HIST 1105

Canadian professor and humourist Stephen Leacock once tried to list everything he remembered from his history classes: "Peter the Great, Alfred the Great, Frederick the Great, John the Great, Tom the Great, Jim the Great, Jo the Great, etc., etc." In this class, we take a different approach: Changemakers is a course about ten ordinary people who effected positive change, spoke truth to power, innovated radically, or fought for justice against long odds. These are people who accomplished much but whose stories History has quietly forgotten--or actively silenced. Turning away from the Greats, we discover the profound possibilities of viewing history "from below." Along the way, we will seek to shatter stereotypes and bust myths, both historical and contemporary. And we will come to understand the ways in which everyday people have made not only history, but also the world we live in today.