Videos

Books That Shaped America explored The Federalist, an 1788 collection of essays authored by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay under the pseudonym “Publius” to promote the…

Author Fred Kaplan talked about Thomas Jefferson’s writings, including his correspondence, his religious and scientific writings, and his inaugural addresses. This program was hosted by the…

Harry Katz talked about his book Mark Twain’s America: A Celebration in Words and Images, a collection of photographs, illustrations, and newspaper clippings that depicts the world that inspired Mark…

Author Timothy Walker talked about the maritime side of the Underground Railroad, including the impact of African Americans' paid and unpaid waterfront labor. The Nantucket Historical…

Pepperdine University professor Loretta Hunnicutt taught a class about baseball during the Great Depression. She looked at the role of baseball in American culture and the origins of sports…

Western History Association President David Wrobel talked about novelist John Steinbeck’s work in relation to the American West from the New Deal to the Great Society. He argues that…

Saint Vincent College professor Timothy Kelly taught a class about the New Deal Community of Norvelt in Pennsylvania. Named in part for Eleanor Roosevelt, it was built during the Great…

Historian Richard Bell talked about Thomas Paine’s popularity in 1776 after publishing Common Sense and his reputational decline after the American Revolution. This virtual program was…

Ethel Rosenberg was executed by the U.S. government in June of 1953, with her husband Julius, for working to give nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. Anne…

Robert Levine talked about the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War and the lives of Frederick Douglass and President Andrew Johnson. This virtual program was hosted by the National…

During the Civil War, members of the Choctaws Nation held slaves and fought alongside Confederate forces. Author Fay Yarborough talked about Native populations, slavery, and the…

City University of New York professor emeritus Joshua Brown taught a class on the 1863 New York City Draft Riots and Civil War newspapers. He described how citizens across the country saw…

Douglass Leadership Institute founder Bishop Dean Nelson and Washington and Lee University professor Lucas Morel discussed the life and legacy of abolitionist Frederick Douglass. This…

Historian Lucas Morel argued that Abraham Lincoln was greatly influenced by his reading of documents and papers of the Founding Fathers. This program was part of the Lincoln Forum’s annual…

Giles Milton discussed post-World War II Berlin and the conflicts that arose between the four Allied countries that controlled sectors of the city. This was a virtual event hosted by…

Penn State professor Rachel Shelden taught a class on the Civil War as a constitutional crisis. She argued that, by the 1860s, the Constitution could no longer be used as a tool for…

Tufts University historian Kerri Greenidge talked about the Grimke family and the Black children fathered by the slave-holding older brother of the well-known abolitionist sisters, Sarah…

Author James Oakes talked about Abraham Lincoln’s antislavery strategies and how his views and actions evolved while in office. This program was part of the Lincoln Forum’s annual meeting.

Allen Guelzo talked about Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s life from boyhood through the Civil War. The Atlanta History Center hosted this virtual program.

This dramatized film in vivid technicolor follows a mid-Western family as they visit the Westinghouse exhibit at the 1939 World’s Fair. Made by Westinghouse during the Great Depression, the film…