American History (Audio)

From the moment Myrlie Evers-Williams faced the murder of her husband, civil rights activist Medgar Evers, she became a pivotal figure in the civil rights movement. For more than five decades, she has fought to carry on his legacy, never relenting in her determination to change the face of race relations in this country. She reflects here on the impact of the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and calls on today’s Americans to continue her quest to quash racism and bring equality for all. This heartfelt talk was presented by Thurgood Marshall College, the Helen Edison Lecture Series and the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at UC San Diego. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 29259]

Former California Supreme Court Justice and UC Davis School of Law Professor Emeritus Cruz Reynoso recalls his days working alongside Cesar Chavez in the Community Service Organization and speaks to the influence of Latinos today on immigration, voting rights, police conduct and other contentious public issues. Justice Reynoso is presented by the Helen Edison Lecture Series at UC San Diego. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 29210]

Former UCSB professor Gerald Horne, the award-winning author of more than thirty books, discusses his book “The Counter-Revolution of 1776” which argues that for the country's forefathers, "freedom" meant the right to keep others enslaved—and that the consequences of this definition continue into the present in the form of a racialized conservatism and a persistent racism targeting the descendants of the enslaved. Series: "Voices" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 28602]

A distinguished panel of community leaders and activists share anecdotes and answer questions about Chicana/o involvement in the Vietnam-era protest movement, including the 1970 National Chicano Moratorium. [Humanities] [Show ID: 29127]

Eminent California historian Kevin Starr traces the emergence of San Diego’s role in the distinctly Southern California aesthetic of “Mediterranean-ism,” as seen in the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 28611]

The founding fathers were political theorists of the highest order, and founded the modern era of constitutional design. But how have their propositions fared over the course of the subsequent two centuries, in which over 900 constitutions have been written? Tom Ginsburg, Professor of International Law, and Deputy Dean, University of Chicago Law School, summarizes empirical work on constitutions relevant to the founders’ conjectures about design. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 28835]

Rabbi Laura Geller looks at the role Jewish women played in some of the struggles that have shaped our country. She also explore the different ways men and women have been agents of social change both in the Jewish community and the larger world. Rabbi Laura Geller is a Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, California. She was among the first women to be selected to lead a major metropolitan synagogue. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 28480]

A love of learning and teaching about pirates inspired UC San Diego’s Mark Hanna to tap the world-renowned Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages, housed in Special Collections & Archives at the UC San Diego Library, to bring history to life in his mobile classroom. Hanna’s students discover the authentic Golden Age of Piracy by reading the Hill Collection log books and other original documents, touring the Real Pirates! exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum, and sailing on the Californian at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Here Be Pirates: The First Citizen Scientists is presented by the UC San Diego Library Channel. Series: "Library Channel" [Humanities] [Show ID: 28213]

University of Virginia’s Charles McCurdy explores how the Founding Fathers dealt with the unanticipated emergence of hotly contested, increasingly political interpretations of the Constitution during the first decade of the Early Republic and also how they responded to fact that constitutional change had occurred through interpretation rather than through constitutional amendment. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 28227]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Charles McCurdy, Professor of History and Law, University of Virginia, for a discussion of the interactions of law and politics in the United States. Case studies discussed include: Justice Stephen Field; The Anti- Rent Era in New York Law (1830-1865); Herbert Wechsler’s article on “The Political Safeguards of Federalism;” and the Sedition Acts of the 1790’s. Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 28136]