History Major Requirements

History Department Learning Goals

The History Department’s goals are:

  • to prepare broadly educated men and women for entry into diverse professional careers and public lives
  •  to foster the skills that history teaches: analysis, evaluation, and synthesis
  • to provide students the necessary prerequisites for coherent decisionmaking in all areas of professional life, especially those useful for careers in international relations, public and corporate administration, and law
  • to develop in history students a greater appreciation of a “multicultural world, a pluralistic nation, and a technological society.”

Students results after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history will be:

  • able to research historical problems and analyze their historical elements
  • demonstrate the ability to develop interpretive theses to explain and synthesize evidence
  • demonstrate the ability to effectively communicate the conclusion of their studies to a general audience
  • able to analyze the impact of changes over time

Major Requirements

Required courses (16 cr.)

Course Number Course Name
HIS 150 I Introduction to History
HIS 190 European History
HIS 350 History Seminar
HIS 499 Senior Seminar

Required to take two of the following courses (8 hours)

Course Number Course Name
HIS 160 U.S. History Survey
HIS 170 African-American History
HIS 180 African History

Required to take two of the following courses (8 hours):

Course Number Course Name
HIS 200 Selected Topics in U. S. History
HIS 210 Selected Topics in Afro-American History
HIS 220 Selected Topics in African History
HIS 230 Selected Topics in World History
HIS 240 Selected Topics in Women's History
HIS 300 Independent Study in History

Major Requirements

Joint majors combining history and another discipline may be arranged according to the usual University regulations. Twenty-four credit hours in history courses are required of any joint major including HIS 150 and HIS 350.

Minor Requirements

African American Studies Minor:

The African American Studies Minor is an interdisciplinary program administered by the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. The purpose of the minor is to provide Fisk University students an opportunity to pursue a coordinated program of study focusing on the African American experiences as it relates to past and current knowledge that informs issues in contemporary, national, and global discourses.  The minor will be key to individual, community, and national understanding.  Fisk is unique in the ability to address this area of study based on the extraordinary past that the university offers as well as the archival treasures and the contemporary opportunities prevalent through the university. This minor will also contribute to a critical understanding of African American culture, race and race politics, economics, literature, history, sociology and other areas of innovation and critical thought. Students in any major field may complete the minor in African American studies with the approval of their faculty academic advisors and the Coordinator of African American Studies.

Requirements:

20 hours of courses in the area of African American studies. To complete the minor, the student must:
1. Complete all requirements for one of the major fields
2. Successfully complete (grade of “C” or better), in the process of meeting the total credit-hour graduation requirement and the requirements for one of the major fields.
3.The student’s actual course of study (major and minor courses) is designed by the student in consultation with the major faculty academic advisor and the Coordinator of African American Studies.

Course consideration for a MINOR in African-American Studies:

1) THREE courses - 12 credits

Course Number Course Name Hours
HIS 270 African American History 4 cr.
ENG 276 Harlem Renaissance 1919 4 cr.
PSCI 245 African American Political Thought OR 4 cr.
PSCI 254 Politics in the Black Community 4 cr.

2) 8 credits - Electives across disciplines based in the African American experience

Course Number Course Name Hours
ART 291 African American Art 4 cr.
HIS 210 Selected Topics in African American History 4 cr.
MUS 206 Countercurrents in African and African American Music 2 cr.
MUS 208 History of Jazz 4 cr.
HSS 380 Black Experience 4 cr.
HIS 350 Africa and the World 4 cr.
SOC 305 Ethnicity and Race 4 cr.
ENG 280 Seminar Approved 4 cr.

3) Any "special topics" course dealing predominantly with African American studies can be approved by the Coordinator of African American Studies minor.

Additional Considerations

1.  No course will be counted twice in satisfying the minor requirements. If you are taking any of the courses listed above as part of required courses for your major or for a CORE requirement, it cannot count toward the 20 hour requirement for the minor. Please see the Coordinator of African American Studies minor if other considerations are needed. Other courses that relate to the minor may be approved by request and submission of the course syllabi.

2.  The minor is housed as additional area of study for a B.A. degree  Be sure your major coincides with this degree.

3.  A "C" or better must be earned in the course in order to receive credit toward the minor.