In the centuries since its inception, the United States has become a predominantly urban society. Cities and metropolitan regions have served as the primary environments in which Americans have formed and sustained communities based on affiliations of ethnicity, class and occupation, religion, gender, and sexuality. Urban communities have provided diverse groups of people with access to economic mobility, political power, and cultural expression.

At the same time, worried Americans have asserted that urban life--and the processes of urbanization--have created crises for the nation. Throughout the country’s history, critics have charged that cities have functioned as hotbeds of racial unrest, class conflict, political corruption, and moralcontagion.

This seminar examines the interrelated histories of urban community formation and critical responses to urbanization in the United States.

The goals of this course are:
1) to assess the opportunities and problems associated with urbanization and urban life over time;
2) to explore the history of cultural diversity in American cities;
3) to introduce skills used by scholars to analyze and research historical topics; and
4) to familiarize students with historical resources in the Twin Cities.