About the Project
Modern US history presents a rich and complex story. As the nation reeled from the end of Reconstruction in 1877, various groups struggled to maintain their precarious hold on citizenship and land rights. Meanwhile, industrialization prompted seismic social changes including vast wealth inequities and rapid urbanization. The country engaged in multiple armed conflicts and wars as it grew into a world power and became the world’s largest economy. Domestically, cultural shifts came with changing notions of gender, sexuality, the family, and race. The events that shaped the US in the mid-twentieth century – an economic depression, the expansion of the welfare state, and participation in World War II – set in motion the contestations that racked the nation in the 1960s, 70s and beyond.
This site houses the digital exhibition projects that have been designed, researched and written by Dickinson College students in Say Burgin’s US History Since 1877 class. Selecting a dominant theme from the class, students have created digital exhibitions for this online Museum of Modern US History.