Humanities and Fine Arts 191HFA59 - FYS- Comics and US History

This course will examine the history of comic books in the 20th Century United States. It will use comics as a lens to look at major social, political, economic, and cultural changes. Major topics will include: how comics have represented (or not represented) the changing diversity of American society; the influence of war and politics on comics; fears about and regulation of comic books; how comics shaped and were shaped by the social movements of the 1960s and 70s including the Black Freedom Struggle and the Women?s Movement; the growth of comics into a multi-media industry. Throughout the semester we will introduce first-year students to key discussion and analytical skills through reading and interpreting comics and other primary and secondary sources.

Open to first-year Humanities and Fine Arts Exploratory Track students and first-year HFA Majors.