Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

HST 102 – Fall 2025 (CRN 45237)

Remote (using D2L/Brightspace), $0 book cost (online textbook included), no on-campus requirement. Mondays – 9:00 – 10:50 pm (Zoom lecture)

Instructor’s email: john.shaw4@pcc.edu

Instructor’s WebEasy Site: John Shaw | PCC

Usually labeled as the “Early Modern Europe” period, HST 102 extends from approximately 1215 (the Magna Carta) to 1799 (end of the French Revolution). This segment in the history of western civilization significantly shaped the world we live in today.

“The rights we enjoy in the West today – from the basic right to vote, to freedom of conscience – were won in a series of hard-fought struggles over 500 years. HST 102 is the epic human story of those victories (and defeats). The struggle for liberty has been one of sacrifice and hardship on the part of many heroic individuals. Despite the blood and the violence, it has been worth it. Today's ordinary Western citizen is, in 16th century terms, a lord: a possessor of rights, entitlements, opportunities and resources that only an aristocrat of that earlier period could hope for.” HST 102 explores five (5) great cultural transformations of the “High” Middle Ages & Early Modern Europe, the: 

1) Renaissance;

2) Reformation;

3) Scientific Revolution;

4) Age of Enlightenment;                 

5) “Age of Revolution,” (advances of law, liberty, rights, and constitutionalism inspired by the English, American, Haitian & French revolutions).

HST 102 Theme(s)

“The hallmark of Western Civilization over the five centuries we will study is the series of liberation struggles without which we would not enjoy the rights and freedoms we now take for granted. They began with the often-violent conflicts in the 15th and 16th centuries to allow independent thought, uncontrolled by the Church or the State, involving the likes of Martin Luther or Galileo. In time, the drive toward greater independence and individual liberty led to bitter fighting in 17th century Europe, including the Thirty Years’ War and the English Civil War, followed in the next century by the American and French revolutions, which swept away monarchies in favor of more representative forms of government. These in turn made possible the abolition of slavery, expansion of education for all, enfranchisement of women, and the idea of universal human rights and freedoms.”

While the overall trajectory has been towards greater freedom, we will not adopt a “triumphalist” view of Western Civilization where everything always gets better and better.  Because at different times, freedom has expanded or contracted, and it always requires vigilance. The fact that different types of people enjoy more freedom today than they did in the past, does not mean that the existence or expansion of rights and freedoms is inevitable. Why is the 1215 Magna Carta in the news today? Every generation needs to realize that liberty is always fragile, should never be taken for granted, and must be fought for against reactionary and retrograde forces.