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Emerging as a 19th century entertainment genre grounded in racial caricature, blackface minstrelsy continues to linger in modern popular culture. Because of this, classroom discussions about minstrelsy may elicit uncomfortable, awkward, or silent refusals in reaction. Students may struggle with discussing historical blackface minstrelsy that often brings up racial issues and stereotypes in the present.… MORE
The story of bicycling in the United States begins in the years just after the Civil War. In the mid-1860s, French mechanics working in blacksmith and carriage shops helped develop machines known as “velocipedes” (from the Latin words velox pedis, or “swift of foot”). Early champions hailed the new technology largely for its utility. Calling… MORE
Thomas W. Laqueur, winner of the Mellon Foundation’s 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award, is the Helen Fawcett Professor of History at U.C. Berkeley. Professor Laqueur earned his Ph.D. in 1973 from Princeton University. His first book, Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud, advanced the two-sex model in sexual history. His most recent… MORE
Modern or Western Civilization is a historical field that is always at odds with itself: What is modern? Where do you start? What is the “Western” civilization and is it superior to the “Eastern”? Who are we including and why? Who are we disregarding and why? How are the events studied linked together? Do they… MORE