HI 115 - History of Poverty in America

Credit Hours: 3

This course is about the history of poor people and poverty policy in the United States, from the colonial period to the beginning of the 21st century. Through readings, lectures, writing, and discussion, students will consider how Americans (both the poor and the non-poor) have tried to cope with poverty. We pay close attention to how Americans thought about the causes of poverty and what sorts of efforts followed from those assumptions. This course is a social history that will explore the concept of poverty in American society from colonial times to the present.

Course Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:

demonstrate knowledge of the basic narrative of American history, the basic concepts of poverty and the lives of poor people in America, and the interaction between American institutions and poor people;
assess poverty as a social, cultural, and political construct;
demonstrate knowledge of the diversity of historical arguments about poverty in America;
demonstrate understanding of how to interpret, formulate, and defend hypotheses about American poverty history; and
demonstrate an understanding of how to gather data, use historical sources, and organize and interpret data about American poverty history.

S (C)

Reading and writing skills are essential for this course. Students ideally should have a basic understanding of American history.