History   

July 4, 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of our nation's Declaration of Independence, marking the establishing of our new nation.  But the road to that event began in much earlier times.  We'll begin with what occurred during the reign of King John of England back in the 1200's and the birth of the Magna Carta.  From there, we'll veture through the times of early colonization and settlement in the "New World," as we peruse the charters, declarations and documents that recognized individual liberties and rights, and that eventually led to the Declaration of Independence.  

In this 250th anniversary year of our nation, let us see how Americans celebrated the 50th in 1826, the 100th in 1876, the 150th in 1926, and the 200th—an anniversary many of us lived through. This will be a fun romp through American history.

America’s Chernobyl details the controversies, decision making, and actions that led to the fourth and fifth atomic detonations at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands in August 1946. The nation’s leaders did not understand the power that they possessed. In testing these devices, they unleashed a nuclear catastrophe that had a disastrous effect on thousands of US Navy personnel. This course presents a cautionary tale about the consequences of government and scientific arrogance that we can view from the distance of eighty years.

Meet J. Parker Whitney, who was 17 when he arrived in San Francisco in 1852 with 10 cents in his pocket. For 20 years he explored the U.S., trying his hand at various business ventures, eventually returning to Rocklin where he developed an estate that covered nearly 29 square miles. 

The Colonial Period ended with the conflagrations of the brutal Civil War of the American Revolution. At first only a small minority of colonists supported independence, but with the burning of their cities more and more citizens embraced the rebel cause.