In this webinar, we will examine the construction of race through the religious beliefs and practices of English Virginians. The seventeenth century was a critical time in the development and articulation of racial ideologies—ultimately in the idea of “hereditary heathenism,” the notion that Africans and Indians were incapable of genuine Christian conversion. In Virginia in … Continued
The death of the book and the decline of literary reading have been threatened for over two decades now. How can the humble novel compete with the latest social media apps to capture our attention and connect us to others? And yet the experience of imaginative, immersive, literary reading endures and remains one of humanity’s … Continued
What is money and where does it come from? If asked, most people would likely respond to these questions by pointing to the notes and coins in their pockets—or maybe their debit and charge cards—and muse on some connection between the “government” and printed money. Concerning origins, most would probably add that money developed more … Continued
Throughout 18th- and 19th-century America, activists and abolitionists wrote and deployed poetry and personal narratives to voice outrage and spur opposition to slavery and race violence. How did these works ‘work’? Which ones were most effective and how do we know? What role does authenticity play and how much is literary craft? This webinar will … Continued
Native women’s perspectives and experiences are accessible in the documentary record, and attention to them fundamentally alters traditional historical narratives for the better by infusing them with relevance for twenty-first century students. Beginning with a reframing of early colonial encounters and ending with an analysis of the modern justice movement for missing and murdered Indigenous … Continued
Monuments are often ignored; what they commemorate tends to be forgotten a generation or two after their construction. Sometimes, though, their meanings become matters of urgent debate. This webinar will begin with an overview of how monumentalization has manifested across different societies, asking: what do monuments do, and why do we make them? In the … Continued
Arabs have largely been ignored in narratives of American history, appearing only at its shady margins. Nineteenth-century Orientalist representations, a century of stereotyped Hollywood images, and decades of militarized encounters in the Middle East have formed and fed a concept of “the Arab” as “the Other”: someone both physically and morally alien to America, harboring … Continued
History has treated the founding of the United States as an exclusively male enterprise. One reason for this is that biographers and historians mostly focus on the political, military, and diplomatic aspects of the era. Scant attention is paid to the social world where women primarily functioned. The story of Abigail and John Adams changes … Continued
Bayard Rustin was twentieth century America’s great radical voice. His vision contained multitudes, fusing labor rights, racial justice, sexual equality, socialism, and pacifism. He may well have been America’s first intersectional radical. But in the 1960s, Rustin’s attempt to weave the strands of his activism together into a broad-based program for transformative change fell victim … Continued
February 3–24, 2021 | For centuries, the importance of civility to the health of republics has been widely recognized. Peaceful resolution of conflicts, open debate, and the nurturing of an engaged citizenry are essential to maintaining governments in which power is held by the people. Yet, civility remains elusive. The scholars in this series help us think about ways of encouraging, preserving, and restoring civility—through political and creative expression, in the courts, on the page, and on the screen—from the classical period to the modern era.