Thursday, March 31, 2011

Second Amendment: Duel Over Gun Control in America

Today begins the first of five sessions on the Second Amendment. It promises to be a thought-provoking examination of different viewpoints.

Here are some of the clips we considered:

Fred Friendly's 1984 video series: Constitution, That Delicate Balance
School Prayer, Gun Control and the Right to Assemble Arthur Miller leads a roundtable discussion simulation - begin 34:10 - 41:38)

Second Amendment Timeline by Annenberg (open PDF)

Second Amendment in the News: Sharron Angle (end at 5:09)

Hannity on Violent Rhetoric

CSPAN Classroom - Lott on Gun Bans

Supreme Court oral argument in District of Columbia vs. Heller

Judge Laurence Silberman on his ruling in favor of right to keep and bear arms (influenced Heller case)

Stephen Breyer on the Framers and the Second Amendment (to 5:21)

ACLU on 2nd Amendment post-Heller

Commentator on DC vs. Heller (SC 2008 4:01)

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Race and Religion in Revolutionary America: More on Williamsburg's African American Programs

James Ingram portrays Gowan Pamphlet

One of you had raised a question about Gowan Pamphlet, the freed slave who became a Baptist minister in Virginia. You wondered if he himself had owned slaves, since he was a landowner. I contacted our speaker, Harvey Bakari, who said there is no evidence that Gowan owned any slaves. You can learn more about Gowan by clicking here.

There's a great article about visitors' reactions to the African American experience programs in Williamsburg in the Washington Post. You can read it by clicking here.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Race and Religion in Revolutionary America: Williamsburg's African American Programs

James Hogan, as a 1775 parson

I'm excited that we'll be joined by two different reenactors in our final class!

I've already shared some information about James Hogan, who portrays a 1775 parson at the Minuteman National Park in Concord, Massachusetts.

Here's a look at the people involved in the African American program at Williamsburg. Harvey Bakari will definitely be joining us. He may be joined by some other interpreters as well.

Click here to go to the video:

http://www.history.org/media/videoplayer/index.cfm?cat=african%20americans&file=AA30_April_800K_ws

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Race and Religion in Revolutionary America: Whitewashing The Patriot

Whilst researching popular culture films dealing with the issue of slavery during the Revolutionary War, I considered showing a clip from the film The Patriot.

What I learned surprised me even though I know that Hollywood takes a great deal of dramatic license.

Check out this article for details:

Spike Lee Slams Patriot

Here's another:

The Patriot: More Flag-Waving Rot with Mel Gibson

What do you think about this? Comment below!