Welcome to
U.S. History
What is History?
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History is the study of change over time, and it covers all aspects of
human society. Political, social, economic, scientific, technological,
medical, cultural, intellectual, religious and military developments are
all part of history.
The term History comes from the Greek word Istoria which means “the
act of seeking knowledge through investigation or inquiry.” This
leads to an individual who might assemble a series of events by making
inquiries into what we might call stories! Think of history as the story
of humanity!
There is history (What historian create and we read) and there is the
past (The past does not change). The past cannot change but history
does, historians are constantly uncovering new aspects of history long
forgotten or updating history to include newly discovered details.
History changes, just like stories.
“History is not the past, history is the story of what happened in the past”
Why Study History?
“Those who cannot
remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.”
-George Santayana
American/Spanish
Philosopher, 1906
“The past is never dead.
It’s not even past.”
-William Faulkner
American Writer, 1950
Huge events in the past that have shaped the world
we live in still affect us now. They cause ripples that
we are still dealing with. The past influences us in
incredible ways and we cannot avoid it.
Historians hate this quote! Because let’s remember, the
past does not repeat itself, it is the past, it cannot
change.
What happened in the past is a fixed phenomena and the
exact same conditions cannot be replicated. History does
not continually revolve like the sun.
However! Human behavior can repeat itself and has
patterns that we can track. But history will never have the
same conditions, it will always be at different times,
involve different people, and have different context.
In the larger context of the quote, Santaya is try to
to talk about individual human progress. In my
belief, he is saying that if you don’t have a sense of
where you are or where you where, you’ll never get
a sense of where you’re going.
Other great reasons:
● Develop writing, research, and critical thinking skills.
● History helps you become more knowledgeable
● It is useful in almost every field (Medicine, law,
engineering, etc.)
● It shouldn’t be boring!
“The most effective way to destroy
people is to deny and obliterate their
own understanding of their history.”
— George Orwell, British author
How do we study history?
Artifacts: Historians generally do not study
artifacts, that falls within the realm of
archaeology. But they look nice in museums! But
they are a part of the past since they were made by
humans.
Historians deal with written sources
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Tertiary Sources
A written, visual, or auditory
source from the past that can
be analyzed
Books and writings about
history. Usually written by a
historian and created using
compiled primary sources
These are mainly composed of
encyclopedias and textbooks.
Can you think of one?...
Examples:
1776, by David McCullough
The people’s history of the
United States, by Howard Zinn.
Band of Brothers, Stephen E.
Ambrose
I know you just love those!
How to Think Like a Historian
Our goal as students of history is to
improve our historical thinking skills
Activity Time!
Observe, Reflect, Question (ORQ)
OBSERVE
Have students identify and note
details.
Ex: Describe what you see.
● What do you notice first?
● What people and objects
are shown?
● What, if any, words do you
see?
● What do you see that looks
different than it would in a
photograph?
● What do you see that
might refer to another
work of art or literature?
● What do you see that
might be a symbol?
● What other details can you
see?
Reflect
Create a hypothesis!
Ex: What's happening in the
cartoon?
● What was happening when
this cartoon was made?
● Who do you think was the
audience for this cartoon?
● What issue do you think this
cartoon is about?
● What do you think the
cartoonist's opinion on this
issue is?
● What methods does the
cartoonist use to persuade
the audience?
Question
ask questions to lead to more
observations and reflections.
What do you wonder about...
● who?
● what?
● when?
● Where?
● why?
● how?
Let’s Try it out!
The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.
— Mark Twain, American
writer