History

History Courses

Sample courses within the history major curriculum:

• Slavery In the Atlantic World (HIST 231) - The slave trade that occurred between the early 1500s to the mid-1880s is one of the experiences that link the continents of Europe, Africa and the Americas. Using the Atlantic World as the focus, we will examine the themes of slave trade, slavery, abolition and emancipation on both sides of the Atlantic over three and a half centuries. We will be particularly interested in comparing experiences of slavery and emancipation in different parts of the New World and Africa. This course is very much a history from below in which we examine the lives and experiences of those who were enslaved. The role of slave owners and slave traders will be considered as well, but the will not be the focus of the course.
• Introduction to Public History (HIST 290) - This course will introduce students to the practice of presenting history to the public at large. It will provide students with basic preparation for work in cultural resource management, historic preservation, and museum fields.
• Sports & Leisure in the US (HIST 336) - This course examines the histories of American sport as not only a form of exercise, leisure, competition and entertainment but also as a form of monopolistic business, nationalism and contesting identities of race, class and gender. We trace the multiple histories of sport (including colonial notions of play, bare-knuckle boxing in the early republic, the Victorian bifurcation of “amateur” and “professional,” the rise of folk heroes, racial inclusion and exclusion, the nationalistic struggles of the Olympics, the industry of sport, gender equality and inequalities, and medical understandings of brain injuries dating back to the 19th century) because sport and sport culture serves as a useful mirror of American society.
• Contemporary Latin America (HIST 344) - This course examines political, economic and social processes that have shaped Latin America from approximately 1930 to the present. The sources that students will encounter in this course include memoirs, newspapers, testimonios, novels, films, and popular music, in addition to monographs and scholarly articles. These sources will help students to understand how major events influenced ordinary people's lives and how social movements, in turn, shaped the history of Latin America in the 20th and 21st centuries.
• Vikings! (HIST 364) - What do we know about Vikings? Scandinavian marauders who pillaged at will throughout Europe, or highly efficient tradesmen who built kingdoms on their success? Or perhaps they were great poets who tamed time, space, and gods with their words and raised memorials in stone to their loved ones? Or men with horned helmets and furry leg-warmers who quaffed mead in copious quantities while yearning to die in battle and fly to Valhalla, the sky-hall of the gods? We will use their own words, as well as the words of their enemies, friends and descendants, to address these questions.

Career Outcomes

99% of Xavier students, including those in the history major, are working, volunteering or in graduate school within six months of graduation (Class of 2022). 

Recent student job placements: Boy Scouts of America, Center for Holocaust and Humanities Education, Equity Office Properties, Lakota Local School District, Loyalty 360, Reynolds and Reynolds, St. Vincent de Paul

Career Opportunities: Collections Associate, Lawyer, Teacher, Research Analyst, Librarian, Archivist, Curator, Journalist/Writer

More: Xavier's Career Development Office assists students in their search for employment by offering individual career counseling sessions, conducting workshop series on interviewing and resume writing techniques and maintaining an educational, vocational and employer information resource center. 

History Clubs

• History Club- The Xavier History Club's purpose is to expand the knowledge of history and to make history enjoyable. Students discuss diverse historical topics and engage in interactive simulations of historical events. They also explore the history of the tri-state region through exciting and enriching field trips.
• Pre-Law Society- The Pre-Law Society is a club for all students who are interested in going to law school after Xavier. Meetings help prepare/inform students about applying to law school and what the life of a lawyer entails. Meetings typically revolve around a guest speaker or panel of speakers, followed by an informal Q&A session.

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