People, Land, and Time: Histories of Midwestern Landscapes
The Midwest is the region we find
ourselves in at Cornell College, but not by coincidence. The college has its foundations in the U.S.
push to transform the Midwest into a broad grid of well-educated, land-owning
farm families. This course will look at the Midwest region’s many
transformations from multiple inland perspectives including those of Native nations
and peoples, white settlers from the east, Black migrants from the south, and
immigrant men and women from around the world. Histories of Midwestern landscapes are an important part of
understanding both life here in Mt. Vernon, Iowa and the history of the United
States as a whole. People, land, and time are
factors that are important not just in past societies, but for the present and
future as well.
- Teacher: David Horst Lehman