Course Content and Outcomes Guides (CCOG)

CCOG for HST 218 Winter 2025


Course Number:
HST 218
Course Title:
American Indian History
Credit Hours:
4
Lecture Hours:
40
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Covers history of American Indians in what is now the United States from pre-Columbian times to the present. Explores the cultural diversity among Native peoples, tribal sovereignty, and conflicts and accommodations with European Americans. Considers the historical roots of contemporary issues that emphasize American Indians as a vital part of the shared history of the United States. Prerequisites: WR 115, RD 115 and MTH 20 or equivalent placement test scores. Audit available.

Intended Outcomes for the course

Upon completion of the course should be able to:

  • Articulate and interpret an understanding of key historical facts and events in American Indian history.
  • Identify the influence of culturally based practices, values, and beliefs to analyze how historically defined meanings of difference affect human behavior.
  • Identify and investigate historical theses, evaluate information and its sources, and use appropriate reasoning to construct evidence-based arguments on historical issues.
  • Construct a well-organized historical argument using effective, appropriate, and accurate language.

Social Inquiry and Analysis

Students completing an associate degree at Portland Community College will be able to apply methods of inquiry and analysis to examine social contexts and the diversity of human thought and experience.

General education philosophy statement

This course requires students to focus on the history of American Indians from a variety of different perspectives, considering the ways in which the experiences of people in the past have been shaped by factors like social class, gender, race, religious belief, and ideology. Students must also evaluate relationships between different cultures, whether defined in terms of political identity (such as interactions between the people of two or more nations) or in terms of cultural groups within a larger society. One of the key goals of this course is to provide a perspective on the contemporary world that is grounded in a robust and accurate understanding of the past, ultimately in the name of encouraging a greater sense of social responsibility.

Outcome Assessment Strategies

Assess by using any combination of the following:

  • Exams
  • Essays
  • Oral presentations
  • Research projects
  • Service Learning
  • Class participation and discussion
  • Other creative assignments

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

Competencies and Skills:

Analyze and evaluate primary and secondary sources:

  • Connect evidence to its relevant historical context
  • Recognize and evaluate the perspective of the creator of written, artistic, or other evidence
  • Assess the motivation and purpose of evidence

Evaluate different interpretations of past events and construct your own interpretation:

  • Identify a historian’s thesis and supporting evidence
  • Evaluate the arguments used to support different interpretations of historical issues
  • Develop your own thesis and historical interpretation and use evidence to support it

Think critically about the relationship between past and present events and issues:

  • Recognize and identify historical roots and parallels to current issues

Compare and contrast the experience of American Indians with various Europeans and Africans:

  • Listen to and appreciate the experience of students from different backgrounds
  • Engage in private and public discussions that involve the construction of fact-based arguments regarding issues in American Indian history
  • Assess the contributions of various American Indian tribes to American society
  • Recognize diversity within the historical context
  • Demonstrate college-level communications skills with an emphasis on writing (and may include listening and speaking)
    • Communicate effectively in writing about a historical topic
    • Communicate in writing an understanding of historical processes and an evaluation of how concepts of values change over time

Clearly articulate thoughts and ideas to a particular audience:

  • Work collaboratively with other students to evaluate and understand historical events
  • Work collaboratively with others in discussions, debates, or role plays
  • Present information in oral presentations

Themes, Concepts, Issues:

  • Indigenous cultures
  • Disease and population decline
  • Indian resistance and accommodation to westward expansion
  • Manifest Destiny
  • Removal and assimilation
  • Tribal sovereignty
  • Reservations
  • Treaty making
  • Role of religion
  • Red Power
  • Racism
  • Gender roles