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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 Spring of 1864: A Season of Hope in the United States and the Confederacy
On May 7, Gary W. Gallagher delivered a special evening Banner Lecture entitled "The Spring of 1864: A Season of Hope in the United States and the...
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...
The Virginia Venture: American Colonization and English Society, 1580-1660
On June 22, 2023, Misha Ewen presented a fascinating virtual discussion of her new book, The Virginia Venture: American Colonization and English...
To Bind Up the Nation’s Wounds: An Overview of the Thirteenth Amendment
On April 14, 2012, Lauranett Lee, former curator of African American history at the VHS, delivered a lecture entitled "To Bind Up the Nation’s Wounds...
Tracking Down a Confederate Deserter after Gettysburg
On February 21, 2019, Peter S. Carmichael delivered the Banner Lecture, “Tracking Down a Confederate Deserter after Gettysburg.”
On August 20, 1863...
Unionists in Virginia: Politics, Secession, and Their Plan to Prevent Civil War
On October 29 at noon, Larry Denton will delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Unionists in Virginia: Politics, Secession, and Their Plan to Prevent...
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...
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...
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...
“War is horrid, in fact”: Virginians in the West Indies Expedition, 1740–42
On May 5, 2023, Craig S. Chapman spoke about the first overseas deployment of American troops, in which 4,000 colonists (including 400 from Virginia)...
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...
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...
Why Did the Civil War Happen?
William Cabell Rives: A Country to Serve
On September 3 at noon, Barclay Rives delivered a Banner Lecture entitled “William Cabell Rives: A Country to Serve.”
Defying the president and...