At the end of the Civil War, though slavery was technically illegal in all states, it still persisted in the last bastions of the Confederacy. This was the case when Union General Gordon Granger marched his troops into Galveston, Texas...

Clint Smith teaches you about one of the most famous writers, orators, and advocates of the 19th century, Frederick Douglass. Douglass was born in slavery, escaped to the North, and became one of the most influential people of his time....

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...

In 1775, General George Washington received a poem from one of colonial America's most famous writers. Its verses praised the burgeoning revolution, invoking the goddess of their new nation to aid the general's cause. But this ode to...

The United States' Constitution is not a very detailed document. It lays out the basic structure of government, and the details are filled in with legislation, and clarified and reinforced by court decisions. One of the most...

In this video, we'll learn about the US Supreme Court decision in Scott vs Sanford, handed down in 1857. The case ultimately rejected the idea that Black people could be citizens of the United States, and this helped entrench the...

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...

Today we're learning about the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which brought millions of captive Africans to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries, with the largest number of people trafficked between 1700 and 1808. We'll look at...

In 1910, 90% of Black Americans lived in the South. By 1940, around 1.5 million Black Americans had left their homes, and 77% lived in the South. By 1970, 52% of Black Americans remained in the South. People moved away for many reasons,...

During the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company cornered the booming spice market and pioneered trade routes between Asia and Europe. It is widely considered the most profitable corporation ever created. But such success came with...

Enslaved people resisted their condition in a range of different ways. Oftentimes those ways were small and personal. There were also times when that resistance took on larger, more dramatic forms, like with slave uprisings and...

The royal couple of Haiti rode into their coronation to thunderous applause. After receiving his ornate crown, Henry Christophe ascended his throne, towering 20 meters in the air. But little did the cheering onlookers know that the first...

The drafting and adoption of the United States Constitution recalled many of the high ideals of liberty and freedom that were espoused during the Revolutionary War. But the compromises that were made to get all of the new states on board...

Isabella Baumfree was born into slavery in late 18th century New York. Fleeing bondage with her youngest daughter, she renamed herself Sojourner Truth and embarked on a legendary speaking tour. She became known as an electrifying orator...

The American Civil War is one of the deadliest in US History, and let's just get this out of the way: it was about slavery. In the more than 150 years since the end of the Civil War, there have been many attempts to litigate the reasons...

Why do we dance? African-American social dances started as a way for enslaved Africans to keep cultural traditions alive and retain a sense of inner freedom. They remain an affirmation of identity and independence. In this electric...

In this video Klemens Koehring reads abridged excerpts from Gerrard Winstanley's 'The True Levellers Standard Advanced' published in 1649, a great snapshot of Diggers' beliefs and a sample of the mix of radical social and politics ideas...

This World Cultures instructional video discusses the evolution of the Atlantic slave trade.

These ten countries have the most people living in modern slavery, or victims of human trafficking.

What happened after the Civil War ended? In this video, we take a simple look at the Reconstruction Era, the time when the United States tried to rebuild the South and reunite the country. Learn about the major changes, including the...

Annette Gordon-Reed, a professor at Harvard University, wrote a groundbreaking book in the 1990s examining the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman at Monticello. Initially interested in how...

Today, the United States is home to more than 330 million people. In this video, learn about how the population has expanded and changed over time.

The War of 1812, between the United States and Great Britain, ended with the Treaty of Ghent. This historic agreement, negotiated in Belgium over five months, proved that the U.S. could achieve its aims through diplomacy.

Discover the remarkable story of Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery in 1849 and went to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad and a leading exponent of abolition and women’s rights.