ESPN newsanchor and author Jeremy Schaap discusses African-American track and field athlete Jesse Owens's win of four gold medals and setting of three world records at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Schaap examines the events in the context of Hitler's Germany's racism.
Professor Gerald L. Early discusses cultural observations on Curt Flood, the first player in Major League Baseball to challenge the infamous "reserve clause" which opened the doors to free agency. Early focuses on the significance of sports as a public arena.
Julie Winch discusses the highly successful African-American Remond family and their business of catering lavish parties in Boston and Newport in the 1800s. Winch focuses on the Remonds as free African Americans and supporters of abolitionism during the era of slavery.
Tom Crouch, Chairman of Aeronautics at the National Air and Space Museum, discusses the Wright brothers' invention of the airplane, placing it in the context of the centuries-long study of flight and of the enormous impact airplanes have had on human life.
A slideshow gives examples of presidential photography by three White House photographers: Cecil Stoughton, photographer for Kennedy and Johnson; David Hume Kennerly, for Ford; and Diana Walker, for Reagan and Bush, Sr. The presentation also includes photo coverage and commentary on other presidents, including Clinton and a discussion with the photographers which follows the slideshow.
According to the WGBH website:
"Charles Hammond Gibson, Jr. (1874-1954) was a Boston writer and bachelor bon vivant, best known for having preserved his family's Beacon Street home as a museum of Victorian style and taste. The Wounded Eros, a short documentary film by Todd Gernes, explores the aesthetic relationship between Gibson's literary production and the material culture contexts of his museum and library, set within the social history of turn-of-the-century gay Boston. Following the film, a dramatic reading, These Four Walls: A History of a Romantic Friendship, directed by Jacqueline Romeo and featuring John Anderson and Aleksander Feliks Wierzbicki, will extend the exploration of Gibson's life by depicting his enduring relationship with the eccentric self-styled "Count" Maurice de Mauny Talvande."
A series of speakers, primarily professors, open a symposium celebrating the history and impact of African-American spirituals.
A series of speakers, primarily professors, open a symposium celebrating the history and impact of African-American spirituals. This presentation continues from the presentation "Celebration of Negro Spirituals, Part One."
A series of speakers, primarily professors, open a symposium celebrating the history and impact of African-American spirituals.
Curator Sally Pierce and associate curator Catharina Slautterback review the history of the Boston Atheneaum's collections of prints and photographs, beginning with the Atheneaum's founding in 1807. They look at the contents of the collections; how the items were obtained, collected, and exhibited; and what they indicate about changes in tastes and available materials over time. The presentation includes slides.
The lecture's audio is also available for download.