This course examines how acts of civil disobedience have affected the course of world history from ancient through modern times. It explores how the emergence of democratic government and Christianity formed the foundation of civil disobedience. Sophocles, Perpetua, Thomas Paine, Henry David Thoreau, Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela are women and men who affected the course of history by challenging laws, customs and conventions that they believed to be immoral. The course investigates both common and distinctive methods employed by these historical actors in challenging various systems of oppression that emerged as communities and societies organized into nation states. Open only to first-year students and sophomores.