Dr. Michael Klarman of the University of Virginia School of Law analyzes and interprets the Brown case and its impact on the Civil Rights Movement. He annotates Justice Douglas's conference notes on Brown, tells stories about the justices, details how justices decide cases, explains why Brown was a hard case for many of the justices, and makes conclusions on why they were nonetheless eventually able to reach a unanimous outcome. He discusses the various ways in which Brown mattered and did not matter by linking Brown with the rise of southern massive resistance, violence, and ultimately the enactment of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s. Klarman includes lessons on how and why Court decisions matter, how historians tend perhaps to overemphasize the importance of the Court's contributions to racial change in the U.S., and important reminders about how violence was necessary to prompt most whites to care about the civil rights of southern blacks.

The Virginia Experiment Teaching Fellows Program was featured as a keynote panel presentation at the Teaching American History Project Directors' Seminar. Andy Mink, Chris Bunin, and Scott Nesbit present a session to a national audience of project directors, curriculum experts, and educators, considering how historians and educators look at primary and secondary sources and how those perspectives can overlap.

Dr. Julie Solometo of James Madison University attempts to reconstruct the lives of Native Americans as they stood on the eve of and during contact with European colonists in North America.

To listen to this lecture, select "Podcast Part 1" under the April 19th listing.

Eighth grade American history educator Eric Langhorst talks about several online resources that can be used to teach about Presidential inaugurations and Barack Obama's inauguration in particular.

This brief lecture explores the use of graphic organizers to help students prepare for, gather information during, and synthesize information after a visit to a museum.

Sharon Shaffer, Executive Director of the Smithsonian Early Education Center, outlines methods for using hands-on exploration of objects to prepare students to experience museum exhibits and to extend the lesson following museum visits.

How can U.S. citizens today view Native American history through a Constitutional lens? In answering that question, Bob Miller, Lewis & Clark Law School professor and Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, uncovers the history of Federal Indian Law. Professor Miller describes the Doctrine of Discovery's long reach, from the founding of the colonies through the writing of the Constitution all the way to Russia planting its flag on the Arctic seafloor in 2007.

Idaho State University Political Science Professor David Gray Adler examines what he describes as the great constitutional crisis of the day: the usurpation and abdication of constitutional roles by President and Congress. Building his argument on the concerns of the Framers, Dr. Adler points to the endangerment to liberty posed by the erosion of checks and balances.

Audio and video options are available.

Paul Englesberg of Western Washington University unveils the work of the Asian American Curriculum and Research Project, detailing outrages afflicting immigrants in Washington State.

Audio and video options are available. To listen to this lecture, scroll to "Paul Englesberg's Presentation Audio" or "Paul Englesberg's Presentation Video"; and select either, according to your needs.

Paul Finkelman of Albany Law School presents a wide-ranging discussion of the Constitutional history of citizenship in the United States. In the first part of the presentation, Finkelman traces the story back to the earliest recorded anti-immigrant references during the time of a legal "open door," through the persecution of Chinese immigrants, to today.

Video and audio options are available.