SOC 917 • California History
Reflecting America
California's Gold Rush Legacy
Explore how the California Gold Rush helped shape a culture of ambition, opportunity, risk-taking, innovation, and rapid change—and examine how the forces unleashed during California's formative years continue to influence the state today.
How Did the Gold Rush Shape Modern California?
Go beyond the familiar story of gold discovery and investigate the ideas, behaviors, ambitions, conflicts, and consequences that helped create California's distinctive identity.
SOC 917 introduces J. S. Holliday's interpretation of California history and his argument that the state's modern identity as a risk-taking society can be traced to its formative years—particularly the Gold Rush and the decades that followed.
Using Rush for Riches: Gold Fever and the Making of California, historical interviews, primary sources, videos, articles, and digital resources, you will examine California's rapid transformation and consider the connections between its nineteenth-century history and the California we recognize today.
California: America Only More So
Examine the Gold Rush not simply as an event, but as the beginning of social, economic, cultural, and environmental patterns that continued to shape California long after the mining camps disappeared.
Risk & Opportunity
Examine how the promise of rapid success attracted people willing to leave familiar lives behind in pursuit of opportunity.
Migration & Diversity
Explore worldwide migration to California and the complicated relationships that developed among cultural and economic groups.
Enterprise & Growth
Investigate entrepreneurship, business, transportation, agriculture, mining, and the rapid expansion of California's economy.
Success & Consequences
Consider the human, environmental, cultural, and economic costs created by California's extraordinary growth.
Historical Inquiry
Teach History Through Primary Sources
A significant portion of SOC 917 focuses on using primary sources to help students move beyond memorizing historical facts. You'll explore how original evidence can encourage questioning, interpretation, perspective, and historical thinking.
Observe
Look closely at photographs, documents, newspapers, objects, and other historical evidence.
Question
Ask who created a source, why it was created, whose perspective it represents, and what information may be missing.
Analyze
Compare evidence, identify context, evaluate reliability, and distinguish historical records from myths.
Apply
Turn historical evidence into meaningful classroom investigations and standards-based learning experiences.
A Six-Module Exploration of California
Follow the major themes of Rush for Riches while building digital resources and considering how historical inquiry can strengthen your own social studies instruction.
Module 1
Teaching History Using Primary Sources
Begin Rush for Riches, explore strategies for teaching with primary sources, investigate Library of Congress resources, and establish your course blog.
Module 2
Effects of the California Gold Rush
Examine the worldwide Gold Rush and its continuing influence on California's economy while creating the first major post for your course blog.
Module 3
Careless Freedoms
Explore Holliday's concept of careless freedom, investigate strategies for engaging students with primary sources, and curate historical content using Pearltrees.
Module 4
The Get-Ahead Years
Study California's competitive culture and rapid growth, listen to reflections on Rush for Riches, and build a GoodReads collection for classroom use.
Module 5
Astounding Enterprises
Examine the remarkable enterprises that grew from Gold Rush California and create a digital presentation using Adobe Express.
Module 6
Victims of Success
Consider the consequences of California's success, complete the course text, create a standards-based Gold Rush lesson, and submit your completed historical blog.
Build Resources While You Learn
SOC 917 combines historical content with digital tools and practical applications so your coursework can become a collection of resources for future teaching.
Historical Blog
Create a professional digital space for historical content, reflection, primary sources, and course resources.
Primary Source Inquiry
Explore strategies and resources for helping students analyze authentic historical evidence.
Pearltrees Collection
Curate useful historical content and organize digital resources for future instructional use.
GoodReads Bookshelf
Build a collection of books that can extend California history learning for students.
Adobe Express
Create a visual digital presentation connected to California history and Gold Rush content.
Gold Rush Lesson Plan
Finish the course by developing a standards-based lesson that transforms historical learning into classroom instruction.
Explore California Through J. S. Holliday's Lens
J. S. Holliday's study provides the historical framework for the course, examining the Gold Rush not as an isolated event but as a force that helped shape California's economy, culture, environment, communities, and identity.
The text is supplemented with historical interviews, videos, primary sources, articles, digital collections, and instructional resources.
Required Course Text
Rush for Riches:
Gold Fever and the Making of California
The required text must be acquired separately. Used, new, and electronic versions may be used. Additional course resources are provided through Canvas.
California History Certificate
This Course Can Be Part of Something Bigger
SOC 917 is one of the Fresno Pacific University courses applicable toward the California History Certificate. Educators can combine this course with other qualifying California history courses to work toward completion of the certificate.
Develop a deeper understanding of how California's Gold Rush and formative decades helped shape the state we know today.
Engage with Holliday's historical interpretation, primary sources, interviews, books, videos, and digital collections.
Turn historical knowledge into curated resources, digital projects, and meaningful standards-based classroom instruction.
Ready to Begin?
Discover How California Reflects America.
Enroll through Fresno Pacific University's Center for Professional Development and explore how the Gold Rush, ambition, migration, enterprise, innovation, and rapid change helped create modern California.