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Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History hosted a discussion on the crisis of slavery leading up to and during President Lincoln’s administration, and its impact on Lincoln’s presidency. This discussion took place at Columbia University.

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Ruth Simmons, President of Brown University, examines how the legacy of slavery has shaped the history of America’s academic institutions. Her keynote address was part of an Emory University conference on the role of slave labor in the building of numerous American universities.

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Lucia Stanton, senior historian at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, has been studying and writing about Thomas Jefferson and his enslaved community for more than 30 years. In this program, she argues that the President sometimes treated his slaves as human beings and at other times as property. Using thousands of records kept by the third president, Stanton attempts to imagine what life was like from the point of view of the slaves. She is joined by historian Dianne Swann-Wright to discuss their ongoing oral history project that has collected the stories of over 170 descendants of Monticello’s slaves.

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Button Farm Living History Center is a work-in-progress dedicated to depicting 19th-century slave plantation life. Through their programs and activities they strive to give visitors the experience of working as a slave, and also experiencing the perils of escaping to freedom on the Underground Railroad.  American History TV traveled 30 miles northwest of the nation's Capitol to visit the farm and learn about the non-profit Menare Foundation.

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History professor Susan Schulten discusses the causes of America's Civil War, including President Abraham Lincoln's refusal to allow slavery to expand into new territories. Professor Schulten explains that President Lincoln refused to recognize the Confederacy as legitimate and viewed secession as illegal. This class took place at the University of Denver.

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History professor Caroline Janney addresses how slavery and emancipation played into the process of post-war reconciliation. She also discusses the experiences and memories of Northern and Southern veterans in the war’s aftermath. Ms. Janney spoke at the 2012 Civil War Institute Conference at Gettysburg College.

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A panel of history professors examines 18th and 19th century slavery abolition movements and early legislative efforts opposing prostitution & sex trafficking or so-called “white slavery.” The panel considers how these historic examples might be applied to the problem of modern day human trafficking & forced labor. This event was held at Yale University and hosted by the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Abolition and Resistance.

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This is the story of the first African American major league baseball player in the modern era, Jackie Robinson. Raymond Doswell of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum focuses on Robinson’s athletic career, his ability to steal bases and home plate, and the racism and obstacles he faced. Over the course of his ten-season Major League career between 1947 & 1956, Robinson played in six World Series and was selected for six All-Star games. His achievements are widely viewed as an important contribution to the Civil Rights Movement. This event was hosted by the National Archives at Kansas City in Missouri.

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