Connecting My English and History Classes For A Meaningful Learning Experience

By Gurnoor Singh Dang '28

This year in school, my English and Atlantic World History classes seem well-connected. They form a good example of how courses overlap to provide a common learning experience, but from different perspectives. Even though they are different subjects, they talk about the same time period and help me understand the past in a variety of ways. History teaches us events and the driving factors behind them, while English helps us understand how people felt and what life was really like. When I read Power by Linda Hogan in English and studied European expansion in the Americas in history, I started to see how these two classes fit together.

In Atlantic World History, we learn about how European countries like Spain, England, France, and Portugal came to the Americas between the 1500s and 1700s. We read from a History Reader that includes articles and historical documents. These readings explain where Europeans went, why they came, how they expanded, and what happened when they met indigenous people in the Americas. History focuses on aspects like land, trade, religion, war, and power. It also teaches how strategies like hegemony, transculturation, and regulation were leveraged by Europeans to drive change in native America. It helps us understand what happened, but it does not explain how it felt for the common man to live during that time.

In English class, we read the novel Power by Linda Hogan. The story is told through a girl named Omishto, who is part of Native American tribe called Taiga. Instead of listing events like history does, the book depicts her emotional journey and her interactions with the modern world. Reading this book helped me better understand the human aspect of Native American life. The characters in the novel make history feel personal.

One big difference between English and History is whose voices we hear. In history, many of the texts were written by European men. For example, when we learn about events like King Philip’s War, Native Americans and women are often missing from the narratives. In Power, since the main character is a Native American girl, so we hear a voice that history often leaves out. This is a good example of how the English story complements the History readings.

There are several historical aspects that are common in both classes. Disease is one such topic. In history, disease is talked about using numbers and facts, showcasing the scale of impact. On the other hand, in Power, disease is shown through personal pain and loss. The History Reader outlines how the Spanish and the Portuguese established their empires in the Americas so quickly. One of the key enabling factors was the disease pool of Europe. Even the Europeans were completely unaware of this powerful weapon. The death toll among the indigenous people in the Americas was enormous. For example, in Peru, the first Spanish census, taken in the 1570s, showed that half the population had died from European disease, with the toll in some places reaching as high as 95 percent. While the History class enumerates these alarming statistics, the depth of communal impact is illustrated by Linda Hogan when she emotes, “it has been this way from all the way back to when she was sick with yellow fever, a virus carried by unwilling air, by Oni that gives us life, a disease that killed so many of the Taiga.” This personal touch by Hogan is what resonates deeply with the reader and generates empathy.

Overall, studying English and Atlantic World History concurrently helped me understand the past better. History gives us motivational understanding and structure, while English helps us understand feelings and experiences. Combining the learnings from both helps connect the dots between them and enables us to cross over into an interdisciplinary curve that transcends coursework boundaries. This creates a continuum of learning in which puzzle pieces add up to provide an enriching and cohesive narrative.