Open Educational Resources and History

• U.S. History (OpenStax) (CC BY)

  U.S. History (OpenStax) in LibreTexts (CC BY)
  U.S. History is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of most introductory courses. The text provides a balanced approach to U.S. history, considering the people, events, and ideas that have shaped the United States from both the top down (politics, economics, diplomacy) and bottom up (eyewitness accounts, lived experience). U.S. History covers key forces that form the American experience, with particular attention to issues of race, class, and gender.

  

• The American Yawp (CC BY-SA)

  The American Yawp in LibreTexts (Note – as of 1-23-21 the version in LibreTexts is in need of updating) (CC BY-SA)
  The American Yawp is a free “evolving, collaborative” American history textbook for college-level history courses. All contributors are experienced college-level instructors who volunteer their expertise to help democratize the American past for twenty-first century classrooms. The editors are Joseph Locke (University of Houston-Victoria) and Ben Wright (University of Texas at Dallas).

  

• Sage American History: A Survey of America’s Past (CC BY-NC-SA)

  Sage American History is divided into 30 chronological sections, colonial through modern times. This OER is designed for use by undergraduate college, community college, and high school teachers and students. It may be used without charge by any academic institution or individual as long as copyrights are respected. The course materials, developed by Henry J. Sage who teaches at Northern Virginia Community College, focus on the main events and characters of America’s past, recognizing that most students will take only one or two courses in American history.

  

• American Environmental History (Allosso)

  American Environmental History (Allosso) in LibreTexts (CC BY-BC-SA, except where otherwise noted)
  For too long the environment has been considered little more than a neutral background to history. This text surveys findings of the new field of Environmental History about how the environment of the Americas influenced the actions of people here and how people affected their environments, from prehistory to the present.

  

• African American History (Christopher Collins, 2020) – Google Docs (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, unless otherwise indicated)

  African American History for HIST 244 is a collection of selected readings from African American History (Lumen), American Yawp, Boundless US History, and US History by Chris Collins for Skyline College ZTC Early Adopter Program.

  

• American History I: Colonial Period to Civil War (Williamson and Aiello) (CC BY)

  This text from Dr. Franklin Williamson and Dr. Tom Aiello from Gordon State University contains all modular text content used in the LMS implementation of their American History I (HIST 2111) courses. American History 1 covers topics ranging from the colonial period to the Civil War. Original source includes Word versions of the text, lecture slides, and primary source exercises.

  

• History in the Making: A History of the People of the United States of America to 1877 (Locks et al., 2013) (CC BY-SA)

  This textbook examines U.S. History from before European Contact through Reconstruction, while focusing on the people and their history. Prior to its publication, History in the Making underwent a rigorous double-blind peer review, a process that involved over thirty scholars who reviewed the materially carefully, objectively, and candidly in order to ensure not only its scholarly integrity but also its high standard of quality. This book provides a strong emphasis on critical thinking about US History by providing several key features in each chapter. Learning Objectives at the beginning of each chapter help students to understand what they will learn in each chapter. Before You Move On sections at the end of each main section are designed to encourage students to reflect on important concepts and test their knowledge as they read. In addition, each chapter includes Critical Thinking Exercises that ask the student to deeply explore chapter content, Key Terms, and a Chronology of events.

  

• United States History, Volume 2 (Trowbridge) (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)

  This book was first published in December 2012. It is freely downloadable for use in an entry-level college course.

  

Other C-ID HIST 140 Resources

The resources listed below may require supplementation in order to serve as a text for a course comparable to C-ID HIST 130 or 140. If you have used any of these resources as your sole text, please let us know.

• African American History and Culture (Lumen Learning)
  This courseware includes resources copyrighted and openly licensed by multiple individuals and organizations. Click the words “Licenses and Attributions” at the bottom of each page for copyright and licensing information specific to the material on that page.
• Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience (Farrington et al., 2019) (CC BY)
  Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience gives instructors, students, and general readers a comprehensive and up-to-date account of African Americans’ cultural and political history, economic development, artistic expressiveness, and religious and philosophical worldviews in a critical framework. It offers sound interdisciplinary analysis of selected historical and contemporary issues surrounding the origins and manifestations of White supremacy in the United States. By placing race at the center of the work, the book offers significant lessons for understanding the institutional marginalization of Blacks in contemporary America and their historical resistance and perseverance.