Scholars P. Gabrielle Foreman and Reginald H. Pitts reveal historical details previously lost to time about the life of Harriet Wilson, author of the 1859 novel Our Nig; Or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black. Considered by some to be the first North American African-American novelist, Harriet Wilson largely disappeared from the historical record in 1863 until the discovery of new information.
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.
A panel of scholars responds to the second part of the PBS miniseries Slavery and the Making of America, which focuses on the Northeast, and includes the story of Mum Bett, who sued for her freedom in Massachusetts and whose victory led to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1783.
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 examines the stories of African Americans during the Revolutionary War and the early years of the United States. Nash focuses on the search to define identity by these African Americans, whether slave or free.
Director of the National Center for History in the Schools Gary Nash considers whether or not the Founding Fathers, in forming the United States of America, could have successfully abolished slavery.
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.
Australian Humanities Review founder Cassandra Pybus traces the lives and experiences of slaves who fled to the British to gain freedom during the Revolutionary War.
Audio and video options are available, in addition to a lecture transcript. The video is captioned.
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.