LEGENDARY AMERICANS

Credit Hours: 3 · Undergraduate Lower-Level

Some historical figures loom larger than others in American memory and popular culture. Harriet Tubman, George Washington, Sacagawea, and so on. But why do these figures matter so much to Americans? How do the stories historians tell about them differ from the stories that appear in folklore, primary school curricula, and popular culture? What function do legendary Americans play in our society and politics? Do we need them for social cohesion, or would we be better off without them? By consulting scholarly work as well as historical documents and cultural artifacts, in this course we will attempt to separate what we can establish about legendary Americans from the myths often associated with them. At the same time, students will consider why and how "legendary Americans" have become iconic; explore the relations between history, biography, politics, and collective memory; and gain a broad, introductory understanding of U.S. history through analysis of key eras.