Introductory Note

In a 2006 issue of the Journal of American History, digital history pioneer Roy Rosenzweig asked, “Can History Be Open Source?” After more than a decade of labor by academic historians to inject open source materials into the academic mainstream, we can answer affirmatively: history can be open source. Instructors can now design high quality, academically rigorous, and cost-annihilating American history surveys exclusively with open source materials. On this page, we have offered syllabi, course readings, chapter-by-chapter discussion questions, key terms, quizzes, essay assignments, and exams to do just that. Individual instructors, of course, should always govern their own curriculum and be able to determine their own pedagogy. Rather than attempting to build a common curriculum, these resources are designed merely as a starting point. Like our text, they are licensed openly (CC-BY-SA): you are encouraged to use them, download them, distribute them, and modify them as you see fit. Moreover, The American Yawp is, as always, an evolving, collaborative project. We welcome the submission of additional teaching materials and feedback on existing material. If you have any ideas or resources you’d like to share, please contact the editors (Ben Wright for the first half, and Joseph Locke for the second) directly.