The Environment

Culture

  • Cultural change
  • Education
  • Arts and Music
  • Nationalism
  • Sports
  • Hunting

Movement

  • Colonization
  • Migration
  • Expansionism
  • Conquering
  • Slavery
  • Relocation

Economics

  • Banking
  • Business
  • Slave Markets (human trade)
  • Sharecropping

Gender Identity

  • Women’s issues
  • Female identity
    • Indigenous women
    • Black women
    • Latina women
    • Euro Saxon women
  • Changing gender roles
  • Sexual identity
  • Homosexuality
  • Transexuality

Race-Ethnicity

  • Racial conflict
  • Racial unity
  • Particular American groups
    • Native Americans
    • African Americans
    • Latino Americans
    • Euro-saxon Americans
    • Asian Americans

Class

  • Black slavery
  • Indentured servants
  • Agriculture
    • Yeomen farmers
    • Plantation owners
  • Urban migrant working class
  • Businessmen-tradespeople
  • Upper class

Labor and Work

  • Urbanization
  • Marxism-Socialism
  • Agricultural change
  • Capitalism

Politics-Civics

  • Political Revolution
    • American Revolution era
  • Marxism-Socialism (Communism)
  • The Presidents
  • Legislative Actions (Laws)
    • Articles of Confederation
    • The Constitution
    • Acts and laws
  • Judicial Review

Place and Geography

  • Human interaction with a place
  • The changes of place because of human interaction
  • Specific places
    • New England
    • Eastern seaboard
    • American South
    • The Midwest
    • Mountain Territory
    • Mexican-American border area
    • The Western seaboard