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The Property of the Nation: George Washington's Tomb, Mount Vernon, and the Memory of the First President
On December 10, 2019, Matthew Costello delivered the Banner Lecture, “The Property of the Nation: George Washington’s Tomb, Mount Vernon, and the...
The Rarefied Life of George Washington Parke Custis
George Washington Parke Custis was raised at Mount Vernon by George and Martha Washington. Young “Wash” appears in Edward Savage's 1789 painting of...
The Record of Murders and Outrages: Racial Violence and the Fight over Truth during Reconstruction
On February 10, 2022, historian William Blair delivered a lecture about the early Reconstruction era effort by Freedmen’s Bureau officers to document...
The Roads from War to Reconstruction and Beyond
On June 22, Edward L. Ayers spoke with Paul Levengood in a Banner Lecture entitled “The Roads from War to Reconstruction and Beyond.”
Reconstruction...
The Significance and Symbolism of the Judicial Robe
Why do American judges wear black robes? And what does it mean in our modern court system? Hear what Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Clarence...
The Story of Virginia: The Arrival of the First Africans
In this lecture, historian and author Ric Murphy tells the fascinating story of the arrival of the first Africans in Virginia in 1619.
Based on his...
Thomas Jefferson, Revered and Reviled
On December 1, Robert M. S. McDonald delivered a Banner Lecture entitled “Thomas Jefferson, Revered and Reviled.”
Of all the founding fathers, Thomas...
Today’s Agents of Change with the Virginia Museum of History & Culture
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment in the United States granting women the right to vote, the Commonwealth of...
Untold Power: The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson
On March 7, 2024, biographer Rebecca Boggs Roberts provided an unflinching look at First Lady Edith Bolling Galt Wilson.
While this nation has yet to...
Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washington By Robert J. Norrell
In his compelling new biography, the first full-length life of Booker T. Washington in a generation, Robert J. Norrell recreates the broad context in...
Virginia and Women's Suffrage
Virginia Waterways and the Underground Railroad
Enslaved Virginians sought freedom from the time they were first brought to the Jamestown colony in 1619. Acts of self-emancipation were aided by...
Virginia's Confederate Monuments
Hundreds of memorials in stone commemorate the Civil War in Virginia at courthouses, cemeteries, town squares, and battlefields. With An Illustrated...
VIRTUAL LECTURE - Escape to the City: Fugitive Slaves in Antebellum Richmond
On September 21, 2023, Viola Franziska Müller gave a virtual-only lecture about her book, Escape to the City: Fugitive Slaves in the Antebellum Urban...
War and Pieces: Quilts through America's War Years
On Thursday, August 22, Neva Hart delivered a banner lecture entitled "War and Pieces: Quilts through America's War Years."
For soldiers in the field...
Washington at the Plow: The Founding Farmer and the Question of Slavery
On December 9, 2021, historian Bruce A. Ragsdale presented a lecture about his book, Washington at the Plow: The Founding Farmer and the Question of...
What Caused the Civil War
This video looks at the question "What Caused the Civil War." The video specifically looks at differences between the North and South and the outbreak...
What Made George Washington Tick
George Washington very much wanted to be famous. Yet, he did not wish to be known, and there is a remoteness about him that will perhaps always remain...
When the Sun Stood Still: Reflections on the Reverend John Jasper in His Bicentennial Year
On February 23, 2012, Samuel K. Roberts delivered a lecture entitled "When the Sun Stood Still: Reflections on the Reverend John Jasper in His...
Who Looks at Lee Must Think of Washington By Robert Tilton
In his 1866 poem, “Lee in the Capitol,” Herman Melville portrays a dignified Robert E. Lee advocating reconciliation before the Congressional...