American History Is Bigger Than You Might Think
My COVID hobby was getting a Master’s Degree in American History, because, well, I’m a huge nerd. And as of late December, it is done! You might be wondering what any of that has to do with our new Latin American History course (utilizing the incredible text, Born in Blood and Fire). The answer to that question is: everything.
From pretty much the first class I took, the program (run by Gilder-Lehrman in association with Gettysburg College) has made me a better teacher. In part, this is because the content offered by the program empowered me to develop a more fully-rounded, but also deeper, understanding of several major moments in American history (e.g. the colonial era, the Great Depression, etc.). The offerings also imparted upon me a far deeper understanding of American history through the eyes of people who have been too often erased from the narratives: women and people of color. Offering Latin American History at Online G3 is one step in my plan to rectify this huge gap in many young learners’ understanding of the United States. As I say when we kick off a U.S. History class in the prehistoric era, there are a lot of things that one needs to know to understand the modern United States that have nothing to do with England, France, Spain, or any other European entity. I would contend that you cannot fully understand our country if you do not have some knowledge of the histories of Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, etc. And these are stories we usually miss in U.S. History classes.
There are a lot of things that one needs to know to understand the modern United States that have nothing to do with England, France, Spain, or any other European entity.
For example, in your typical U.S. History class the island nation of Cuba first enters our narrative with the Spanish-American War of 1898. Then, the island fades into the background until we get to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Learned about that way, Cuba is simply an afterthought, an extra in the movie that is our history. That is a terrible disservice to the long relationship between the U.S. and Cuba. As Ada Ferrer writes in Cuba: An American History (a book I have chosen as a companion to our textbook):
Few Americans have likely considered the significance of Cuba for the United States. During the American Revolution, Cubans raised funds in support of Washington’s army, and soldiers from Cuba fought against the British in North America and the Caribbean. As the thirteen colonies lost access to other British possessions, the Spanish colony of Cuba became a vital trading partner. In fact, Havana’s storehouse of coveted silver currency helped finance the new nation’s first central bank. Later, after Florida and Texas became states of the Union in 1845, propertied southerners—and even some northerners—looked to Cuba as a potential new slave state or two, as a way to buttress the power of slavery and its economy.
Ada Ferrer, Cuba: An American History
Before my time at Gettysburg College, I had little inkling of many of those facts, myself. Given I have been teaching U.S. history for a decade now that says something about the historical narratives we have grown up with. And Cuba is just one Latin American country! Consider that all of the countries that have been created in this hemisphere have a long, bilateral (though sometimes unilateral) relationship with the U.S. that bares investigation. In my opinion, learners of the 21st century need to understand this.
So, Latin American History at Online G3 is intended to broaden our students’ horizons on not just the history of what is sometimes referred to these days as the Global South but also the history of these United States. Even before there was a United States, the people who would dub themselves Americans had been shaped by interactions with all the others who had arrived on these shores over a history that spans at least 20,000 years.
Ben Smith is also known as Headmaster Galahad at OnlineG3.com. He is the Vice President and COO of Online G3, Inc., and teaches history and science at G3.
