A Gathering Place for Freedom
Executive Director of the Museum of Afro-American History Beverly Morgan-Welch discusses the history of the Museum's meeting house and of the museum itself.
Executive Director of the Museum of Afro-American History Beverly Morgan-Welch discusses the history of the Museum's meeting house and of the museum itself.
Stephen Kendrick, author of Sarah's Long Walk, traces the history of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education landmark decision in favor of school desegregation back through American history to a court case in 1848. In 1848, African-American attorney Robert Morris supported a Boston African-American man in suing for his daughter's right to go to a desegregated school close to her home.
Writer Charles C. Calhoun, author of Longfellow: A Rediscovered Life, shows how the American poet Longfellow Henry Wadsworth blended the Federalist politics and Unitarianism of his parents' generation with the German romanticism he discovered on his own travels. Calhoun discusses Longfellow's life and his influences.
Associate director of the Boston Athenaeum John Lannon outlines the history of the Athenaeum, a leading research library founded in 1807 which houses notable artifacts from American history.
Director of the Massachusetts Historical Society William Fowler follows the history of the French and Indian War, emphasizing its importance as a turning point in U.S. history that remains little taught and little known popularly.
Director of the National Center for History in the Schools Gary Nash discusses African-American history in the Revolutionary War and memory of that history constructed by historians, the public, and researchers. Nash focuses on what is and was taught and published about African Americans in the Revolutionary War.
Author Nancy Schultz, author of Fire and Roses: The Burning of the Charlestown Convent, 1834, describes the burning down of a Roman Catholic convent and elite boarding school in 19th-century Boston; and discusses its causes.
A panel of scholars reviews the landmark school desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education and debates whether the case led to true improvement in the life conditions of African Americans.
Susan Wilson, author of Boston Sites and Insights: A Guide to Historical Landmarks, examines Boston landmarks, from the African Meeting House and the famously misunderstood Bunker Hill, to reveal the lesser-known stories and facts about them. Her presentation includes slides.
A panel discusses and debates the troubled desegregation of schools in Little Rock, AR, and the move towards desegregation in general. Ernest Green, one of the nine African American students who attended Little Rock's desegregated school, speaks as one of the panelists.