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RTCC History Courses

Mike Abadi


Mike Abadi, History Academic Instructor

Critical Issues in American History
2026-2027
Semester I

 

This course is designed for students to demonstrate and improve their reading comprehension and written expression skills, while using primary source materials to engage with central conflicts throughout American History. This course meets a .5 US History requirement.

Assignments will have up to 10 questions to answer as well as an essay prompt to consider. Both parts need to be addressed, and the assignment is incomplete until both parts are completed.

Other goals include knowing the 50 states, as well as every President since FDR. There will be an assessment after each unit, as well as 2 presentations, one on the 2026 US Senate race, and a later one on decades of the 20th century.

Below is the full curriculum. As this course is one only one semester, we may not get to all of these but I want to share to get a sense of the scope and sequence of the course.

  1. First Nations
    1. Indian Wars Map (1620-1890)
    2. Columbus: Textbook vs. Diary (1492)
    3. Columbian Exchange
    4. Andrew Jackson “On Indian Affairs” (1830)
    5. Black Hawk Surrender Speech (1832)
    6. Chief Joseph Address to Congress (1879)
    7. Wounded Knee (1890)
    8. Alcatraz (1969)
    9. Lewis and Clark Re-enactment (2004)
  2. Slavery
    1. Excerpt, To Be a Slave, Julius Lester
    2. Lunsford Lane (1842)
    3. Lewis Clarke (1846)
    4. Solomon Northrup (1853)
    5. Civil War map (1861)
    6. Jourdon Anderson (1865)
    7. Reconstruction Testimony (1866)
    8. Bethany Veney (1889)
    9. Annie Burton (1909)
    10. Harriet Tubman (1820?-1913)
  3. Labor
    1. “The Irish,” John F. Kennedy (1958)
    2. Haymarket Trial ( 1886)
    3. Emma Goldman interview (1897)
    4. Joe Hill (1915)
    5. Cesar Chavez (1989)
    6. Livable Wage (2001)
  4. Women
    1. Salem Witch Trials (1692)
    2. “Ain’t I a Woman” Sojourner Truth (1851)
    3. The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan (1963)
    4. Shirley Chisholm ( 1969)
    5. “Death Penalty Dilemma” (1997)
    6. “Shrinking from the Wedding March” (2003)
  5. Civil Rights
    1. African Independence (1895-1971)
    2. “Keep Cool,” Marcus Garvey (1927)
    3. Ernest Green (1957)
    4. Gladys Williams (1963)
    5. Audrey Faye Hendricks (1963)
    6. Thelma Eubanks (1966)
    7. “Ancient Black Civilizations” Malcolm X (1964)
    8. European “Civilization” (1964)
    9. Martin Luther King Jr. speech (January 11, 1968)
    10. King’s last speech (April 3, 1968)