First Encounters in the Americas
Consider what interactions between the first Spanish explorers and Indigenous Peoples demonstrate about encountering the unfamiliar.
Imperialism, Conquest, and Mass Murder
Learn about Germany’s atrocities against the Herero, the Nama, and other Indigenous groups in South-West Africa during Europe's colonization of Africa in the late 1800s.
Inventing Black and White
Learn how Bacon’s Rebellion became a turning point for the way the laws of colonial Virginia distinguished people of different races.
Religion, Loyalty, and Belonging
Read statements by George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte about religious freedom and the membership of Jews in eighteenth-century France and the United States.
The Science of Race
Read about the seventeenth- and eighteenth- century scientists who tried to prove that humankind is divided into separate and unequal races.
Understanding Strangers
Journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski traces back to the earliest family-tribes and discusses how human beings either cooperate or divide with “the other."
Understanding Strangers (en español)
Journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski traces back to the earliest family-tribes and discusses how human beings either cooperate or divide with “the other." This resource is in Spanish.
Universe of Obligation
Reflect on how individuals, communities, and nations decide who has rights that are worthy of respect and protection with this introduction to the concept of the "universe of obligation."
Universe of Obligation (UK)
Reflect on how individuals, communities, and nations decide who has rights that are worthy of respect and protection with this introduction to the concept of the "universe of obligation".
Universe of Obligation (en español)
Reflect on how individuals, communities, and nations decide who has rights that are worthy of respect and protection with this introduction to the concept of the "universe of obligation". This resource is in Spanish.
We and They in Colonial America
Learn how race and racism evolved within North America’s first European settlements with the stories of two African Americans who secured freedom in colonial Virginia.