Juneteenth Celebrations Spread Around the US

The holiday of Juneteenth, celebrating the end of slavery in 1865 was first recognized by Congress and President Biden as a paid day off for federal workers in 2021. About 39 percent of private employers are giving workers time off. "Historic sites linked to enslavement and emancipation are getting new attention — and funding for …

The story of ‘Amazing Grace’ and John Newton

CBS Morning News: "On January 1, 1773, in Olney, England, The Rev. John Newton, a slave trader-turned-abolitionist, gave a sermon about personal redemption. Half a century later his words were paired with music, and would become one of the best-known hymns in the world, "Amazing Grace." Correspondent Ramy Inocencio talks with music journalist Steve Turner …

When Calling Out Bullies Was Prelude to the Civil War

President Joe Biden has called out what he characterizes as radical Republicans who threaten "our very democracy...our personal rights and economic security" and, in a fiery speech, said Republicans have turned toward "semi-fascism," The Washington Post reported. (Video clips.) Republicans responded that his remarks were "despicable." Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) called Democrats “radical left-wing lunatics, …

John Brown: The Man Who Started the U.S. Civil War

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orxQY0N0-HA&t=8s John Brown, Soldier of Christ or America's first domestic terrorist? Clearly a man with a colossal ego.

What Happened At the First Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY, 1848?

Learn about the movement for women's equality that precipitated the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, and what its attendees - including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott - hoped to achieve. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcYhuG1y3bc Division At Seneca Falls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ir5CgK3LhM American Experience | PBS At first closely intertwined, the abolition and suffrage movements were called to make a …

Ben Franklin: A New Interpretation By Ken Burns

PBS has broadcast a two-part, four-hour series by Ken Burns on founding father Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), which is creating discussion. Most school children learn that he was a "writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and political philosopher," as Wikipedia points out. The documentary is available via streaming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJtYoq0HH9c Burns calls Franklin "the most interesting of …

Underground Railroad: A Reality Check

Crash Course Black History: Escape was one of the many ways that enslaved people resisted their captivity in the system of American slavery. The Underground Railroad was not literally a railroad. It was a network of people, routes, and safe houses that helped people escape from slavery in the south to freedom in the north. …

Maria Stewart, Writer, Orator, Abolitionist

Crash Course Black American History: "Clint Smith teaches you about Maria Stewart, a Black woman who lived in the 19th century, and was a pioneering abolitionist, writer, and orator. When studying history, we often focus on the big picture and world-changing events. Today we'll focus on how one woman flouted the social conventions of her …

1811: Largest Slave Rebellion in American History Took Place on Louisiana’s German Coast

The stereotype that many of us were taught in American history class, either implicitly or explicitly, was that slaves were submissive, docile, and compliant. Clint Smith in Crash Course Black History challenges that myth as he discusses the largest slave revolt in American History which few knew about because it wasn't taught until relatively recently, …

Black Women’s Experience Under Slavery

Crash Course Black History #11: "Slavery was inherently cruel and unjust, and it was cruel and unjust to different people in different ways. Today, Clint Smith teaches you about the experience of enslaved women, and how their experience of slavery was different than men. Women had a unique vantage point to understand slavery, and were …