Lectures in History

Professor David Farber teaches twentieth-century American history at Temple University in Philadelphia. In this lecture to a history class he focused on the origin of the 1960s Vietnam anti-war movement, and his view of how it helped to expand the nation’s democratic process. This episode was recorded in 2010. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

History professor Marcus Rediker lectured during a course on Colonial America at the University of Pittsburgh in 2010. He talked about the origins of the slave trade to the Americas between 1640 and the early 1800s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Texas at Austin professor Jeremi Suri teaches an online class about President Ronald Reagan and the end of the Cold War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Weber State University professor Branden Little teaches a class about the U.S. military in the 1890s. He covers reforms designed to make the officer corps more professional, a new focus on sea power, and an international incident with Chile. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Natalia Mehlman Petrzela of the New School teaches a class about the 1980s fitness industry and culture in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor Joseph Glatthaar teaches a class on the 1898 Spanish-American War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duquesne University president Ken Gormley teaches a class looking at constitutional issues stemming from the Watergate scandal that arose during the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Tennessee College of Law professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds teaches a class about free speech and the legal cases that have impacted the courts' interpretation of this part of the First Amendment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George Mason University professor Sam Lebovic taught a class about U.S. politics and economics of the early Cold War period of the late-1940s and 1950s. He argued that with extreme ideologies such as fascism and communism completely discredited or out of favor, a consensus formed in the U.S. around centrist political views to the point where the political parties were barely distinguishable. On th...

Wellesley College professor Brenna Greer debunked some of the myths about Rosa Parks and the 1955-56 Montgomery bus boycott. She addressed that Parks was not the first African American woman who refused to give up her seat and that the boycott had planning and precedent. She also explored with the class why a simplified version of this history has become so widespread. Learn more about your ad cho...

Baylor University professor David Smith taught a class about the growth of the internationalist worldview in 1890s America. He argued that economic, moral and political impulses caused Americans to consider a larger role in the world for their nation. Smith then detailed the actions they took, such pursuing missionary work, arguing for the expansion of the navy, and searching for new economic mark...

La Sierra University professor Alicia Gutierrez-Romine taught a class about laws and policies regarding abortion. Starting in the 19th century, she tracked changes in medical practice and public opinion through court cases and newspaper coverage. She also described abortion restrictions, access to illegal abortions, costs, and health risks in different time periods and states. Learn more about you...

Grove City College president Paul McNulty taught a class about the development of the U.S. Constitution and what he believes are its main principles: republicanism, the separation of powers, and federalism. Mr. McNulty served as deputy attorney general in the George W. Bush administration from 2006 to 2007. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Virginia Commonwealth University Professor Nicole Myers Turner taught a class on the lives of formerly enslaved African Americans following emancipation. She explained how they defined freedom for themselves while the federal government debated political and legal definitions. Professor Turner also discussed the important role of religious and educational institutions in newly freed African Americ...

Stony Brook University Professor Nancy Tomes taught a class about the 1918 influenza pandemic and public information efforts in the United States to stop the spread of the disease. She described methods such as canceling public gatherings, social distancing, and propaganda about good hygiene, which are still implemented. This class was filmed on March 10, 2020, during the early stages of the coron...

White House Historical Association historian and American University lecturer Matthew Costello taught a class on White House myths. He talked about the realities and legends behind often repeated stories such as the tunnel system, a gift alligator, how decorating traditions began, and Dolley Madison rescuing George Washington’s portrait. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic...

University of North Carolina at Pembroke professor Jamie Martinez taught a class about the Confederacy’s economic policies during the Civil War. She explained how a pre-war focus on cotton exports over food production combined with wartime farm labor disruptions led to food shortages and riots in the South in 1863. This, she said, forced the Confederate government into developing more nationalized...

Longwood University President W. Taylor Reveley IV and Political Science Professor Emeritus William Harbour taught a class about the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, exploring the major events and policies during their tenures in the Oval Office. They also compared the two men’s backgrounds and leadership approaches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Utah State University Professor Maria Angela Diaz taught a class on the Civil War in the West and looked at the conflict in states and territories such as Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and Arizona. She explored how the diverse populations of the region reacted to the war and chose between siding with the Union or the Confederacy. Professor Diaz also focuses on the larger role guerrilla warfare played i...

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor William Sturkey taught a class about expanding rights in the 1960s and '70s, looking at women’s liberation and the gay rights movement. He covered topics such as birth control, the Equal Rights Amendment and the Stonewall riots. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Madison University professor Andrew Witmer taught a class about the evolution of rural areas after the Civil War. Using his own hometown of Monson, Maine as a case study, he examined rural industry such as slate mining and the rise of country tourism aided by the expansion of railroad networks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Maryland professor Christopher Bonner taught a class about the concept of “power” in antebellum slave societies. He explored the different ways owners and enslaved people exerted or expressed their will and looks at how these dynamics played out in the context of individual plantations. He also discussed how the invention of the cotton gin and resulting expansion of both slavery and...

Guilford Technical Community College professor Jeff Kinard taught a class about Civil War weaponry and shared artifacts such as muskets, carbines and revolvers. He described technological advances, such as breech loading and rifled barrels, that allowed soldiers to fire faster and with more accuracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Minnesota Professor Saje Mathieu taught a class about “neutrality” and what that concept meant in World War I America. She explained how neutrality did not mean inactivity, as the U.S. sold materials to both the Allied and Central Powers, helping both sides continue the fight. She also talked about how the U.S. viewed itself as the defender of democracy and sought to police certain n...

Grove City College Professor Paul Kengor explored the tense days of October 1962 when the United States and the Soviet Union faced off over missiles in Cuba in one of the “hottest” episodes of the Cold War. He explained how the ideological militancy of Cuban leader Fidel Castro worried leaders in both Moscow and Washington who did not truly desire nuclear conflict despite their tough talk. Learn m...