The features on this page previously appeared on our Explore page.
Boundless curiosity about the human experience is the driving force of the humanities—inspiring scholars as they pursue their research, teachers at work with their students, and all of us as we navigate the challenging world we live in.
Discover how that curiosity is expressed in the work of NHC Fellows, in innovative resources for educators, and how it speaks to all of us in the features included below. You can learn more about these topics by clicking on any of the items or by creating your own search of Center resources.
Holding Up Half the Sky: Reconsidering Women’s Contributions to History and Culture
Between the Covers: Fellows Discuss Their Recent Publications
Living on the Edge: Experiences of Migrants and Refugees
The Caribbean: Nexus of the Atlantic World
Beyond Despair: A Focus on Environmental Humanities
One Hundred Years and Counting
Humanities in Action
The centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment’s passage and ratification seems an apt occasion to reflect on the long and ongoing struggle to achieve equality for women and to consider how the ideals of women’s rights advocates remain unrealized.
The Woman Suffrage Movement in the United States
Webinar
Historian Marjorie Spruill leads this webinar tracing the history of the movement to gain voting rights for women.
“From the Underground to the Archive in Ten Years: Girl Zines, the 1990s, and the Challenge of Historical Narration”
Public Lecture
In the early 1990s, dissident, non-conforming girls turned to self-publishing to express their deep dissatisfaction with conservative reaffirmations of normative femininity.
International Women’s Year: The Greatest Consciousness-Raising Event in History
Books by Fellows
This watershed moment in transnational feminism launched a new generation of activist networks that spanned continents, ideologies, and generations.
In the Words of Women
Humanities Moments
This month’s Humanities Moments exhibit documents the legacies of women who’ve inspired us by breaking the rules, raising their voices, and changing the way we think about ourselves, about women, and about the role they’ve played in shaping our world.
How Federalist Women Shaped America
Discovery & Inspiration
NHC Fellow Gretchen Murphy (2018–19) discusses the ways in which women writers have shaped and preserved the Federalist legacy in this podcast episode.
Dolly Parton's World
Webinar
This webinar examines how we can use iconic symbols of southern womanhood to deepen our understanding of histories of race, class, and gender in American history.
At Home in the World: Women Writers and Public Life, from Austen to the Present
Books by Fellows
One of numerous publications by NHC Fellows on women’s contributions as artists and thought leaders.
Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement
David K. Johnson (Fellow, 2014–15)
Gay commerce was not a byproduct but rather an important catalyst for the gay rights movement. Buying Gay explores the connections—and tensions—between the market and the movement.
Erased: The Untold Story of the Panama Canal
Marixa Lasso (Fellow, 2013–14)
The Panama Canal was built at considerable cost to a way of life that had characterized the region for centuries. Marixa Lasso recovers the history of the Panamanian cities and towns that once formed the backbone of the republic.
The Book of Minor Perverts: Sexology, Etiology, and the Emergences of Sexuality
Benjamin Kahan (Fellow, 2016–17)
Statue-fondlers, wanderlusters, nymphomaniacs, and sex magicians: the story of these forgotten sexualities—what Michel Foucault deemed “minor perverts”—has never before been told.
The Trial of Lizzie Borden
Cara Robertson (Fellow, 2004–05; Fellow, 2005–06)
The Trial of Lizzie Borden offers a window onto America in the Gilded Age, showcasing its most deeply held convictions and its most troubling social anxieties.
Celebrating Immigrants in the Story of America
Humanities Moment
Stories of migration are deeply woven into the cultural fabric of the United States. The experiences and contributions of immigrants have strengthened and diversified our communities, enriching small towns and big cities alike.
Modern Slave Narratives
Laura Murphy, Fellow 2017–18
Though slavery may not take the exact forms it did in the nineteenth century, approximately 45.8 million persons in 167 countries endure modern forms of slavery.
Undocumented Students in the Classroom
Humanities In Action
With estimates suggesting there are over 1 million undocumented students in American classrooms, the issue of immigration is one that teachers across the country must contend with in a significant way.
The Long Struggle over U.S. Immigration and Citizenship
Kunal Parker, Fellow 2014–15
In this podcast, scholar Kunal Parker helps frame the current discourse around immigration as it relates to legal history.
Excursions: Revisiting the History of the Caribbean
This podcast features conversations with several recent Fellows whose scholarship deals with the Caribbean and its relation to the Atlantic slave trade as well as a birthplace for not only revolutionary democracy but reggae music.
The Banjo: A Musical Conversation
NHC Fellow Laurent Dubois and musician Joe Newberry participated in a “musical conversation” exploring the fascinating history of the banjo and its links to the Caribbean.
Geography, History, and Education in Barbados
Humanities Moment
Browse a collection of personal reflections from educators following their investigation of place and the relationship between human and physical geography.
Slavery in the Atlantic World
Webinar
This webinar situates British North American slavery in a broader Atlantic context.
Home Matters: Picturing and Understanding Place
Confronting contemporary challenges is impossible unless we understand the ways that humans interact with their environments and the repercussions those interactions have both locally and globally.
Beyond Despair: Environmental Humanities Awareness
This Humanities Moments exhibit features contributions which illuminate the intersecting lines of inquiry at the heart of environmental humanities.
Beyond Despair Initiative
A fascinating collection of videos, podcasts and panel discussions centered on the role of the humanities in addressing environmental change.
Environmental History: Eating the City
This webinar uses a forgotten staple, oysters, to explore the risks of industrialization and the consequences of environmental protections.