Can It Happen Here Again? Yale, Slavery, and Legacies
Published: Fall 2024
Description
This online course offers an in-depth exploration of the United States' history and its democratic institutions through the lens of racial slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. Led by Sterling Professor of History David W. Blight, the course examines Yale University's connections to racial slavery, the first existential crisis of the American experiment, and the enduring legacies of this pivotal era. By analyzing historical memory and its impact on modern society, learners will gain a deeper understanding of how the past continues to influence the present and future of democracy. Adapted from the original Devane Lectures, this streamlined, asynchronous course provides a profound exploration of America's past.
Course Takeaways
- Understand the deep connections between Yale University and the history of racial slavery and abolition.
- Analyze the causes and consequences of the Civil War and Reconstruction and their lasting impact on American society.
- Explore the ongoing challenges to democracy, both within universities and across the nation, and their historical roots.
Meet the Instructors
David W. Blight is the Class of 1954 Professor of American History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition at Yale University. He is the author of numerous books, including A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (for which he received the Bancroft, Abraham Lincoln, and Frederick Douglass prizes), and Beyond the Battlefield: Race, Memory, and the American Civil War. He is also the co-author of the bestselling American history textbook, A People and a Nation.
Full Biography
