• Grade 11: The United States in a Global Society Unit Guide 

    Mr. Brennan
     

     

    UNIT 1: Post-War Confidence: A Quest for Consensus 

     

    ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

     

    What impact did communism have on the United States and the rest of the world? 

    How did the prosperity of the post-World War II period shape American society? 

    How did opposing economic and political philosophies lead to global competition?

     

    FACTS AND BASIC CONCEPTS:

     

    Beginning of the Cold War: Iron Curtain, The Korean War, Proxy War, Arms Race, Space Race, Containment Policy, Marshall Plan, Truman Doctrine, Berlin Airlift, Berlin Wall, Chinese Civil War, Brinkmanship, NATO, Warsaw Pact, Nonaligned Nations, Fidel Castro, Cuban Missile Crisis

     

    Postwar America: Red Scare, McCarthyism, Postwar Economic Boom, Eisenhower, Military-Industrial Complex, Suburbs/Cities, Automobiles, Culture of the 50s, Consumerism, Rock and Roll, Baby Boom, GI Bill

     

    Worldwide Recovery: European Economic Community, Great Leap Forward, United Nations

     

     

    UNIT 2: Rights and Reform: Movements for Equality

     
    ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
     
    How did the Civil Rights movement redefine American identity?
    How does the United States address the inequalities of social injustices, economic opportunity and political freedom?
    What independence movements and political conflicts took place in Africa and Asia as colonialism gave way after World War II?
     
    FACTS AND BASIC CONCEPTS:
     
    Civil Rights Movement: Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Little Rock Nine, Montgomery Bus Boycott, Martin Luther King Jr., nonviolent protests, Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Malcolm X, Black Power, John F. Kennedy, New Frontier, Lyndon B. Johnson, Great Society
     
    Decolonization and Worldwide Independence Movements: Mahatma Gandhi, Indian National Congress, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Muslim League, Partition of India, Pan-Africanism, Kwame Nkrumah, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar El Sadat, Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Creation of Israel
     
     
    UNIT 3: Protest and Change: Tumultuous Time 
     
    ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
     
    What challenges did Americans face during the 1960’s?
    How did the Vietnam War affect Americans at home and on the battlefield?
    How did new calls for equality impact American society?
    How does governmental power reflect and shape society?
     
    FACTS AND BASIC CONCEPTS:
     
    Containment in Asia: Ho Chi Minh, Vietcong, Domino Theory, Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Vietnam War, Tet Offensive, My Lai Massacre, 1968 Election, Richard Nixon, Invasion of Cambodia, Vietnamization, Khmer Rouge, Cambodian Genocide
     
    1960s Counterculture: Antiwar Movement, Kent State Shooting, Watergate, Roe v. Wade, Women’s Rights Movement, Gay Rights Movement, Environmental Activism, Chicano Movement
     
    Struggles Following Decolonization: Third World/Developing World, Iranian Revolution, Iran Hostage Crisis, 1970s Energy Crisis, OPEC, 1956 Suez Crisis, Six-Day War, Anwar El Sadat, Yasir Arafar, Intifada, Camp David Accords, Cultural Revolution
     
     
     
    UNIT 4: Conservative Resurgence: A Battle of Ideologies
     
    ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
     
    How does change in leadership impact society?
    How does the demand for change in society impact leadership/government?
    How did the post-Cold War world usher in a new world order?
     
    FACTS AND BASIC CONCEPTS:
     
    The Conservative Revolution: Ronald Reagan, Reaganomics, Moral Majority, AIDS, Margaret Thatcher
     
    End of the Cold War: Afghan-Soviet War, Mujahideen, Taliban, Osama Bin Laden, Iran-Contra Scandal, SDI (Star Wars), INF Treaty, Détente, Mikhail Gorbachev, Glasnost, Perestroika, Solidarity Movement, Revolutions of 1989, Fall of the Berlin Wall, German Reunification, Collapse of the Soviet Union
     
    Post Cold War World: George H.W. Bush, Persian Gulf War, Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, Deng Xiaoping, Tiananmen Square, Breakup of Yugoslavia, Ethnic Cleansing, Bosnian War, Rwandan Genocide, Bill Clinton, Oslo Accords, NAFTA, Clinton Impeachment, South African Apartheid, Nelson Mandela
     
     
    UNIT 5: New World, New Crisis: Challenges of the 21st Century
     
    ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
     
    What previous events in American history have forced the nation to dramatically change its policy and actions?
    What does it mean to be an American in the 21st century?
    What have been the benefits and drawbacks of globalization?
     
    FACTS AND BASIC CONCEPTS:
     
    Global Interdependence: Globalization, World Bank, IMF, Internet, European Union
     
    New Global Challenges: George W. Bush, September 11th Terrorist Attacks, War on Terror, Al-Qaeda, Iraq War, War in Afghanistan, Hamas
     
    Modern America: Election of 2000, Great Recession, Election of 2008, Barack Obama, Affordable Care Act, Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage, Immigration, Election of 2016
     
Last Modified on January 25, 2023