Names and Freedom
Historians Douglas Egerton and Leon Litwack explain the process of freedpeople adopting new surnames.
![A group of African Americans soberly observe Juneteenth in their hats, canes and bonnets in Austin, TX, 1900.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Emancipation_Day_celebration_-_1900-06-19%20%281%29.jpg?h=6ea8326e&itok=2mUmYjCx)
Names and Freedom (en español)
In Spanish, historians Douglas Egerton and Leon Litwack explain the process of freedpeople adopting new surnames.
![A group of African Americans soberly observe Juneteenth in their hats, canes and bonnets in Austin, TX, 1900.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Emancipation_Day_celebration_-_1900-06-19%20%281%29.jpg?h=6ea8326e&itok=2mUmYjCx)
Family Names
Learn how filmmaker Macky Alston learned about the history of his family name and its connection to his family's legacy in the United States.
![Bayeté Ross Smith’s 2010 series "Our Kind of People" examines how clothing, ethnicity, and gender influence our ideas about identity, personality, and character.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/2010_OurKindofPeoplecombined_FH2170284.jpg?h=52649bae&itok=_jsHfuii)
Family Names
In Spanish, learn how filmmaker Macky Alston learned about the history of his family name and its connection to his family's legacy in the United States.
![Bayeté Ross Smith’s 2010 series "Our Kind of People" examines how clothing, ethnicity, and gender influence our ideas about identity, personality, and character.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/2010_OurKindofPeoplecombined_FH2170284.jpg?h=52649bae&itok=_jsHfuii)
Race: The Power of an Illusion (The House We Live In)
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The final episode of the three-part series "Race: The Power of an Illusion" focuses on the ways our institutions and policies advantage some groups at the expense of others.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_68.jpg)
You Worked Long Hours
Essie Favrot gives a firsthand account of working as a domestic worker for a white Southern family.
![Young African American woman holding a baby](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/1870_YoungAfricanAmericanWomanHoldingABaby_FH2169994.png?h=3fd7e032&itok=LhHXUBvi)
Race: The Power of an Illusion (The Story We Tell)
The second episode in the three-part series Race: The Power of an Illusion questions the belief that race has always been with us.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_69.jpg)
Wesley Lowery's Arrest
Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery describes how he was arrested in Ferguson, Missouri, and explains how freedom of the press was threatened during the protests.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_608.jpg)
Why Study Reconstruction?
The Reconstruction era was a pivotal moment in American history. Civil rights were set in motion as Americans grappled to rebuild after the division and trauma of the Civil War, raising essential questions about freedom and democracy.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_457.jpg)
Writing History's Next Chapter
Scholars Timothy McCarthy and George Lipsitz discuss the connection between our responsibilities in the world today and two historical periods: the civil rights movement and the Reconstruction era.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_731.jpg)
Roosevelt Williams Recalls Moving for Work in Alabama and Mississippi
Roosevelt Williams describes different jobs he held and how he moved around the segregated South to find work in the 1930s and 1940s.
![A man ploughing with two horses, possibly near Featherston.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/1915_AManPloughingWithTwoHorses_FH2170780.png?h=2a32defd&itok=SJxEuhw1)