Kansas Museum of History curators look at a banner that memorializes the 50-year anniversary of a civil rights-era sit-in in Wichita, KS. This sit-in preceded both the famous Oklahoma City, OK and Greensboro, NC sit-ins.

From the Civil War Traveler website:

"Late in the evening on Oct. 16, 1859, John Brown and a small band of insurgents entered Harpers Ferry (then Virginia), planning to ignite and arm a slave insurrection. This tour covers raid-related sites in the national park at Harpers Ferry (now West Virginia)."

From the Library of Congress website:

"In this interview from 1940, Mr. George Johnson of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, shares memories of slavery times, including his relationship with Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy."

From the National Constitution Center website:

"With the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, an old-fashioned southern Jacksonian Democrat of pronounced states' rights views became the seventeenth president of the United States. In a surprising turn of events, Andrew Johnson was charged with the reconstruction of the defeated South, including the extension of civil rights and suffrage to African American Southerners. It quickly became clear that the president supported the enactment of 'black codes' and would block efforts to force Southern states to guarantee full equality for African Americans, igniting a fierce battle with congressional Republicans. Acclaimed author David O. Stewart returns to the Constitution Center to discuss the impeachment trial of President Johnson, which became the central battle of the struggle over how to reunite a nation after four years of war."

To listen to this lecture, scroll to "Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson," which is the June 26, 2009 post.

Alice Kessler-Harris reads a paper by John Hopkins University's Blanche Wiesen Cook at the Organization of American Historians 2009 meeting. The paper relates Cook's experiences as a John Hopkins student during the civil rights movement, fighting for desegregation.

Fred Israel of City College of New York, speaking at the Organization of American Historians 2009 meeting, discusses his work with Gallup public opinion data and the history of the Gallup Opinion Poll. He looks at changes in public opinion on the acceptability of diverse candidates for the presidency, as indicated by the polls.

Professor and director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute, Clayborne Carson, speaking at the Organization of American Historians 2009 meeting, talks about his perceptions of the 2008 presidential campaign and the election of Barack Obama, as a participant in the civil rights movement. He examines the place of race and ethnicity in the campaign and the civil rights views, events, and figures that led up to the present day and Obama's election.

Donald L. Miller, with Waldo E. Martin, Jr., and Virginia Scharff, looks at the 1960s in the U.S., including the taking-off of the Civil Rights Movement, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson's views of the movement, the Vietnam War and protest that arose against it, and the Watergate scandal and Richard Nixon's resignation.

Donald L. Miller, with Waldo E. Martin, Jr., and Virginia Scharff, looks at the Progressive era (from 1890 to 1926) as it was experienced by minority groups, including women, African Americans, Native Americans, and Asian and Mexican immigrants.

Donald L. Miller, with Pauline Maier; Waldo E. Martin, Jr.; Virginia Scharff; Louis P. Masur; and Douglas Brinkley, discusses the social environment at the bicentennial of the United States, 1876. Using the 1876 World Exposition as a hub, the presentation examines issues including the situations of Native Americans, women, and African Americans following the Civil War; the emphasis on industrialism and progress; and the trend towards individualism and self-improvement.