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In the Winter 2021 semester George Klein and Dana Foster considered the fate of Confederate memorials throughout the southern United States. What began as a look at recent controversies over monuments to the Confederacy has since become a significant turning point in our understanding of race and American history. A primary catalyst has been the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement in response to the deaths of George Floyd and Brionna Taylor by police action, and the realization that these were only the latest in a long series of similar incidents. Reactions nationwide have been broad and deep, questioning the meaning of monuments and names on buildings, as well as assumptions about race going back to the slavery period, and the contradiction of our revered founding fathers as slave holders. In this class George and Dana continue their close observations of our cultural self-examination. Participants in this class might also wish to attend the April 29 Elderwise virtual tour of Unsettling Histories: Legacies of Slavery and Colonialism, a University of Michigan Museum of Art exhibit. (Please see TO55 under TOURS.)
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For online courses, a Zoom link will be sent to each registrant 24-48 hours in advance of the class.
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Fee: $15.00
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Instructor(s): George Klein, Dana Foster
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Dates: 4/22/2021 - 4/22/2021
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
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Sessions: 1
Days: Th
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Building: Online Course
Room: Online Class
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Address: Online Ann Arbor, MI 48108
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Amid our intensely polarized politics, recent nominations to the United States Supreme Court have prompted bitter partisan battles. In 2016, after Associate Justice Antonin Scalia died, Senate Republicans refused to consider President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland. Last fall, after Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg succumbed shortly before the presidential election, Republican Senators rapidly confirmed Amy Coney Barrett over the objections of minority Democrats. But, conflict over Supreme Court nominations is not a recent phenomenon. This course will describe the nomination and confirmation process and review struggles over high court selections through the past two centuries. To what extent has controversy stemmed from clashes over a nominee’s qualifications? A nominee’s judicial and political beliefs? What role has partisanship and the composition of the court played? What of the timing of presidential nominations to the Court? Join us for a historical perspective on today’s headlines, and more.
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For online courses, a Zoom link will be sent to each registrant 24-48 hours in advance of the class.
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Fee: $45.00
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Instructor(s): Michael Homel
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Dates: 4/27/2021 - 5/11/2021
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM
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Sessions: 3
Days: Tu
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Building: Online Course
Room: Online Class
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Address: Online Ann Arbor, MI 48108
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In 1951 the Ford Motor Company divested itself of extensive properties in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Local entrepreneurs assumed control of the chemical plant at Kingsford, Michigan, reorganizing it as the Kingsford Chemical Company. For the next 19 months, members of the United Auto Workers, working without a contract, negotiated with Kingsford Chemical in an effort to make UAW Local 952 the sole bargaining agent for the company. On July 1, 1953, the union members went on strike. The next four months brought violence, charges of bad faith bargaining, and intervention by state and federal mediators, religious leaders, a U. S. Congressman, the Governor of Michigan, and the State Police. The affair left a legacy of bitterness and division in the two towns of Iron Mountain and Kingsford.
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For online courses, a Zoom link will be sent to each registrant 24-48 hours in advance of the class.
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Fee: $15.00
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Instructor(s): Ken Hafeli
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Dates: 5/10/2021 - 5/10/2021
Times: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
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Sessions: 1
Days: M
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Building: Online Course
Room: Online Class
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Address: Online Ann Arbor, MI 48108
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In the years from 1820 to 1870, hundreds of thousands of Cornish miners and engineers were forced to abandon their native land in search of opportunities elsewhere. Cornish expertise in the design of mining equipment and in the techniques of hard rock mining were much in demand. This is the personal story of one “Cousin Jack” who came to America in 1832 with nothing but an overarching will to succeed. In 1849 he joined the multitudes who had caught gold fever and ventured across the continent by wagon trains to California. During this journey, he learned first-hand the dangers lurking in the Great Plains and the western deserts. Eventually, having lost everything, our presenter’s itinerant ancestor reached California on foot. Not by luck, but by skill and sheer perseverance, he found success in the gold fields of Mariposa.
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For online courses, a Zoom link will be sent to each registrant 24-48 hours in advance of the class.
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Fee: $15.00
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Instructor(s): Warren B. Carah
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Dates: 5/12/2021 - 5/12/2021
Times: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
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Sessions: 1
Days: W
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Building: Online Course
Room: Online Class
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Address: Online Ann Arbor, MI 48108
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Throughout the 20th century, Michigan became home to nearly every emerging grassroots political movement, whether from "left," "right," or "middle of the road." This class introduces the people who supported the most extreme of those movements, and who were (and are) often denounced as disgraceful: members of the KKK (1920s), Father Charles Coughlin and his followers (1930s), the anti-Communists and the John Birch Society (post-World War II). We will explore and discuss the complex historical circumstances that prompted the emergence of extremist organizations in Michigan. Our primary focus will be on members of the Michigan Militia, who first appeared in the mid-1990s. Who were (are) these people? What has led them to adopt unsanctioned and unorthodox plans and tactics? Why Michigan?
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For online courses, a Zoom link will be sent to each registrant 24-48 hours in advance of the class.
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Fee: $15.00
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Instructor(s): JoEllen Vinyard
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Dates: 5/13/2021 - 5/13/2021
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
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Sessions: 1
Days: Th
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Building: Online Course
Room: Online Class
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Address: Online Ann Arbor, MI 48108
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Amidst our cities and suburbs and countrysides, generous stretches of land are devoted to burying and memorializing the dead. A cemetery, however, is much more than a burial ground. It is an open-air reference library, a statuary park, a gallery of architectural styles, a carefully constructed model landscape, a repository of community memory, and a complex cultural artifact. Cemeteries may change or even be uprooted, but they are usually much more stable than their surroundings, and can serve as a window on the past. Many of our local examples (Forest Hill, Highland, Bethlehem, and several others) have been in place since the 19th century. Larry Kestenbaum will share the story of how practical problems, religious traditions, and intellectual currents shaped the development of burial grounds, both nationally and locally.
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For online courses, a Zoom link will be sent to each registrant 24-48 hours in advance of the class.
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Fee: $15.00
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Instructor(s): Lawrence Kestenbaum
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Dates: 5/17/2021 - 5/17/2021
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
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Sessions: 1
Days: M
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Building: Online Course
Room: Online Class
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Address: Online Ann Arbor, MI 48108
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In this class Lon Nordeen provides an updated review of American military aerial engagement from the Vietnam War era (circa 1965) to the present. He will focus on developments spanning the United States’ engagements in Southeast Asia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other critical areas of the Middle East. Lon will discuss the War on Terror, including the use of fighter aircraft and missiles, with emphasis on the more recent history and deployment of unmanned drones. He will also discuss tactical developments, strategic surveillance, and related political issues.
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For online courses, a Zoom link will be sent to each registrant 24-48 hours in advance of the class.
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Fee: $15.00
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Instructor(s): Lon Nordeen
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Dates: 6/17/2021 - 6/17/2021
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
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Sessions: 1
Days: Th
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Building: Online Course
Room: Online Class
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Address: Online Ann Arbor, MI 48108
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In 1976, Argentina was troubled by a collapsing economy, the rise of urban guerrilla organizations, and the ineffectiveness of its government. Much of the country welcomed a military coup. Within a couple of years, the military had crushed the terrorist groups and had begun a brutal campaign targeting anyone suspected of leftist leanings. An estimated 20 to 30 thousand persons disappeared into over 300 secret detention centers where they were held in isolation, tortured, and executed without charge. In the first session, we will view the 1985 Academy Award winning movie, The Official Story, a political thriller set in a time of growing Argentinian public awareness of these clandestine activities. Faced with declining support, the country’s military leaders launched an undeclared and ill-fated 1982 war to wrest the Falkland Islands from British control. In the second session, we will survey both of these wars as well as subsequent civilian-led efforts to bring healing to the traumatized nation.
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For online courses, a Zoom link will be sent to each registrant 24-48 hours in advance of the class.
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Fee: $30.00
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Instructor(s): John A Stewart
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Dates: 6/29/2021 - 6/30/2021
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM
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Sessions: 2
Days: Tu W
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Building: Online Course
Room: Online Class
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Address: Online Ann Arbor, MI 48108
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