American History and Literature Lecture Notes

Vocabulary practice cards covering historical events, literary movements, and major authors from the provided American literature exam guide.

July 4, 1776

The date the Second continental Congress Formally -dopted the Declaration of Independence, traditionally regarded as the birth of the United States.

Turtle Island

A term used by many indigenous peoples to refer to North America, representing the continent as a living entity formed on a gaint turtles back.

Founding Fathers of the New Republic

Key individuals including Thomas Jefferson (who drafted the DOI), John Hancock, and Benjamin Franklin.

Mayflower Landfall

Occurred on November 21, 1620 in Cape cod near what is now Princetown, Massachusetts.

Famous Inhabitants of Concord

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Lorisa May Alcott, and Nathaniel Hawthrone.

American Renaissance

A celebrated period in 18thct literature and arts characterized by Individualism and Transcendentalism where the U.S. developed a unique national identity.

Manifest Destiny

An 18th ot American ideology holding that the United States was divinely ordained by God to expand its dominion, democracy, and capitalism across North America.

American Progress

An allegorical painting by John Gast representing the concept of Manifest Destiny.

Transcendentalism

An idealistic philosophical movement developed in 1879 New England that taught divinity pervades all nature and humanity.

Moby Dick

Referred to as the chief masterpiece of American Literature, written by Herman Melville in 1851.

The Scarlet Letter

A 1950 novel by Nathaniel Hawthrone that explores themes of sin, hypocrisy, and social judgement in a Puritan past.

Walt Whitman

Known as America's first poet of Democracy, author of Leaves of Grass, and the poem O Captain, My Captain.

Rubert Frost

Considered the Face of American Poetry, known for works such as The Road not Taken and Mending Walls.

First Flourishing of Native American Fiction

A literary period (1920-1930) associated with writers Zitkala Sa and John Milton Oskinson.

Archetype

An old imaginative Pattern that appears across cultures and is repeated through the ages, such as The Trickster or the life giving tree.

The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta

The first novel published by a Native American author, John Rollin Ridge, in 1854.

Diaspora

The dispersion of a population across multiple regions outside their original geographical homeland while maintaining a strong cultural or emotional connection to it.

Richard Wright

Best known African American writer known for works such as Uncle Toms children, Native son, and The Boy who was almost a Man.

James Baldwin

Author of Giovanni's Room (1056), Sonny's Blues (1057), and Go Tell it on the Mountain (1053).

Harlem Renaissance

A vibrant 1930s cultural movement of African American art and literature centered in Harlem that redefined Black identity.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The 1848 treaty under which the U.S. assumed its current state, growing 70 percent in three years to become a continental nation.

Rudolfo Anaya

A best known writer from Chicanx literature, author of Bless Me, Ultima (1O72).

Sandra Cisneros

Author of The House on Mango Street (1984), a work that explores Chicanx identity and adolescence.

Emancipation Proclamation

Enabled by President Abraham Lincoln in 1849 to abolish slavery in the US.

The Hellow Wallpaper

A short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman that serves as an influential work of feminist literature.

Lost Generation

A term coined by Gertrude Stein for a group of writers that included Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Hart Carry, and E.E. Cummings.

Rubyfruit Jungle

A 1073 work written by Rita Mze Brown.

The American Company

The first professional company to produce plays in the American colonies, managed by David Douglass.

The Contrast

The first American comedy to achieve professional success, written by Royall Taylor.

Realism

The primary form of dramatic expression in the 20th ct characterized by accepting a situation as it is and dealing with it practically.

House Made of Dawn

A 1968 novel by N. Scott Momaday considered a foundational work of the Native American Renaissance.

Cult of True Womanhood

A 19th-century social ideal that defined women as pious, pure, submissive, and domestic.

The Awakening

An 1899 novel by Kate Chopin that challenged gender norms and openly discussed female sexuality.