According to BackStory:

"We don’t think of Civil War hospitals as the most poetic of places, given the realities of 19th century medicine and the war’s high casualty rates. But the poet Walt Whitman spent five years of his life in them, caring for wounded soldiers. He wrote that “The expression of American personality through this war is not to be looked for in the great campaign and the battle-fights. It is to be looked for in the hospitals, among the wounded.” In this special “Civil War 150th” podcast, BackStory correspondent Catherine Moore collects segments of The Good Grey Poet’s Civil War memoirs, diary entries, and poetry to tell the story of Walt Whitman’s encounter with America’s wounded."

The lives and works of 13 renowned American poets are interpreted through dramatic readings, archival photographs, dance, performances, and interviews in this inspiring series. Illustrative poems in each program are accompanied by insights into their historical and cultural connections. The series covers the terminology of poetry and the larger role of poets in American and world literature studies. Poets include Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Elizabeth Bishop. This video instructional series on American poetry is appropriate for college and high school classrooms and adult learners; it consists of 13 one-hour video programs and coordinated books.

"American Passages: A Literary Survey" is a 16-part American literature course. The video programs, print guides, and website place literary movements and authors within the context of history and culture. The course takes an expanded view of American literary movements, bringing in a diversity of voices and tracing the continuity among them. The materials, which are coordinated with the Norton Anthology of American Literature, can be used as the basis of a one- or two-semester college-level course or for teacher professional development.

Professor Diana Schaub reviews the life and views of W.E.B. Du Bois, looking particularly at Du Bois's views on education and his debate and disagreements with Booker T. Washington. This lecture continues from the lecture "W.E.B. Du Bois, Part One."

To listen to this lecture, scroll to the Tuesday, August third, 4:30 pm-6:00 pm session; and select the corresponding RealAudio link to the left.

An older version of this lecture can be found here.

Professor Lucas E. Morel reviews the life and views of W.E.B. Du Bois, looking at the solutions he proposed to the problem of race relations in the U.S. and the implications of those solutions. Morel also looks at Du Bois's debate and disagreements with Booker T. Washington.

To listen to this lecture, scroll to the Tuesday, August third, 10:50 am-12:15 pm session; and select the corresponding RealAudio link to the left.

An older version of this lecture can be found here.