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A look at the history of affirmative action with Mary Frances Berry
resident Lyndon B. Johnson reaches to shake hands with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson reaches to shake hands with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after presenting the civil rights leader with one of the 72 pens used to sign the Civil Rights Act in Washington. Surrounding the president, from left: Rep. Roland Libonati, D-Ill., Rep. Peter Rodino, D-N.J., Rev. King, Emanuel Celler, D-N.Y., and behind Celler is Whitney Young, executive director of the National Urban League.

(Image: AP Photo)

  • Q&A

    • A look at the history of affirmative action with Mary Frances Berry

    The Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and professor of history emerita shares the origins of the term, discusses the practice’s early champions and highlights the ensuing controversies.

    Kristen de Groot

    The struggle for equality in antebellum America
    Robert Purvis, center, surrounded by others in a historical photo from 1851.

    Robert Purvis (seated, center) with other members of the Board of the Pennsylvania Antislavery Society in 1851.

    (Image: Courtesy of Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College)

    The struggle for equality in antebellum America

    A new article tells the story of Robert Purvis, a Black Philadelphian and abolitionist whose quest to secure a passport reflects the lives of other free Black people in the decades leading up to the American Civil War.

    From the Annenberg Public Policy Center

    Sophia Rosenfeld and Peter Struck discuss 2,800 years of ideas through history
    Sophia Rosenfeld and Peter Struck.

    Sophia Rosenfeld, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History, and Peter Struck, professor of classical studies. (Images: Winky Lewis; Lisa J. Godfrey)

  • Q&A

    • Sophia Rosenfeld and Peter Struck discuss 2,800 years of ideas through history

    The Penn Arts & Sciences professors discuss editing their new book series, “A Cultural History of Ideas.”

    From Omnia