Associate editor and professor of history at Indiana University, John Nieto-Phillips speaks with Professor James Meriwether about his article, "'Worth a Lot of Negro Votes': Black Voters, Africa, and the 1960 Presidential Campaign." When John F. Kennedy telephoned Coretta Scott King to express sympathy for her jailed husband, he had little idea that his two-minute call would move to center stage in the 1960 presidential election. That call, James H. Meriwether argues, has obscured Kennedy's broader efforts to secure the support of black voters while not alienating white voters in the no longer "solid South." Kennedy drew on the growing transnational relationship black Americans had with an ancestral continent undergoing its own freedom struggles, revealing that he was more interested in Africa than in civil rights. Africa, the newest frontier for Kennedy, became a place where he could show his Cold War credentials, find common ground with black American voters, and strengthen his chances to win the presidency.

Alan J. Kuperman of the University of Texas looks at global instances of genocide following the Holocaust—specifically the Hutu/Tutsi conflict in Rwanda and the conflict in Sudan, including in the Darfur region. He argues that genocide does not usually follow the relatively black-and-white model of the Holocaust and that educators must encourage students to examine and acknowledge the complexity of any conflict when engaging in activism. To appreciate and comprehend the benefits of freedom, students need to know what it's like to live without freedom—or worse, in conditions of harsh repression, even genocide. To help teachers teach students about life without freedom, FPRI's Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education, in cooperation with the National Constitution Center and the National Liberty Museum, assembled some of the world's leading analysts—and witnesses—of countries without freedom. The conference helped teachers define totalitarianism while examining the history of the idea of freedom.

To listen to this lecture, scroll to "Genocide: The Cases of Rwanda and Sudan" under "Speakers and Topics." Audio and video options are available.

Edward L. Ayers of the University of Virginia looks at the early antebellum support of African colonization as an answer to U.S. racial tensions, and considers it as a possible root of the later abolitionist movement.

To listen to this lecture, select "The Movement of African-American Colonization" under "African-American Experience Video."

Eric Foner of Columbia University looks at antebellum consideration of African colonization as a means to deal with race tensions, focusing on the opposition of most free African Americans to the proposition.

James O. Horton of George Washington University discusses Abraham Lincoln's consideration of establishing African colonies as a solution to race tensions in the U.S. and African-American reactions to suggestions of the establishment of such colonies.

To listen to this clip, select "Abraham Lincoln and the African-American Colonization Movement" under "Abraham Lincoln's Biography Video."

Historian Mark P. Leone looks at the hoodoo artifacts found at the Annapolis home of Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and to the coming-together of the lives of the Founding Fathers and their African and African American slaves that the artifacts represent. Leone discusses the significance of the artifacts, as the first discovery of a hoodoo cache in the area, and the later discovery of caches elsewhere dating up to the 1920s.

To view this video, select "Scholars," followed by "Mark P. Leone." Choose one of the two Windows Media options.

Historian Mark P. Leone looks at the hoodoo artifacts found at the Annapolis home of Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and to the coming-together of the lives of the Founding Fathers and their African and African American slaves that the artifacts represent. Leone discusses the system of hoodoo and the use of the artifacts in hoodoo to direct the spirits of the dead.

To view this video, select "Scholars," followed by "Mark P. Leone." Choose one of the two Windows Media options.

Historian Mark P. Leone looks at the hoodoo artifacts found at the Annapolis home of Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and to the coming-together of the lives of the Founding Fathers and their African and African American slaves that the artifacts represent. Leone discusses the system of hoodoo and the uses of the artifacts in hoodoo.

To view this video, select "Scholars," followed by "Mark P. Leone." Choose one of the two Windows Media options.

Historian Mark P. Leone looks at the Annapolis home of Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and to the coming-together of the lives of the Founding Fathers and their African and African American slaves that the house represents. Leone focuses on the hoodoo artifacts uncovered at thresholds in the building.

To view this video, select "Scholars," followed by "Mark P. Leone." Choose one of the two Windows Media options.