Videos

Historian Harlow Giles Unger recalled the life of Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, who espoused equal rights for women, the abolition of slavery, and free…

Joseph Kelly, literature professor at the College of Charleston, provided a history of the Jamestown colony.

This ceremony commemorated the reopening of the U.S. Army Women’s Museum in Fort Lee, Virginia.  Visitors there find the stories of women who have served their country since the…

University of Utah history professor Eric Hinderaker revisited the events of the Boston Massacre and attempted to determine what really happened on March 5, 1770. He is the author of…

Baylor University professor Thomas Kidd taught a class on the first Great Awakening in the Americas, a period in mid-18th century of Christian revitalization that swept through the…

Historian Peter Henriques talked about the relationship between George Washington and Alexander Hamilton. He discussed why their collaboration was an important factor in founding the nation,…

In 1620, Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and established the first European colony in New England. Historians discussed how Puritans and Native Americans are memorialized at…

Historian Margo Burns discussed primary sources from the Salem Witch Trials compiled in a book project titled Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt. Twelve people worked for ten years to complete the…

Kenneth Foote talked about memorializing sites such as Salem, Massachusetts. His book on the subject is titled Shadowed Ground: America’s Landscapes of Violence and Tragedy. 2017 marked the…

Historians, writers, and professors talked about the history behind how Salem, Massachusetts, became known as the “Witch City.” The panelists discussed whether the commercialization of Salem through…

Professor John Fea talked about the people and ideas that shaped the Pennsylvania Constitution, written in 1776. Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense was published the same year the Pennsylvania…

Judge Douglas Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit discussed the history and evolution of the U.S. Supreme Court. He explained how justices decided…

Yale University historian Joanne Freeman talked about The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War. In her book she describes 70 violent incidents, meaning incidents…

Former New York Times journalist and independent researcher Alison Leigh Cowan told the story of Deborah Sampson, a Massachusetts woman who disguised herself as a man to fight in the Revolutionary War. Ms.…

U.S. Military Academy history professor Robert McDonald talked about the major events and figures of the American Enlightenment, the period leading up to the American Revolution. His talk was…

Arizona State University professor Jonathan Barth talked about the rise of Andrew Jackson and his presidency. He focused on Jackson’s clashes with Whig party members such as Henry Clay and Daniel…

Historian John Ferling recalled the joint efforts of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and James Monroe to sow social and political upheaval throughout colonial America as well as their…

Andrew Lawler explored what happened to 115 British settlers who disappeared from the so-called “Lost Colony of Roanoke” in 1587.

John Sedgwick talked about his book War of Two: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Duel that Stunned the Nation, in which he examines the rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Vice…

Historian, author, and South Carolina Society of the Cincinnati member C.L. Bragg discussed how members of the society reacted to the deadly Burr-Hamilton duel at the time and how the event…