Lectures in History

Northeastern University professor William Fowler taught a class about early Atlantic exploration, Christopher Columbus and the discovery of the Caribbean and the Americas by Europeans. He described the oceanic ventures of the Vikings, Portuguese and Spanish as well as the navigation assumptions of the time period. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Johns Hopkins University professor Nathan Connolly teaches a class about the “promise of suburbia” after the civil rights movement. He explores the role of zoning, eminent domain, and property rights in the making of racial housing categories. He also explains how these tools were often used by local governments to impede desegregation of neighborhoods. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega...

As a guest lecturer at the Citadel Military College in Charleston, South Carolina in 2012, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gives a talk he calls “The Bush Doctrine, Compassionate Conservatism, and the War on Terror." This class is from a course called “The Conservative Intellectual Tradition in America” taught by Citadel International Politics and American Government professor Mallory Fac...

We visit the James Madison University classroom of professor Rebecca Brannon as she teaches about the concept of age around the time of the Revolutionary War. She debunks the myth that the Founding Fathers were all old men, and describes how fertility rates and perceptions of childhood changed during this founding period, leading to a more child-centric family culture by the early 1800s. Learn mor...

University of Delaware professor Alison Parker teaches a class about activist Mary Church Terrell's 1923 fight against the United Daughters of the Confederacy's attempt to erect a black "Mammy" statue in Washington, D.C. She describes how Terrell, a civil rights activist and suffragist, organized opposition and successfully prevented this "Lost Cause" statue from being built.  Learn more about you...

Virginia Tech professor Jessica Taylor teaches a class about trade relationships between English colonists and Native peoples in Virginia. She talks about the trade networks between tribes prior to European contact, periods of conflict between colonists and Native Americans, and how slavery impacted the economy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Dayton professors John Heitmann and Todd Uhlman teach a class about 1970s American car culture and films of the era. Using examples like "Easy Rider," "American Graffiti" and "Badlands," they argue these films reflected many Americans' disillusionment and glorified the open road as a way to take back control in the face of societal changes. They also talk about the impact of oil shor...

Professor Alan Kraut lectured at American University on the economic progress made by the South during the 1920s as part of his history course on the South since Reconstruction. He said that at half a century after the Civil War it was necessary for the South to turn from its past in order to chart a new future.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christopher Newport University professor Jonathan White teaches a class about the 1864 presidential election pitting incumbent Abraham Lincoln against his former top general, Democrat George McClellan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Iowa State University History Professor Charles Dobbs talked about President John F. Kennedy’s foreign policy. Topics included the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba, the raising of the Berlin Wall, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also talked about President Kennedy’s policy toward Vietnam. This episode is from 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

American University’s W. Joseph Campbell teaches a class on CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite’s pessimistic assessment of the Vietnam War in February 1968 and looks at whether the impact of those comments has been overstated and is merely a media myth. www.oracle.come/goto/cspan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville professor Kenneth Moffett teaches a class about notable Speakers of the House, from Henry Clay and Joseph Cannon to Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Stephen Berry talked about coroners in the 19th century South. He discussed the role of a coroner as an agent of the state and talked about the records created from coroner inquests. He argued that coroners can shed light on the emerging patterns of death within a society and spot potential threats to public health such as diseases or a lack of industrial safety.  Learn more about your a...

Iowa State University professor Tracy Lucht talked about women journalists in the late-19th and early 20th centuries. She described the careers of some pioneers, such as Nellie Bly and Dorothy Dix, and the societal pressures for women writers to balance traditional femininity and a career in journalism.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Hitchcock lectured about the U.S. foreign policy strategy of containment between 1946-1950. After World War II, President Harry Truman initiated policies to prevent the spread of communism in Europe and Asia. This strategy of “containment” would result in decades of Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. Professor William Hitchcock presented the topic in a class...

Professor Caroline Janney lectured to her class on women in America from 1600-1870 on the role of women in the Civil War. During her illustrated lecture Professor Janney argued that women provided invaluable services to the soldiers while maintaining the home front. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tulane University professor John “Ray” Proctor taught a class about playwright August Wilson, his contribution to African American theatre and his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Fences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Catholic University professor and former CIA historian Nicholas Dujmovic teaches a class about national intelligence during President Kennedy’s administration. He talks about the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and other covert operations during the Cold War.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. Army War College professor Douglas Douds gives a lecture about the causes and military objectives of the Civil War prior to a day-long staff ride at Gettysburg for the college’s resident class. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Victor Hanson, a professor emeritus of Classics at California State University, Fresno, lectured to a history class on masters and commanders during World War II. In this fall seminar in classical and military history Professor Hanson examined how leaders, both civilian officials and generals on the battlefield, conducted themselves in wartime. That day’s class focused on Franklin D. Roosevelt and...

Professor Clayborne Carson talked about Martin Luther King Jr.'s early life, why he decided to become a minister, and how that contributed to his work in the Civil Rights movement. This class took place at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, where King followed in his father’s footsteps as pastor. The class was from a course that was part of a Stanford University program in which students...

Stonehill College professor Peter Ubertaccio taught a class on the history of State of the Union addresses. He described George Washington’s first address -- delivered in person -- but explained that many presidents who followed simply elected to send Congress a written statement until Woodrow Wilson in 1913. He explored how, since then, State of the Union speeches have evolved along with new tech...

Washington University in St. Louis professor Peter Kastor leads a discussion comparing several first ladies' memoirs from Sarah Polk to Michelle Obama. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Delaware professor Zara Anishanslin teaches a class about how Colonial history is remembered through historic sites and monuments, and sometimes contested. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor Kathleen DuVal teaches a class about the end of the American Revolution and the 1783 Treaty of Paris. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices