History | Penn Today

Controversial PragerU videos are catching on in a handful of states

Jonathan Zimmerman of the Graduate School of Education says that PragerU videos are highly inaccurate and shouldn’t be incorporated into schools’ curricula or embraced by school districts.

Left: Book cover for “The Remnants or Race Science,”; right, Sebastián Gil-Riaño.

How the modern story of postwar anti-racism ignored the Global South

In his new book, science historian Sebastián Gil-Riaño explores the lives of scientists who shaped one of the first international efforts to combat racism—and then got left out of the story.

Penn’s ‘long tradition’ as a center for the study of African American history

New hires like Marcia Chatelain and Vaughn Booker in Africana Studies and William Sturkey in the History Department are bolstering Penn’s position as one of the best places for the field of African American history.

Sara Byala portrait and book cover for Bottled How Coca-Cola Became African by Sara Byala

Q&A

Coca-Cola in Africa

A new book by Sara Byala of the School of Arts & Sciences examines the century-long history of Coca-Cola and its local social, commercial, and environmental impact in Africa.

Two men and three women sit at desks with typwriters, rotary dial phones and desk calendars in an office in the 1950s.

Q&A

A look at former Penn economics professor Claudia Goldin’s Nobel-winning work

Penn economists Jere Behrman, who overlapped with Goldin during her time at Penn, and Petra Todd, whose students have been motivated by Goldin’s work, talk about the importance of her research.

The young Ben Franklin statue on Penn’s campus.

An inauspicious arrival for the ambitious Benjamin Franklin

Penn’s founder arrived in Philadelphia on Oct. 6 300 years ago as a nearly penniless 17-year-old looking for a job as a printer.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu speaks at Penn's Perry World House.

‘A New Age of Nuclearity? Great Powers and Greater Consequences’

Perry World House’s 2023 Global Order Colloquium took a deep dive into current nuclear issues, looking at how the world will manage nuclear threats amid growing geopolitical tension, climate change challenges, and international conflict.

A person is shown holding a photo of Mahsa Amini, a woman who was killed in police custody in Iran in 2022.

Q&A

Marking a monumental death

In honor of the first anniversary of the killing of Mahsa (Jîna) Amini in Iran and the subsequent outpouring of protest, Penn will host a two-day conference on violence against women.

Nazi Germany had admirers among American religious leaders—and white supremacy fueled their support

Melissa J. Wilde of the School of Arts & Sciences co-writes about what Americans thought about Hitler and the Nazi Party before the U.S. entered World War II and on what lessons those findings might hold for the U.S. today.

Catherine Sorrentino in front of College Hall

Who, What, Why: Catherine Sorrentino and a souvenir of historic Germantown

During a summer internship, history major Catherine Sorrentino encountered a 108-year-old book with insights into Black Philadelphia.

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