Videos

The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia hosted a discussion on Congress, political parties, and polarization from the time of America’s founding through the Civil War to today. Spea…

Historians discussed locations they deemed significant to the story of the Civil War. This panel was part of the annual summer conference hosted by the Gettysburg College Civil War Institute…

University of Richmond Professor and President Emeritus Edward Ayers discussed how the expansion of slavery and westward migration displaced Native Americans throughout the antebellum period…

The Western History Association hosted this panel on defining the American West geographically, culturally and politically. The five scholars also investigated the role of regions in underst…

Historian Edward Ayers talked about his latest book, The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America. This talk was part of the annual summer conference hos…

Historian Edward Ayers analyzed the difference between history and memory and discussed the important role that scholarship plays in public history. He also examined how the American public …

Historian Edward Ayers talked about the Battle of Gettysburg and its consequences. He described how people in the surrounding areas might have experienced the battle and the logistics of the…

The relationship between the arts and states' economies was the topic in this portion of the 2018 National Governors Association summer meeting. Among the speakers were the CEO of the Countr…

A panel of historians discussed the history of Confederate monuments and their place in society. They took comments from an audience of historians on whether the monuments should remain, be …

Edward Ayers talked about his book The Thing Light of Freedom, in which he provided a history of the Civil War.

Historians responded to audience questions on the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War. Topics included the burning of towns and destruction of property in the valley by both the Union and…

Historians responded to audience questions on the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War. Topics included the role of religion in the valley during the war, supply problems faced by Confeder…

Edward Ayers talked about the 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaigns during the Civil War. He spoke about the strategic importance of the valley to both the Union and the Confederacy and discussed…

University and nonprofit presidents who were historians by training talked about their transitions into leadership positions and how their history backgrounds helped them in their roles as e…

Edward Ayers talked about the end of the Civil War and the dawn of the Reconstruction era. He contended that Reconstruction began as early as the summer and fall of 1864. Mr. Ayers pointed t…

The Smithsonian Institution hosted the “BackStory with the American History Guys” radio program as they examined D.W. Griffith’s film The Birth of a Nation, originally released in 1915

American History TV was LIVE from Appomattox Court House National Historical Park for a ceremony marking the exact time on April 9, 1865, that Generals Grant and Lee met at the McLean House …

Panelists talked about the pro-Confederate “Lost Cause” view of the Civil War and its legacy in postwar American politics and culture. “The Lost Cause” was a panel discussion at “Causes W…

Panelists from the morning sessions of a symposium on the end of the Civil War responded to questions submitted from the audience. “Causes Won and Lost: The End of the Civil War” was a sy…

Panelists talked about Mary Elizabeth Bowser, a former slave who became a Union spy in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. She was part of a pro-Union spy ring run by Elizabeth Va…