Slavery and the Founding
Professor Lucas E. Morel looks at the history of slavery in the U.S., examining the Founding Fathers' attitudes towards slavery and the policies on slavery written into the founding documents of the U.S.
Professor Lucas E. Morel looks at the history of slavery in the U.S., examining the Founding Fathers' attitudes towards slavery and the policies on slavery written into the founding documents of the U.S.
Professor Mackubin T. Owens traces the flow of antebellum history, up to the Civil War, examining the many changes and pushes for more change that characterized this period.
Professor Mackubin T. Owens looks at perceptions of Abraham Lincoln, both during his presidency and over the course of American history.
Archaeologist Ellen Berkland discusses the significance of archaeological finds at the African Meeting House on Nantucket.
In this institute, K12 teachers, in conjunction with a group of leading scholars and public historians, will explore a neglected but crucially important aspect of early American history—the two-and-a-half-century web of connections between the rise of New England as a commercial and industrial center and the enslavement of Africans. New England's extensive and complicated relationship with slavery is a crucial part of the American story that almost never is clearly and comprehensively discussed in American history textbooks. But this is an important story, and there is no better place to explore it, and learn how to teach about it, than in Rhode Island, not only the center of the American slave and provisioning trades, but also the birthplace of the American industrial revolution. The two-week institute will include lectures by experts, tours of historic sites associated with these key developments, and guided explorations of original 18th- and 19th-century print and graphic sources that document this fascinating, often painful history. Teachers will be able to bring back to their classrooms and departments new knowledge, new primary documents and images, and fresh ideas and strategies for teaching this sensitive material, including shared lesson plans.
This seminar explores the history of the American antislavery movement, from its institutional and ideological origins in the post-Revolutionary era to the eve of the Civil War. A particular focus of the course will be the historical reality and mythology of the Underground Railroad, understood through the lives, strategies, writings, and fate of black abolitionists.
This seminar examines the era of the American Civil War, with emphasis on its origins, scope, and consequences. Through lectures, class discussion, examination of historical texts, and visits to historic sites, the instructors and participants will examine the central role of slavery, the ways in which military and civilian affairs intersected and influenced one another, the question of what the war left unresolved, and how Americans have remembered the conflict. In many ways, the issues that divided the nation during the Civil War era continue to resonate today. This seminar will seek to make those issues clear, while at the same time providing a sense of the drama and tragedy of this tumultuous period.
This seminar explores the rise of Jim Crow in the United States and tracks it forward to its modern post-civil-rights manifestations. Seminar participants will work with a range of primary sources to interpret the shifting social, economic, political, psychological, and cultural trauma associated with this set of racial practices. Close attention will be paid to the effects of Jim Crow on both sides of the color line.
This 2004 NBC documentary recounts the groundbreaking journey of the Freedom Riders from Washington, DC, to Montgomery, AL, in 1961.
This feature is no longer available.
This forum discussion focuses on civil rights though the eyes of those on the front lines of the movement. It features Theodore Sorensen, Special Counsel to President Kennedy; Harris Wofford, President Kennedy's chairman for the Subcabinet Group of Civil Rights; Taylor Branch, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Pillar of Fire; and Robert Moses, pivotal organizer for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and director of its Mississippi project in the early 1960s. This session takes an in-depth look at the years 19601963 when Martin Luther King, Jr. engaged President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the battle to extend civil rights to all.
This feature is no longer available at WGBH.