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."