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+What is history?
+- History controls "our frames of reference, our identities, and our
+  aspirations," (James Baldwin), so history tells us about how we got
+  here.
+- Historians both determine facts as absolute provable events and build
+  narratives and explanations from those facts through analysis.
+    - Documents => Facts. A speech, a physical artifact, affidavit.
+    - Secondary source => analysis. Text book or paper is statements
+      that infer or induce ideas.
+- Myths
+    - We study history so we won't repeat our mistakes.
+        - History doesn't repeat itself.
+    - We study history so we can predict the future
+        - History lets us understand the present but we can't predict
+          the future.
+    - We study history to learn about American exceptionalism
+        - Historian researchers do not want to instill patriotism; they
+          want you to think critically about what's happening now.
+
+- Studying history develops
+    - understanding of the present
+    - critically think about arguments, trends, patterns, sources
+    - being politically informed
+        - and how to act in modern politics.
+
+Themes:
+- Conflict over identity and freedom
+    - Individual identity
+    - National (American)
+    - Racial (white supremacy)
+    - How has the idea of freedom changed over time?
+        - Civil rights
+
+How to succeed
+- Read actively
+    - and ask questions
+    - and ask questions about the class
+- Note-taking (engage with course materials)
+    - What happened?
+    - Why did it happen?
+    - Importance
+    - Chronology matters, but dates won't be quizzed. Timelines and
+      causality are better.
+- Studying
+    - "Review, recite, and reflect."