Unit Six - An Examination of the Great Society in the Twentieth Century (1900-2000)

The 20th Century belonged to the United States. It has been called the bastion of technological progress, the model of freedom and justice, and the destination for the world’s emigrants. Under the free enterprise system, the United States has produced more material wealth than any other country in the world. Through their attempt to create the “Mansion on the Hill” or “The Great Society,” Americans have faced many issues. Although the concept of the “Great Society” is a relatively new one, the idea of creating a more just society is not. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson attempted to complete some of the unfinished business that had been set out in the constitution and emphasized in the New Deal, most notably the goal of social justice as it pertained to racial and sexual equality and the desire to end poverty. This unit examines critical issues that have challenged Americans’ concept of the “Great Society”. Among the issues to be investigated are: racial, gender, and economic inequality; segregation; the reality of the melting pot; Prohibition as the great experiment; the rigidity of literalism and the Scopes Monkey Trial; the impact of technology; the Red Scare; justice and the death penalty; public education; urbanization and the death of the inner city; the question of inclusiveness and the “American Dream”; the cultural and physical challenge of the baby boomers; the Civil Rights Movement; the death of Camelot; the anti-war protest movement, and Watergate and its effect on political cynicism. These topics will be the focus of a student essay and tutorial assignment. The culminating activity will be a student directed tutorial. Here you will have to defend your essay’s thesis and evidence. To conclude this unit and the course, you will be presented with two conflicting viewpoints regarding the future of the United States. We will assess which of the two viewpoints better predicts what is in store for the “Great Society.”

Culminating Assignment:

You will have an opportunity to develop your skills in producing a thesis-based research paper of approximately 1 000 words from a series of selected topics outlined in the first activity of Unit 5. These topics will be derived from material in Units 5 and 6 with Unit 6 themes given more emphasis. The writer will follow all the proper conventions of research and documentation. While writing their paper, you will present and defend their research in a 30-minute tutorial. Feedback will assist presenters in completing your research paper.

JUNE - U.S. HISTORY

American-History