This course, open to seniors, is an interdisciplinary course that examines the diversity of African American experiences through direct encounters with rich and varied sources. Students will explore key topics that extend from early African kingdoms to the ongoing challenges and achievements of the contemporary moment. This course focuses on applying disciplinary knowledge, source analysis, and argumentation. In alignment, with the AP curriculum, all students will complete a final project for this course.

AP US History is a full-year course for juniors designed to survey the social, political, economic, and cultural history of the United States from the first contact between Native Americans and Europeans to the present. In terms of themes and topics considered, the course follows the outline of the AP United States History Course Description. This investigation requires students to strengthen their skills in historical writing, interpretation, and analysis, especially of primary-source documents. It also calls upon them to make connections between historical events, trends, and patterns and contemporary issues in the United States in terms of both domestic and international affairs.

In an effort to help students to better understand how protests, social unrest, and revolution can create or fail to create lasting social change, Comparative Revolutions will explore a variety of revolutions as case studies, focusing not just on political revolutions but social revolutions and upheavals.  The course will be comprised of five units potentially including but not limited to Revolutions of the Renaissance and Reformation, Constitutional Revolutions (American, French, 1830/1848, and Meiji Japan), Communist Revolutions (Russia, China, Cuba), Revolutions against dictators (Mexico, Nicaragua, and Iran), Color Revolutions (The Philippines, Easter Europe, the USSR, and Ukraine), & The Arab Revolutions of 2011 (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria).  Students will research, analyze, compare, and contrast elements of these revolutions and ultimately identify conditions that may serve as predictors for future revolutions.

Profiles in Leadership will first explore multiple theories of leadership and further examine those concepts by studying current historical leaders across varied eras and geographies.  Students will then select several world leaders they would like to study, through biographies and other sources, culminating in multiple research projects and presentations about their chosen leader(s).  While learning more about the framework and application of leadership through real-life figures, students will also have the opportunity to consider their own leadership capabilities and their practice of it on the St. Christopher's campus and into the future.  A variety of guest speakers will help bring the study of leadership in life, as will course readings, documentaries, and film excerpts.

This course explores what many historians consider to be the seminal event of the 20th century.  Students will study the causes of the Great War, the experiences of those who lived through hit (soldiers and civilians), and its larger impact on societies worldwide. The five major topics for the course will be the July Crisis and responsibility for the war, the wartime experience, revolutions unleashed by the war, the war outside of Europe, the peace process, and its global impact.  Students will be assessed based on a position paper developed in response to the five major topics.  Through those papers, they will develop a spirit of inquiry and take intellectual risks by creating and exploring argumentative research questions, analyzing diverse sources, looking for historical connections, and expressing ideas, opinions, and research in class discussions and argumentative research papers.

The Protestant Reformation was a religious movement that began in the 16th century and resulted in the formation of various Protestant denominations, such a Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Anglicanism.  It was led by figures such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, who sought to reform the practices and theology of the Roman Catholic Church.  The movement was sparked by several factors, including corruption within the Church, dissatisfaction with the sale of indulgences, and a desire to return to the teaching of the Bible.  The Reformation had a significant impact on European society, leading to religious wars and political upheaval, and it also had a lasting impact on the development of Western civilization.

This senior elective will examine medieval Christianity in Europe and its significance in the emergence of the Protestant Reformation.  Emphasis will be placed on the motivation of the reformers, the social, economic, and political impact, and the Catholic Church's reaction to the movement.

The Roman Republic is a semester-long course examining the republic's birth, growth, and collapse.  The course will explore several themes: political structure, citizenship, democratic backsliding, public morality and the death of civic duty, military innovation, slavery, and ethnicity.  The class will feature lectures, student-led discussions, and a series of student-generated position papers.

World Cultures II: The second year of the World Cultures sequence includes collaborative courses in both English and History. Honors World Cultures II: History seeks to have students analyze and compare civilizations and cultures through historical inquiry in six core regions of human civilization from approximately 1200 CE to the Present. With an emphasis on research, writing, public speaking, creativity, and curiosity, students will develop an understanding of the historical record and the process of how historians piece together and seek to interpret the story of the past. The course will prepare our students to be leaders in a global world by creating a nuanced understanding of the cultures and intellectual movements that laid the foundations of and continue to shape modern societies.

World War II is a semester-long course focused on the climactic events of the 20th century. The class covers the origins of World War II, the major events and figures of the war, and the legacy of the deadliest conflict in human history. Students will demonstrate their mastery of the material through research, writing, and presentations. Significant emphasis is placed on each student’s ability to analyze primary source documents and films. Students will receive ample opportunity to pursue personal topics of interest relevant to World War II.

This course explores the influences of rock music on  society and culture over the last half of the 20th century and into the 21st.  A great deal of time is spent listening to music and viewing footage of the major innovators of various rock styles as well as exploring pertinent cultural issues including race relations, youth movements, media expansion, and others.  This course may count as either a history credit or as an arts credit.

World Cultures I:  History is a year-long course taught collaboratively with World Cultures English.  Students will analyze and compare ancient cultures (roughly from 10,000 BCE to 1400 CE) through both historical and literary lenses to enforce a deeper understanding of how cultures have developed over time and laid the foundations for modern civilizations and nation-states.  World Cultures I:  History will emphasize research, writing, creativity, and critical thinking skills as students engage with historical content and historical thinking skills.  The course will use primary and secondary sources to supplement and expand the experience of reading literature in World Cultures I: English as students explore four major centers of human civilization and society.

World Cultures II: The second year of the World Cultures sequence includes collaborative courses in both English and History. World Cultures II: History seeks to have students analyze and compare civilizations and cultures through historical inquiry in six core regions of human civilization from approximately 1200 CE to the Present. With an emphasis on research, writing, public speaking, creativity, and curiosity, students will develop an understanding of the historical record and the process of how historians piece together and seek to interpret the story of the past. The course will prepare our students to be leaders in a global world by creating a nuanced understanding of the cultures and intellectual movements that laid the foundations of and continue to shape modern societies.