How do you think childhood has changed in the last fifty years? Over the total course of U.S. history?
A new course that will be offered this fall, Growing Up in America: A History of Childhood and Youth, will answer that question as well as several others, including:
- What political, cultural, and economic forces have changed the way we see childhood and its purpose?
- How have children, in turn, influenced society and been agents of change?
- What have been the experiences of young people growing up in America?
- How do childhood and age function as categories of analysis?
Professor Rebecca DeSchweinitz will teach the course. She says: “The history of childhood is a new and exciting interdisciplinary field of study. In this seminar-style course, we’ll explore the above questions and many more as we examine a range of primary and secondary sources that testify to the importance of children as subjects and actors in America’s past and present.”
Class Details
Hist 390R sec. 3
M-W-F
2:00 – 2:50
DeSchweinitz is the author of several books and chapters on the history of childhood and related fields. They include:
If We Could Change the World: Young People and America’s Long Struggle for Racial Equality
Age in America: The Colonial Era to the Present
