Noah Shuster

This seminar course will offer a unique perspective on the history of the United States, focusing on the social movements that have significantly influenced this nation and its policies. We will delve into the formation of these movements, their tactics, and their lasting effects, making the course directly relevant to the social issues of today. We will begin by focusing on a people’s history of abolitionism, beginning with the revolutionary Atlantic uprisings of the 18th century that led up to the revolutionary abolition of slavery throughout much of the Americas. This will lead into course work on the civil disobedience tradition in the United States, with particular focus on the Underground Railroad, the guerrilla warfare that led up to the Civil War, and the general strike of the Black southern proletariat. From there, we will consider how the blossoming of the women’s movement and the workers’ movement in the late 19th century led to the peak of revolutionary radicalism in the United States in the early 20th century, ultimately achieving access to birth control and the New Deal. We will then examine the numerous people’s movements against the mid-20th-century social order throughout the 1960s-1970s, including the Civil Rights movement, Black Power, the LGBTQ movement, the antiwar movement, and second-wave feminism. With these foundations in place, we can then appreciate the ongoing movements of the 21st century, beginning with a focus on the anti-globalization movement at the turn of the century. In our present era, we will follow these currents through movements such as Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, the numerous uprisings of the 2018-2020 period, and contemporary movements against fascism. As a seminar-based course, academic expectations will include participation in daily class discussions, biweekly discussion posts, and in-class presentations. For conference work, students will develop their own original research project on a particular movement in US history. Projects typically culminate in a final essay and a mini-presentation.

This seminar will explore the history of the US labor movement from its beginnings in the colonial society of the 1600s to the “globalized” cities of the 2020s. Beginning with the involuntary labor arrangements that structured the continent’s economy from the 1600s to the Civil War, we will focus on the international workers' movement against slavery: abolitionism. The abolitionist struggle will take us from the first rebellions of involuntary workers to the Civil War and the Reconstruction era. From there, we will consider the strikes, uprisings, and organizations of the late 19th- and 20th-century industrial labor movement, beginning with the Great Upheaval of 1877 and ending with the postindustrial urban uprisings of 1967. We will consider the peak of “big labor” during the mid-20th century, alongside the peak in Cold War-era US imperialism that structured the economy during that time. In spring, we will begin by thoroughly considering the major structural shifts in the US economy that began in the 1970s, generally referred to as a combination of “globalization” and “neoliberalism.” These shifts degraded job quality and worker power, relegating the working class to service positions in the “global city” structure. In responding to these shifts, we will consider numerous autonomous unions and “worker centers” that have had 38 economic scholars sprung up to address the new issues of this new economy in the past 20 years. We will also focus on broader 21st-century people’s struggles—such as the anti-globalization movement, Occupy Wall Street, and Black Lives Matter—and how these movements relate to the ongoing workers’ movement. Requirements for the course include discussion posts, short papers, and a group presentation. For the course’s major project, students will have two options. The first is to write two connected final essays, one for each semester. The second is to engage in a yearlong research project, which can be focused on service learning and field placements with local worker centers and unions, if students choose. Students will meet with the instructor biweekly for individual conferences, depending on the student’s needs and the progress of their conference projects. Required texts may include: Strike! by Jeremy Brecher, The Many-Headed Hydra by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker, An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz, The Global City by Saskia Sassen, New Labor in New York by Ruth Milkman and Ed Ott, and Labor Law for the Rank and Filer by Staughton Lynd and Daniel Gross.

This course will examine abolitionism, both as a conceptual discourse and as a set of people’s movement practices. The first unit of the course focuses on the historical movement of abolitionism, beginning with the proliferation of the movement around the Revolutionary Atlantic world of the 18th century. Considering the uprisings and revolts throughout the colonial world of this time will lead us into considering individuals like Olaudah Equiano and Robert Wedderburn, who brought the abolitionist cause back into the imperial capital after traveling the rebellious seas. From there, we will follow the currents of the revolutionary Atlantic to focus on the Haitian Revolution, both in terms of the decades leading up to the revolution and in relation to the cascading inspiration that abolitionists throughout the Americas drew from this event. From there we can appreciate the development of a more concerted abolitionist movement within the United States, with a particular interest in the Underground Railroad direct action network which helped tens of thousands of slaves escape into the freer currents of the revolutionary Atlantic world. Finally, we will consider the escalation of United States abolitionism, the Civil War, and the elements of radical democracy that took place during the early Reconstruction. We will then pivot a century later to consider the emergence of prison abolitionism in the 1970s, concentrating on the series of protests and prison uprisings that launched the movement, as well as the discourse that emerged out of that resistance. From there, we will track the continued evolution of the ideas and texts of prison abolitionism from the 1970s through the 2010s, with a particular focus on the works of Angela Davis and Ruth Wilson Gilmore. In the 2013-2020 period, we will consider the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement and how it relates to prison abolitionist texts. This movement also led to a broader focus on police abolition, which is reflected in the work of authors within the movement, including Mariame Kaba and Alex Vitale. Finally, we will consider the ICE abolition movement in both the 2017-2020 and 2025-2026 periods and how this movement relates to the history of abolitionist ideas and practices before it. Collectively, we will seek to answer the question of why the concepts and practices of historical abolitionism have been seen as increasingly relevant to the neoliberal mass incarceration era. Students should expect open seminar discussions, regular discussion posts, group presentation projects, and a major research-oriented conference project.

This seminar course will offer a unique perspective on the history of the United States, focusing on the social movements that have significantly influenced this nation and its policies. We will delve into the formation of these movements, their tactics, and their lasting effects, making the course directly relevant to the social issues of today. We will begin by focusing on a people’s history of abolitionism, beginning with the revolutionary Atlantic uprisings of the 18th century that led up to the revolutionary abolition of slavery throughout much of the Americas. This will lead into course work on the civil disobedience tradition in the United States, with particular focus on the Underground Railroad, the guerrilla warfare that led up to the Civil War, and the general strike of the Black southern proletariat. From there, we will consider how the blossoming of the women’s movement and the workers’ movement in the late 19th century led to the peak of revolutionary radicalism in the United States in the early 20th century, ultimately achieving access to birth control and the New Deal. We will then examine the numerous people’s movements against the mid-20th century social order throughout the 1960s-1970s, including the Civil Rights movement, Black Power, the LGBTQ movement, the antiwar movement, and second-wave feminism. With these foundations in place, we can then appreciate the ongoing movements of the 21st century, beginning with a focus on the anti-globalization movement at the turn of the century. In our present era, we will follow these currents through movements such as Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, the numerous uprisings of the 2018-2020 period, and contemporary movements against fascism. As a seminar-based course, academic expectations will include participation in daily class discussions, biweekly discussion posts, and in-class presentations. For conference work, students will develop their own original research project on a particular movement in US history. Projects typically culminate in a final essay and a mini-presentation. 

In this yearlong seminar course, we will explore the history of the US labor movement from its beginnings in 1600s colonial society to the “globalized” cities of the 2020s. Beginning with the involuntary labor arrangements that structured the continent's economy from the 1600s to the Civil War, we will focus on the international workers' movement against slavery: abolitionism. The abolitionist struggle will take us from the first rebellions of involuntary workers to the Civil War and the Reconstruction era. From there, we will consider the strikes, uprisings, and organizations of the late 19th- and 20th-century industrial labor movement, beginning with the Great Upheaval of 1877 and ending with the postindustrial urban uprisings of 1967. We will consider the peak of “big labor” during the mid-20th century, alongside the peak in Cold War era US imperialism that structured the economy during that time. We will begin the spring semester by thoroughly considering the major structural shifts in the US economy that began in the 1970s, generally referred to as a combination of “globalization” and “neoliberalism.” These shifts degraded job quality and worker power, relegating the working class to service positions in the “global city” structure. In responding to these shifts, we will consider numerous autonomous unions and “worker centers” that have sprung up to address the new issues of this new economy in the past 20 years. We will also focus on broader 21st-century people's struggles—like the Anti-Globalization Movement, Occupy Wall Street, and Black Lives Matter—and how these movements relate to the ongoing workers' movement. Requirements for the course include discussion posts, short papers, and a group presentation. For the course’s major project, students will have two options. The first is writing two connected final essays, one for each semester. The second is engaging in a yearlong research project, which can be focused on service learning and in-the-field placements with local worker centers and unions, if students wish. Students will meet with the instructor every other week for individual conferences, depending on the student's needs and the progress of their conference projects. Required texts may include: Strike! by Jeremy Brecher, The Many-Headed Hydra by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker, An African-American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz, The Global City by Saskia Sassen, New Labor in New York by Ruth Milkman and Ed Ott, and Labor Law for the Rank and Filer by Staughton Lynd and Daniel Gross.

This seminar will explore the history of the US labor movement from its beginnings in the colonial society of the 1600s to the “globalized” cities of the 2020s. Beginning with the involuntary labor arrangements that structured the continent’s economy from the 1600s to the Civil War, we will focus on the international workers' movement against slavery: abolitionism. The abolitionist struggle will take us from the first rebellions of involuntary workers to the Civil War and the Reconstruction era. From there, we will consider the strikes, uprisings, and organizations of the late 19th- and 20th-century industrial labor movement, beginning with the Great Upheaval of 1877 and ending with the postindustrial urban uprisings of 1967. We will consider the peak of “big labor” during the mid-20th century, alongside the peak in Cold War-era US imperialism that structured the economy during that time. In spring, we will begin by thoroughly considering the major structural shifts in the US economy that began in the 1970s, generally referred to as a combination of “globalization” and “neoliberalism.” These shifts degraded job quality and worker power, relegating the working class to service positions in the “global city” structure. In responding to these shifts, we will consider numerous autonomous unions and “worker centers” that have had 38 economic scholars sprung up to address the new issues of this new economy in the past 20 years. We will also focus on broader 21st-century people’s struggles—such as the anti-globalization movement, Occupy Wall Street, and Black Lives Matter—and how these movements relate to the ongoing workers’ movement. Requirements for the course include discussion posts, short papers, and a group presentation. For the course’s major project, students will have two options. The first is to write two connected final essays, one for each semester. The second is to engage in a yearlong research project, which can be focused on service learning and field placements with local worker centers and unions, if students choose. Students will meet with the instructor biweekly for individual conferences, depending on the student’s needs and the progress of their conference projects. Required texts may include: Strike! by Jeremy Brecher, The Many-Headed Hydra by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker, An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz, The Global City by Saskia Sassen, New Labor in New York by Ruth Milkman and Ed Ott, and Labor Law for the Rank and Filer by Staughton Lynd and Daniel Gross.

In this yearlong seminar course, we will explore the history of the US labor movement from its beginnings in the colonial society of the 1600s to the “globalized” cities of the 2020s. Beginning with the involuntary labor arrangements that structured the continent’s economy from the 1600s to the Civil War, we will focus on the international workers’ movement against slavery: abolitionism. The abolitionist struggle will take us from the first rebellions of involuntary workers to the Civil War and the Reconstruction era. From there, we will consider the strikes, uprisings, and organizations of the late 19th- and 20th-century industrial labor movement, beginning with the Great Upheaval of 1877 and ending with the postindustrial urban uprisings of 1967. We will consider the peak of “big labor” during the mid-20th century, alongside the peak in Cold War-era US imperialism that structured the economy during that time. We will begin the spring semester by thoroughly considering the major structural shifts in the US economy that began in the 1970s, generally referred to as a combination of “globalization” and “neoliberalism.” These shifts degraded job quality and worker power, relegating the working class to service positions in the “global city” structure. In responding to these shifts, we will consider numerous autonomous unions and “worker centers” that have sprung up to address the new issues of this new economy in the past 20 years. We will also focus on broader 21st-century people’s struggles—like the Anti-Globalization Movement, Occupy Wall Street, and Black Lives Matter—and how these movements relate to the ongoing workers’ movement. Requirements for the course include discussion posts, short papers, and a group presentation. For the course’s major project, students will have two options. The first is writing two connected final essays, one for each semester. The second is engaging in a yearlong research project, which can be focused on service learning and in-the-field placements with local worker centers and unions, if students wish. Students will meet with the instructor every other week for individual conferences, depending on the student’s needs and the progress of their conference projects. Required texts may include: Strike! by Jeremy Brecher, The Many-Headed Hydra by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker, An African-American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz, The Global City by Saskia Sassen, New Labor in New York by Ruth Milkman and Ed Ott, and Labor Law for the Rank and Filer by Staughton Lynd and Daniel Gross.