Author William Dobak discusses his book, "Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops, 1862-1867," which examines how African American troops were used to improve Union intelligence and the varying attitudes of Union leaders towards black soldiers.

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Hari Jones, curator and assistant director of the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum, talks about the contributions of African American Women during the War.

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Despite a federal law banning African American soldiers from serving in the U.S. Army, they nonetheless fought during the Civil War in both northern and southern regiments. Harvard University history professor John Stauffer spoke about their wartime role during a symposium presented by the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.

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Kenneth Walsh talked about his book, Family of Freedom: Presidents and African Americans in the White House. He talked about the history of the presidency through the lens of the African-American experience.

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Metropolitan State University professor Douglas Rossinow teaches a class on the Iran-Contra affair, which took place in the mid-1980s during the Reagan Administration. The Iran-Contra affair stems from Reagan administration officials funding the Contras - who were fighting against the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua - with money from the sale of arms to Iran. The arms were being sold to Iran in the hope of gaining the release of American hostages held in Lebanon - hence the reason the affair is sometimes called as the “arm-for-hostages” scandal. Metropolitan State University is in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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In this program, Georgetown University professor Michael Kazin teaches a class on 1920s culture and society. He discusses Prohibition and the exploits of the gangster Al Capone, who eventually went to prison on tax evasion charges. Professor Kazin also talks about the motion picture industry and the new production codes that sought to tamp down on sexuality in films. In addition, he addresses the 1925 Scopes Trial, in which a high school teacher faced charges of unlawfully teaching evolution in a state-funded school. Georgetown University is in Washington, DC.

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Florida State University Professor Andrew Frank discusses the Creek Indians and the First Seminole War, which took place in the early 19th century in the southeastern part of the U.S. and Spanish-controlled Florida. The war was fought in part to prevent slaves from fleeing into Florida.

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President Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22nd, 1862. It ordered the emancipation of all slaves in any Confederate state that did not return to the Union by January 1st, 1863. No Confederate states returned, and Lincoln signed and issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Professor George Forgie discusses the evolution of Lincoln’s thinking on slavery, and the political and legal factors Lincoln considered when issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. This class is from the University of Texas at Austin.

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John Dewey (1859-1952) was a leader in the Progressive Era reform movement in education, and his writings on education are still considered influential to this day. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga professor Wilfred McClay examines the life and writings of John Dewey, with a focus on Dewey’s work in education.

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Professor Robert Johnston and his class examine the 1890s American Populist movement. The discussion centers on Charles Postel’s book, “The Populist Vision,” which follows the Populist movement from the rise of the Farmer’s Alliance to its transformation into the People’s Party. This class took place at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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