Following the Civil War, African American businessmen and women began to invest, build, and thrive despite white-controlled financial and commercial networks. But what happened in the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma? Why will it become a target of a racial massacre in 1921? Using primary documents, we will read and listen to the stories of […]
The Holocaust was the greatest horror of World War II, and the Allies obtained evidence of Nazi Germany’s genocide of Europe’s Jewish population during the war. How did Allied leaders, especially President Franklin Roosevelt, respond to the Holocaust? Did the Allies attempt to disrupt the death camps’ operations in order to halt the mass murder? […]
Liberty and equality are powerful words in American political discourse. How have they been interpreted throughout American history? Are liberty and equality in tension with each other, or are they compatible? This seminar explores three different views in American history and thought about the relationship between liberty and equality. This program will be conducted as […]
The decade that preceded Abraham Lincoln’s presidential election, the onset of secession, and eventual civil war saw an America increasingly divided over the future of slavery in the United States. This seminar will explore the events and turmoil that ultimately led to the greatest conflict this nation endured. The readings that follow present a diversity […]
This seminar will focus on the later Cold War years during the presidencies of Nixon, Carter, and Reagan. Their approach to Détente, foreign relations with the Soviet Union, China, and the ending of the Vietnam War. This program will be conducted as a discussion, utilizing primary source documents as the only readings, and with the […]
Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. both argued that the proper foundation for civic education is the belief that America has a moral essence derived from the principles of the Declaration of Independence. America’s history and purpose—it’s past, present, and future—is the story of our struggle to live up to those principles. Our conversation […]
Harlem became the hub of African American culture in the 1920’s and 30’s and the extraordinary writing that developed during this time continues to influence American literature and culture. This seminar will explore the literature of the Harlem Renaissance in relation to its history as well as its social and cultural context. We will also […]
The rise of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union is a story that has often been told. This seminar will focus on Truman’s and Eisenhower’s policies on the Korean War, Soviet Union postwar anticommunism, containment, and nuclear buildup. This program will be conducted as a discussion, utilizing primary source documents as the […]
The controversy to use atomic weapons in World War II did not begin after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed; rather there were heated debates within the Truman administration and the […]
This seminar offers an overview of the principles of the American Founding and the documents that embody them, especially the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. These principles will be […]
