Lectures in History

University of North Carolina at Pembroke professor Jamie Martinez taught a class about the Confederacy’s economic policies during the Civil War. She explained how a pre-war focus on cotton exports over food production combined with wartime farm labor disruptions led to food shortages and riots in the South in 1863. This, she said, forced the Confederate government into developing more nationalized policies for food production and resource allocation that ran counter to their constitution’s emphasis on a decentralized government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Longwood University President W. Taylor Reveley IV and Political Science Professor Emeritus William Harbour taught a class about the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, exploring the major events and policies during their tenures in the Oval Office. They also compared the two men’s backgrounds and leadership approaches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Utah State University Professor Maria Angela Diaz taught a class on the Civil War in the West and looked at the conflict in states and territories such as Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and Arizona. She explored how the diverse populations of the region reacted to the war and chose between siding with the Union or the Confederacy. Professor Diaz also focuses on the larger role guerrilla warfare played in the West. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor William Sturkey taught a class about expanding rights in the 1960s and '70s, looking at women’s liberation and the gay rights movement. He covered topics such as birth control, the Equal Rights Amendment and the Stonewall riots. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Madison University professor Andrew Witmer taught a class about the evolution of rural areas after the Civil War. Using his own hometown of Monson, Maine as a case study, he examined rural industry such as slate mining and the rise of country tourism aided by the expansion of railroad networks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Maryland professor Christopher Bonner taught a class about the concept of “power” in antebellum slave societies. He explored the different ways owners and enslaved people exerted or expressed their will and looks at how these dynamics played out in the context of individual plantations. He also discussed how the invention of the cotton gin and resulting expansion of both slavery and the cotton industry impacted the relationship between owners and the enslaved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guilford Technical Community College professor Jeff Kinard taught a class about Civil War weaponry and shared artifacts such as muskets, carbines and revolvers. He described technological advances, such as breech loading and rifled barrels, that allowed soldiers to fire faster and with more accuracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Minnesota Professor Saje Mathieu taught a class about “neutrality” and what that concept meant in World War I America. She explained how neutrality did not mean inactivity, as the U.S. sold materials to both the Allied and Central Powers, helping both sides continue the fight. She also talked about how the U.S. viewed itself as the defender of democracy and sought to police certain nations and ethnic groups, yet faced criticism for how it treated its own dissenters and minorities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grove City College Professor Paul Kengor explored the tense days of October 1962 when the United States and the Soviet Union faced off over missiles in Cuba in one of the “hottest” episodes of the Cold War. He explained how the ideological militancy of Cuban leader Fidel Castro worried leaders in both Moscow and Washington who did not truly desire nuclear conflict despite their tough talk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emory University professor Carol Anderson taught a class about efforts in the early 1960s to register African American voters in Mississippi. She described some of the leaders of the movement, their tactics and the opposition they faced from segregationists. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices