Before the Civil War, the Mexican-American War as prelude. Richard Caton Woodville, War News from Mexico, 1848, oil on canvas, 68.6 × 63.5 cm (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas). Speakers: Dr. Mindy Besaw, curator, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker. Find learning related resources here: https://smarthistory.org/seeing-america-2/

People living in Texas were affected by the Mexican War for independence and the early struggles for a stable government in Mexico. Mexicans invited people from the Unites States to colonize using empresario grants. The purpose for the Mexican government was to have the Anglos (not Mexicans) deal with hostile Indians. Austin Moses, and when he died his son Stephen, got the first and most succesful of these grants and Anglo colonization began. People from the southern US came to Texas to raise cotton and many brought their slaves to do all the work. Over time, former US citizens grew frustrated with the Mexican government and began to want to make Texas part of the US.

Interdisciplinary introduction to contemporary Latin America, drawing on films, literature, popular press accounts, and scholarly research. Topics include: economic development, ethnic and racial identity, religion, revolution, democratization, transitional justice, the rule of law, and the changing roles of women. Country examples draw on a range of countries in the region, especially Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico.

Selective survey of Latin American history from the wars of independence at the start of the nineteenth century to the present. Issues studied include: independence and its aftermath, slavery and its abolition, Latin America in the global economy, relations between Latin America and the US, dictatorships and democracies in the twentieth century, and revolution in Mexico, Cuba, and Central America.