BA in History
Degree Program Description
History is the chronicle of humanity’s activities throughout the ages. The study of history offers a means of understanding the present by investigating and analyzing the past. Students can choose from a wide selection of course work including courses in the history of the United States, Latin America, Europe (from ancient Greece to the present), Africa, and East Asia. The curriculum provides course work in political, cultural, social, intellectual, environmental, and diplomatic history. Beyond the classroom students gain hands-on experience by working as interns at partner institutions throughout mid-Missouri. Students skilled in research, analysis, and writing are attractive to graduate schools in history, museum studies, and public affairs as well as law schools and business schools. Many history majors obtain their teaching certificate to allow them to teach in public schools. History majors are highly recruited in many fields of business, including management, marketing, and finance. Libraries, museums, archives, publishing companies, and local history and preservation projects all offer careers with the possibility of continued specialization in history. A number of our majors have also found rewarding work in city, state, and federal government, including city planning, historic preservation, and working on political campaigns locally and in Washington DC.
Major Program Requirements
A student majoring in history must complete a total of 33 history credits. A grade of C- or better is required for all courses taken for the major. In addition to University, general education, and College of Arts and Science requirements, students must also meet the following major program requirements. All major requirements in the College of Arts and Science must be completed with grades of C- or higher unless otherwise indicated.
| Major core requirements | 33 | |
| I. Introductory Courses. Choose 1 course in at least 3 of the following areas. At least one course must be a "Pre-modern/Early Modern" course and one course must be a "Modern" course. | 9 | |
| Pre-modern/Early Modern | ||
| HIST 1100 | Survey of American History to 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 1400 | American History | 5 |
| HIST 1500 | Origins of European History | 3 |
| HIST 1520 | The Ancient World | 3 |
| HIST 1560 | The World of the Middle Ages | 3 |
| HIST 1570 | Survey of Early Modern Europe, 1350-1650 | 3 |
| HIST 1790 | History of Early Africa | 3 |
| HIST 1830 | Survey of East Asian History | 3 |
| HIST 1840 | Colonial Latin America | 3 |
| HIST 1870 | Imperial China: China to 1600 | 3 |
| Modern | ||
| HIST 1200 | Survey of American History Since 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 1400 | American History | 5 |
| HIST 1405 | Understanding Africa | 3 |
| HIST 1410 | African American History | 3 |
| HIST 1510 | History of Modern Europe | 3 |
| HIST 1800 | History of Modern Africa | 3 |
| HIST 1810 | History of South Africa | 3 |
| HIST 1850 | Latin America Since Independence | 3 |
| HIST 1871 | History of China in Modern Times | 3 |
| HIST 1872 | Mao's China and Beyond: China Since 1949 | 3 |
| HIST 2210 | Twentieth Century America | 3 |
| HIST 2520 | From Waterloo to Sarajevo: European History, 1815-1914 | 3 |
| U.S. History | ||
| HIST 1100 | Survey of American History to 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 1200 | Survey of American History Since 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 1400 | American History | 5 |
| HIST 1410 | African American History | 3 |
| HIST 2210 | Twentieth Century America | 3 |
| Africa/Middle East | ||
| HIST 1405 | Understanding Africa | 3 |
| HIST 1790 | History of Early Africa | 3 |
| HIST 1800 | History of Modern Africa | 3 |
| HIST 1810 | History of South Africa | 3 |
| Latin America | ||
| HIST 1840 | Colonial Latin America | 3 |
| HIST 1850 | Latin America Since Independence | 3 |
| Europe | ||
| HIST 1500 | Origins of European History | 3 |
| HIST 1510 | History of Modern Europe | 3 |
| HIST 1520 | The Ancient World | 3 |
| HIST 1560 | The World of the Middle Ages | 3 |
| HIST 1570 | Survey of Early Modern Europe, 1350-1650 | 3 |
| HIST 2520 | From Waterloo to Sarajevo: European History, 1815-1914 | 3 |
| Asia | ||
| HIST 1830 | Survey of East Asian History | 3 |
| HIST 1870 | Imperial China: China to 1600 | 3 |
| HIST 1871 | History of China in Modern Times | 3 |
| HIST 1872 | Mao's China and Beyond: China Since 1949 | 3 |
| II. Research Skills: HIST 2950 Sophomore Seminar | 3 | |
| III. Area Specific Courses | 9 | |
One course must be a 3000 level or above | ||
| U.S. History | ||
| HIST 1410 | African American History | 3 |
| HIST 2100 | The Revolutionary Transformation of America | 3 |
| HIST 2120 | The Young Republic | 3 |
| HIST 2150 | The American Civil War: A Global History | 3 |
| HIST 2210 | Twentieth Century America | 3 |
| HIST 2220 | America in the 1960's | 3 |
| HIST 2240 | Flight in America: From the Wright Brothers to the Space Age | 3 |
| HIST 2400 | Social History of U.S. Women | 3 |
| HIST 2410 | African American Women in History | 3 |
| HIST 2420 | Conspiracy Theories and Conspiracies in American History and Culture | 3 |
| HIST 2430 | History of American Religion | 3 |
| HIST 2440 | History of Missouri | 3 |
| HIST 2445 | American Constitutional Democracy | 3 |
| HIST 3000 | History of Religion in America to the Civil War | 3 |
| HIST 3010 | Colonial America | 3 |
| HIST 3200 | Black Freedom Movement, 1955-1973 | 3 |
| HIST 3210 | History of Religion in Post-Civil War America | 3 |
| HIST 3220 | U.S. Women's Political History, 1880-Present | 3 |
| HIST 3400 | Religious Biography: Black Religion | 3 |
| HIST 3410 | Global History of Black Power | 3 |
| HIST 3420 | America's Environmental Experience | 3 |
| HIST 3430 | Sex Radicals in U. S History | 3 |
| HIST 3485 | The United States and the Middle East | 3 |
| HIST 3624 | Comparative Approaches to Black Studies in History | 3 |
| HIST 4000 | Age of Jefferson | 3 |
| HIST 4010 | The Age of Jackson | 3 |
| HIST 4020 | United states History from 1800-1860 | 3 |
| HIST 4040 | Slavery and the Crisis of the Union: The American Civil War Era | 3 |
| HIST 4050 | American Colonial History to 1760 | 3 |
| HIST 4055 | Witchcraft in Seventeenth Century New England | 3 |
| HIST 4060 | The Period of the American Revolution, 1760-1789 | 3 |
| HIST 4070 | Indians and Europeans in Early America | 3 |
| HIST 4100 | American Cultural and Intellectual History to 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 4200 | American Cultural and Intellectual History Since 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 4210 | Origins of Modern America, 1877-1919 | 3 |
| HIST 4220 | U.S. Society Between the Wars 1918-1945 | 3 |
| HIST 4230 | Our Times: United States Since 1945 | 3 |
| HIST 4235 | The Wire: Race, Urban Inequality, and the "Crisis" of the American City | 3 |
| HIST 4260 | The Age of Ascendancy: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1945 - Present | 3 |
| HIST 4270 | African-Americans in the Twentieth Century | 3 |
| HIST 4280 | America in the Reagan Years | 3 |
| HIST 4290 | Innovation in 20th and 21st Century America | 3 |
| HIST 4310 | Adoption, Child Welfare and the Family, 1850-Present | 3 |
| HIST 4400 | History of American Law | 3 |
| HIST 4410 | Introduction to U.S. Social History | 3 |
| HIST 4415 | African Americans and American Justice | 3 |
| HIST 4420 | American Urban History | 3 |
| HIST 4425 | The Superhero in American Culture From Washington to Wolverine | 3 |
| HIST 4430 | The Great West in American History | 3 |
| HIST 4440 | History of the American Environment | 3 |
| HIST 4445 | American Political Economy from the Commerce Clause to the Great Recession | 3 |
| HIST 4460 | Economic Characteristics of the African American Experience | 1 |
| HIST 4480 | The History of Genocide and Atrocity | 3 |
| HIST 4900 | Beltway History: American Constitutional Democracy in Theory and Practice | 3 |
| HIST 4904 | Historical and Contemporary Slavery | 3 |
| Africa/Middle East | ||
| HIST 1405 | Understanding Africa | 3 |
| HIST 1790 | History of Early Africa | 3 |
| HIST 1800 | History of Modern Africa | 3 |
| HIST 1810 | History of South Africa | 3 |
| HIST 2904 | Black Studies in Slavery and Freedom | 3 |
| HIST 3505 | History of Ancient Egypt | 3 |
| HIST 3624 | Comparative Approaches to Black Studies in History | 3 |
| HIST 3485 | The United States and the Middle East | 3 |
| HIST 3515 | Ptolemaic Egypt from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra | 3 |
| HIST 3800 | Women in African History | 3 |
| HIST 3815 | Africa and the World: Studies in African Histories, Cultures and Politics | 3 |
| HIST 4560 | The Crusades | 3 |
| HIST 4615 | Empire's Crossroads: Britain and the Middle East | 3 |
| HIST 4825 | Africa from the Slave Trade to Independence | 3 |
| HIST 4835 | Race and Politics in South Africa | 3 |
| HIST 4904 | Historical and Contemporary Slavery | 3 |
| Latin America | ||
| HIST 1840 | Colonial Latin America | 3 |
| HIST 1850 | Latin America Since Independence | 3 |
| HIST 3860 | History of Mexico | 3 |
| HIST 3870 | Social Revolution in Latin America | 3 |
| HIST 3880 | History of Caribbean America | 3 |
| HIST 4821 | Constitutionalism in the Americas | 3 |
| Europe | ||
| HIST 1520 | The Ancient World | 3 |
| HIST 1540 | England Before the Glorious Revolution | 3 |
| HIST 1560 | The World of the Middle Ages | 3 |
| HIST 1570 | Survey of Early Modern Europe, 1350-1650 | 3 |
| HIST 2520 | From Waterloo to Sarajevo: European History, 1815-1914 | 3 |
| HIST 2530 | Ukrainian History from Medieval to Modern Times | 3 |
| HIST 2550 | Farm to Table in Ancient Greece and Rome: Small Farms and Big Business | 3 |
| HIST 2560 | Modern Military History | 3 |
| HIST 2570 | The First World War and its Aftermath | 3 |
| HIST 2580 | Mafia Myth and Reality: The Italian Mafia and the Nation-State, 1860 to the Present | 3 |
| HIST 2590 | Epidemics and Society | 3 |
| HIST 2600 | Early Christianity | 3 |
| HIST 2620 | History of Christianity, 1500-Present | 3 |
| HIST 2630 | History of Christian Traditions | 3 |
| HIST 2700 | History of Pirates: Maritime Raiding From the Ancient to the Modern Eras | 3 |
| HIST 3510 | The Ancient Greek World | 3 |
| HIST 3520 | The Roman World | 3 |
| HIST 3530 | The Hellenistic World: From Alexander to Rome | 3 |
| HIST 3540 | 20th Century Europe | 3 |
| HIST 3545 | World War II | 3 |
| HIST 3550 | Science and Medicine in Ancient and Medieval Europe | 3 |
| HIST 3560 | The Scientific Revolution | 3 |
| HIST 3570 | European Women in the 19th Century | 3 |
| HIST 3580 | Modern Italy, 1815 to the Present | 3 |
| HIST 3590 | The Early Middle Ages | 3 |
| HIST 3600 | The Later Middle Ages | 3 |
| HIST 4075 | Global History in Oxford | 4 |
| HIST 4480 | The History of Genocide and Atrocity | 3 |
| HIST 4500 | Philip II and Alexander the Great of Macadonia | 3 |
| HIST 4510 | Crime and Punishment: Law in Classical Athens | 3 |
| HIST 4520 | The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic | 3 |
| HIST 4530 | The Roman Empire | 3 |
| HIST 4535 | Monastic Worlds | 3 |
| HIST 4540 | The Later Roman Empire | 3 |
| HIST 4550 | Age of the Vikings | 3 |
| HIST 4560 | The Crusades | 3 |
| HIST 4570 | Intellectual History of Europe, 17th and 18th Centuries | 3 |
| HIST 4580 | The "Making" of Modern Europe: Identity, Culture, Empire | 3 |
| HIST 4585 | Rome from Fascism to Liberation, 1922-1944 | 3 |
| HIST 4590 | Stuart England | 3 |
| HIST 4600 | English Legal and Constitutional History | 3 |
| HIST 4605 | Spain in the Age of Empire, 1450-1750 | 3 |
| HIST 4610 | Early Modern Britain, 1450-1688 | 3 |
| HIST 4615 | Empire's Crossroads: Britain and the Middle East | 3 |
| HIST 4620 | Modern England | 3 |
| HIST 4630 | The Age of the Renaissance | 3 |
| HIST 3640 | Reformations and Religious Conflicts in Early Modern Europe | 3 |
| HIST 4645 | Witchcraft and Witch Hunting in Pre-Modern Europe | 3 |
| HIST 4650 | Revolutionary France, 1789-1815 | 3 |
| HIST 4660 | Gender, War, and Migration: Europe, 1914 to the Present | 3 |
| HIST 4680 | From the Rise of the Nazis to the Fall of the Wall: German History in the Twentieth Century | 3 |
| HIST 4685 | The Holocaust | 3 |
| HIST 4690 | Modern France 1815 to Present | 3 |
| HIST 4700 | Imperial Russia, 1682-1825 | 3 |
| HIST 4865 | Buying Desire: History of Consumption | 3 |
| HIST 4710 | The Russian Revolution | 3 |
| Asia | ||
| HIST 1820 | Asian Humanities | 3 |
| HIST 1830 | Survey of East Asian History | 3 |
| HIST 1870 | Imperial China: China to 1600 | 3 |
| HIST 1871 | History of China in Modern Times | 3 |
| HIST 1872 | Mao's China and Beyond: China Since 1949 | 3 |
| HIST 2820 | Taiwan: The First Chinese Democracy | 3 |
| HIST 3820 | Twentieth Century China | 3 |
| HIST 3830 | Chinese Women's History | 3 |
| HIST 3845 | Rights and Revolutions in Asia | 3 |
| HIST 3845 | Rights and Revolutions in Asia | 3 |
| HIST 3860 | History of Mexico | 3 |
| HIST 4800 | Modern China and Japan: War, Imperialism and Memory | 3 |
| HIST 4860 | Colonial Masculinity/Colonial Frontier | 3 |
| HIST 4870 | Southeast Asia Since the Eighteenth Century | 3 |
| HIST 4880 | Chinese Migration: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority | 3 |
| Transnational | ||
| HIST 2150 | The American Civil War: A Global History | 3 |
| HIST 2560 | Modern Military History | 3 |
| HIST 2590 | Epidemics and Society | 3 |
| HIST 2904 | Black Studies in Slavery and Freedom | 3 |
| HIST 3545 | World War II | 3 |
| HIST 3620 | Britain and the Sea | 3 |
| HIST 4075 | Global History in Oxford | 4 |
| HIST 4260 | The Age of Ascendancy: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1945 - Present | 3 |
| HIST 4450 | Historic Preservation | 3 |
| HIST 4480 | The History of Genocide and Atrocity | 3 |
| HIST 4865 | Buying Desire: History of Consumption | 3 |
| IV. History Electives | 6 | |
Choose any 2 history courses, 3000 level or above | ||
| V. Capstone (Required Prerequisite: HIST 2950) Choose one option | 6 | |
| VI. U.S. History Requirement | ||
| HIST 1410 | African American History | 3 |
| HIST 2100 | The Revolutionary Transformation of America | 3 |
| HIST 2120 | The Young Republic | 3 |
| HIST 2150 | The American Civil War: A Global History | 3 |
| HIST 2210 | Twentieth Century America | 3 |
| HIST 2220 | America in the 1960's | 3 |
| HIST 2240 | Flight in America: From the Wright Brothers to the Space Age | 3 |
| HIST 2400 | Social History of U.S. Women | 3 |
| HIST 2410 | African American Women in History | 3 |
| HIST 2420 | Conspiracy Theories and Conspiracies in American History and Culture | 3 |
| HIST 2430 | History of American Religion | 3 |
| HIST 2440 | History of Missouri | 3 |
| HIST 2445 | American Constitutional Democracy | 3 |
| HIST 3000 | History of Religion in America to the Civil War | 3 |
| HIST 3010 | Colonial America | 3 |
| HIST 3200 | Black Freedom Movement, 1955-1973 | 3 |
| HIST 3210 | History of Religion in Post-Civil War America | 3 |
| HIST 3220 | U.S. Women's Political History, 1880-Present | 3 |
| HIST 3410 | Global History of Black Power | 3 |
| HIST 3400 | Religious Biography: Black Religion | 3 |
| HIST 3420 | America's Environmental Experience | 3 |
| HIST 3430 | Sex Radicals in U. S History | 3 |
| HIST 3485 | The United States and the Middle East | 3 |
| HIST 3624 | Comparative Approaches to Black Studies in History | 3 |
| HIST 4000 | Age of Jefferson | 3 |
| HIST 4010 | The Age of Jackson | 3 |
| HIST 4020 | United states History from 1800-1860 | 3 |
| HIST 4040 | Slavery and the Crisis of the Union: The American Civil War Era | 3 |
| HIST 4050 | American Colonial History to 1760 | 3 |
| HIST 4055 | Witchcraft in Seventeenth Century New England | 3 |
| HIST 4055 | Witchcraft in Seventeenth Century New England | 3 |
| HIST 4060 | The Period of the American Revolution, 1760-1789 | 3 |
| HIST 4070 | Indians and Europeans in Early America | 3 |
| HIST 4100 | American Cultural and Intellectual History to 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 4200 | American Cultural and Intellectual History Since 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 4210 | Origins of Modern America, 1877-1919 | 3 |
| HIST 4220 | U.S. Society Between the Wars 1918-1945 | 3 |
| HIST 4230 | Our Times: United States Since 1945 | 3 |
| HIST 4235 | The Wire: Race, Urban Inequality, and the "Crisis" of the American City | 3 |
| HIST 4260 | The Age of Ascendancy: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1945 - Present | 3 |
| HIST 4270 | African-Americans in the Twentieth Century | 3 |
| HIST 4280 | America in the Reagan Years | 3 |
| HIST 4290 | Innovation in 20th and 21st Century America | 3 |
| HIST 4310 | Adoption, Child Welfare and the Family, 1850-Present | 3 |
| HIST 4400 | History of American Law | 3 |
| HIST 4410 | Introduction to U.S. Social History | 3 |
| HIST 4415 | African Americans and American Justice | 3 |
| HIST 4420 | American Urban History | 3 |
| HIST 4425 | The Superhero in American Culture From Washington to Wolverine | 3 |
| HIST 4430 | The Great West in American History | 3 |
| HIST 4440 | History of the American Environment | 3 |
| HIST 4445 | American Political Economy from the Commerce Clause to the Great Recession | 3 |
| HIST 4460 | Economic Characteristics of the African American Experience | 1 |
| HIST 4480 | The History of Genocide and Atrocity | 3 |
| HIST 4900 | Beltway History: American Constitutional Democracy in Theory and Practice | 3 |
| HIST 4904 | Historical and Contemporary Slavery | 3 |
Semester Plan
Below is a sample plan of study, semester by semester. A student's actual plan will vary based on course choices where options are available.
| First Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| ENGLSH 1000 | 3 | MATH 1050, 1100, or STAT 1200 | 3 |
| Behavioral Science Course | 3 | Biological/Physical/Math Science Course with lab | 5 |
| Social Science Course | 3 | Minor | 3 |
| Humanities Course | 3 | History Course | 3 |
| History Course | 3 | ||
| 15 | 14 | ||
| Second Year | |||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| Second Language | 5 | Second Language | 5 |
| Behavioral Science Course | 3 | Minor | 3 |
| Humanities Course | 3 | Humanities Course | 3 |
| Social Science Course | 3 | History Course | 3 |
| History Course | 3 | ||
| 17 | 14 | ||
| Third Year | |||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| Second Language | 3 | Humanities Course | 3 |
| Biological/Physical/Math Science Course | 4 | Minor | 3 |
| History Course | 3 | History Course | 3 |
| History Course | 3 | History Course | 3 |
| Elective Course | 3 | Elective Course | 3 |
| 16 | 15 | ||
| Fourth Year | |||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| Minor | 3 | Social Science Course | 3 |
| Minor | 3 | History Course | 3 |
| History Course | 3 | History Course | 3 |
| Elective Course | 3 | Elective Course | 3 |
| Elective Course | 3 | Elective Course | 3 |
| 15 | 15 | ||
| Total Credits: 121 | |||
Degree Audit
The degree audit is an automated report reflecting a student’s academic progress toward the completion of a degree.
MU students can request a degree audit by logging in to myDegreePlanner. Students may also access myDegreePlanner via myZou, in the Student Center, click on the Academic Progress Tile, then select Request Degree Audit. The audit automatically pulls in the student’s MU course work, transfer courses and courses in progress. This is available to current students, admitted students, and those who last attended less than three terms ago.
Past MU students can request a degree audit by contacting the Academic Advising Unit of the division in which they were last enrolled at MU. For contact information, go to https://advising.missouri.edu/contact/.
Prospective students, can access a preliminary MU degree audit via https://www.transferology.com. Information on the college credits already earned will have to be manually entered before it can be evaluated against current degree requirements.
For additional details on degree audits, go to https://registrar.missouri.edu/degrees-audits/degree-audits/.
Major and Career Exploration
The University of Missouri has many resources to assist you in exploring majors and career possibilities. For guidance, visit the Majors and Careers website or view specific resources below.
-
If you are considering a change of major or are exploring multiple majors, schedule an appointment with an advisor in the Discovery Center by calling (573)884-9700 or through MU Connect Discovery Center service in you success network.
-
If you have decided on a major, visit an academic advisor in the School or College that you are interested in to discuss the process of declaring the major.
- If you would like to learn more about your career interests, abilities, values and talents, visit the MU Career Center. No Appointment is necessary to explore career options with one of our staff members.
- If you would like information about MU majors and degree programs, visit:
- the Degrees, Majors (Degree Programs), Emphasis Areas, Minors and Certificates page in the catalog,
- the MU Majors website.
For additional major and career exploration resources, visit Major & Career Exploration in the catalog.