1919 – A Year of Racial Violence: An Interview with David Krugler
A century ago, in the wake of a rapid demobilization of soldiers returning from World War I, ten major race riots occurred in American cities, along with other acts of […]
400th Anniversary of Landing of African Slaves at Jamestown
In late August 1619, John Rolfe tells us that the first enslaved Africans arrived in the English colony of Virginia. These Africans had been captured from present-day Angola by Portuguese […]
The Atomic Bombs in the Context of World War II
On 6 August 1945, the B-29 bomber Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets, dropped the first atomic bomb used in war on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Three days […]
Implementing Brown v. Board of Education: One Southern Town’s Story Part II: Teenaged Integration Pioneers Endure a Lonely Spotlight
Continuing our blog series on the 65th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, last week we published an account of the integration process in the small Southern town of […]
Foreshadowing Brown: How a South Carolina Case Influenced the Supreme Court’s School Desegregation Ruling
As teachers, we know students become more interested in historical events if you can establish a local connection. Here is a story I used with my South Carolina students to […]
Protesting the Louisiana Purchase
For most teachers and students of American history the decision seems like the no-brainer of all time. Napoleon of France was offering to sell the United States not just the […]
History through Literature: An Interview with Suzanne Hunter Brown & Jennifer Keene
This summer, Suzanne Hunter Brown will join historian Jennifer Keene (Chapman University) to lead a course on the history and literature of the 20th century’s World Wars. Using primary historical […]
D-Day: What if it had failed?
General Dwight Eisenhower was the most powerful man in the world in early June, 1944, and then a moment later, he was largely powerless. The invasion force of which he […]
Religion and Rhetoric in Times of War: The 75th Anniversary of D-Day
Religious Rhetoric at the Front Among other equipment for battle on D-Day, the invading troops brought printed copies of Dwight David Eisenhower’s stirring yet succinct “Message to the Allied Expeditionary […]
Segregated Public Schools Declared “Inherently Unequal”: Brown v. Board of Education
Today marks the 65th anniversary of a landmark Supreme Court decision mandating racial desegregation in public schools. Issued on May 17, 1954, the first of two decisions in Brown v. […]