The course will examine 19^th-century America through several lenses—education and literature being the primary ones used throughout this semester.  We will examine how reformist and revolutionary ideals and ideas of the 19^th century were translated into literature and educational thought and practice.  We will also explore the overlap of literature and education with an eye to tracing similar patterns that emerge in both domains.  Upon completing the course you should have a richer understanding of literature and education as responses to the social, political, and cultural pressures which emerge over the course of the century. 

Five major themes run through the course and will guide our readings and inquiries--Democracy, Industrialization, Darwinism, The Civil War, The New Woman, and serve as both conceptual and historical “artifacts” that we can use to inform our study of the century’s literature and educational practices. 

Educationally related aspects of the course will include—describing, understanding, and evaluating the systems and structures that were first implemented in the 19^th century such as kindergarten, high school, and liberal arts colleges; the tensions between public and private education in America; the struggle to keep education an equalizer of the classes; the link between democracy and education; the education of women, blacks and Native Americans after the civil war; and the relationship between education and religion that evolved over the century.

Issues related to literature will include—the development of romanticism, realism, and naturalism as literary movements; the formation of "new" American literatures different from British and European letters; the emergence of African American and women's voices in literature; and the influence of science, technology, and industrialization on subjects and forms of literature.