This digital module on World War I was funded by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Sam Houston State University. It was designed to test a new method of course delivery for on-line undergraduate survey classes in American history. The module includes four short documentary films featuring narration, photographs, maps, and analysis of the major military, constitutional, cultural, and racial issues raised by the First World War.

Our first video features Andrew Orr, the History department's military historian, who discusses the background factors that led to the war, the development of Total War, and the significance of the Battle of the Marne. In particular, Orr's video explains the evolution of trench warfare and the enormous human cost of the fighting. Our second video showcases the work of Jeffrey L. Littlejohn, a civil rights scholar, who discusses the racial conflicts that emerged on the home-front during the war and the New Negro movement that was created by black veterans returning from service overseas. Our third video features the work of Thomas H. Cox, who examines the origins, events, and results of two U.S. Supreme Court cases -- Schenck v. United States (1919) and Abrams v. United States (1919), which arose from American involvement in World War I. These cases upheld federal authority to curtail free speech during wartime and created dangerous connotations for the future of American civil liberties. Suzanne Orr, a specialist in immigration and ethnicity, narrates our final video, which discusses the notorious Red Scare of 1919 and its historical implications for future anti-communist crusades.