History

Course

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Stormin Normans - 5 classes - Online Course

History is the discovery of how an action taken 2000 years ago still impacts our lives today. This class we will focus on England’s transition from a country led by Anglo-Saxons and Danes to one dominated by Normans. We will discuss what kind of rulers the early kings and queens of England were, how they ruled their dispersed lands, and what life was like if you were not a king, as well as the role of the church. 

Women in the Middle Ages - 5 classes - Online Course

When medieval images are conjured up it is usually of knights on horseback, violence and a more primitive society. What is not often discussed is what were the women doing during this time period. Everyone knows about Eleanor of Aquitaine, but is that because she the exception?  What was life like for every other woman? Were the highborn just marriage pawns for their fathers? Could merchant class women run their own business, could women own property or dispense justice? The answers may not be as straight forward as you think. In this seminar class we will examine and students discuss the roles and rights of European women from the Early Middle Ages to the High Middle Ages. Discussions will focus on if women’s rights increase or decrease over time and how different, or not, medieval women’s role and rights were compared to women’s roles and rights today. 

Native Americans of the United States - 7 classes -Will return in January 2021

Learn about our Native American culture. This class will cover the regions of the: North East, South East, Plains, South West, California, West Coast, and Alaska. Discussion will include family groups, art/culture, ceremonies/religion, food, land use, environment, homes, and the six language groups.

" New"  Blacks and Jews: Allies and Antagonists - 6 classes

The Jewish and Black experience in American history; when Harlem was Jewish; prominent Jews in the early Civil Rights Movement; James Baldwin and Richard Wright on Black-Jewish Relations; Marcus Garvey, UNIA and the Jews; a grand alliance: Abraham Joshua Heschel, Martin Luther King, and the Civil Rights Movement; the rise of Black militancy and the deterioration of the Black-Jewish coalition; from anti-Semitic rabble-rouser to devout Jew: profile of Prof. Julius Lester; Black "spokesmen" and the Jews: Malcolm X, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton; Jewish racism and Black anti-Semitism.

First A Trickle: Jewish Life in Colonial America 

Among topics covered: Antecedents of the mameh lushn: From Hebrew to Aramaic to La’az; Yiddish’s contribution to Jewish life and culture; evolution of the Yiddish language: four phases; varieties of Yiddish accents; ideological battles between Yiddishists vs. Hebraists; Yiddish and the labor movement; the transmogrification of Yiddish into Yenglish; Yeshivish: ivory tower Yiddish; Birobidzhan: Yiddish in Stalin’s paradise for Jews in Siberia; reasons for the decline of Yiddish; how academics assassinate Yiddish; 101 Yiddish witticisms, some rated GP.

 The Longest Hatred: Varieties of antisemitism - 6 classes