This webinar will consider some of the occult forces that were thought to influence and affect humans in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. These considerations will provide us with a context for new readings of three of Shakespeare’s plays: Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and All’s Well That Ends Well. Keeping in mind that … Continued
While many Americans (and many historians) present a narrative in which voting rights expanded in the early 19th century, then were retracted for African-American men in the 1880s, the history of disfranchisement demonstrates the long history of technical manipulation of voter registration, a practice that continues to shape voting rights in the United States. In … Continued
The civil rights movement was not only a struggle to win freedom and equality for African Americans. It went far deeper than that, as it also reshaped the lives of white southerners and shook the very foundations of southern society. It transformed electoral politics, challenged deep-rooted racial attitudes, and upended everyday practices. Thus, it constituted … Continued
The Middle Ages are in the news a lot these days—from the invocation of the “Crusades” after 9/11 to the “medieval” plight of women in some areas of the modern Middle East to alt-right protesters dressing as chivalric knights and Vikings and using medieval symbols during the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. How … Continued
This webinar explores the place of California within North American and United States history. From early modern representations of California as an island to the state’s peculiar role in the coming of the Civil War, and from the railroad West to the global influence of California’s economy and culture, our work together will range broadly … Continued
Do you have the right to read any book you want? See any movie you want? Listen to any radio program you want? Do your students? Yes! (with a very few exceptions) These rights to consume are protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But during the Amendment’s two-hundred-twenty-eight unchanging years at the … Continued
When the news story broke that Governor Northam & other politicians wore blackface and Klan regalia while in school, institutions across the nation suddenly were confronted with their all too recent blackface past. Princeton Professor Rhae Lynn Barnes, the foremost expert on amateur blackface minstrelsy, has spent over a decade cataloging 10,000 minstrel plays and … Continued
This webinar introduces historical architecture as an important—if fragile—record of past societies. Particularly in global regions where current political realities create fear, misunderstanding, and continuing conflict, surviving buildings serve as powerful markers of their inhabitants’ negotiations and co-existence. Historical structures are, in fact, indelible reminders that “the past is…not even past yet.”
The U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center’s motto is “Telling the Army’s Story, One Soldier at a Time.” The U.S. Army’s history is NOT just military history – it is also social, political, medical, economic, and technological history, just to name a few. The USAHEC is the U.S. Army’s primary archives and conservation center for … Continued
Icons of southern and American history serve a purpose in our lives and in society. We make meaning with and through icons. In 2018 Jessica Wilkerson published an essay “Living with Dolly Parton”–part memoir, part cultural criticism, and part history–in which she deconstructed the image of country music and southern icon Dolly Parton. This webinar … Continued