History | Penn Today

What the return of the ‘morality police’ means for Iran’s women

Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet in the School of Arts & Sciences discusses the implications of the morality police’s return to the streets in Iran.

Illustration of several people with varying fullness of body sketching.

Seeing disability differently

Scholars are trying to understand—and change—how the world works for people with disabilities.

robeson docent gives a tour to a student, holding a music record

A new generation reinterprets Paul Robeson, singer, actor, advocate, and all-American icon

In collaboration with The Netter Center for Community Partnerships, ninth-grade students from Paul Robeson High School trained to become youth docents at the Paul Robeson House and Museum through a program funded by The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation.

Maryland’s role on the road to national independence

The late Richard R. Beeman of the School of Arts & Sciences ranked Maryland’s statement of independence as among the most emphatic and sincere of the statements made by the original colonies.

Man with red curly hair and glasses looks into the camera, which is giving a half-moon glow on the lower right side of the image.

Who, What, Why

Who, What, Why: Patrick Carland-Echavarria and queer Americans in post-war Japan

Ph.D. candidate Patrick Carland-Echavarria’s research looks at postwar Japanese queer cultures, translation, art, and literature and at how American gay men found refuge there during the Cold War and beyond.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company sits inside a military vehicle posing for a selfie photo with a local civilian on a street in Rostov-on-Don, Russia

Kimberly St. Julian Varnon on the short-lived insurrection in Russia

The history Ph.D. candidate discusses the shocking weekend revolt and march on Moscow by Wagner Group militia members.

History Ph.D. candidate Arielle Alterwaite leans up against a light brown brick building with her arms crossed, smiling at the camera.

Who, What, Why

Who, What, Why: History Ph.D. candidate Arielle Alterwaite looks at Haitian debt

Her work on Haiti’s sovereign debt in the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution holds lessons for what is currently happening there and more broadly for conversations around reparations.

VanJessica Gladney speaking at a podium.

A historian’s take on Juneteenth

In a Q&A, fifth-year Ph.D. candidate VanJessica Gladney talks about what the day means and what broader conversation she hopes it will foster.

Annenberg Classroom, part of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, has released a documentary “Juneteenth: Exploring Freedom’s Stories” that surveys the history of the holiday.

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Mary Frances Berry and Kermit Roosevelt on Juneteenth’s history

A new documentary produced by the Annenberg Public Policy Center explores the history of the holiday and illustrates how and why freedom and citizenship were intertwined. The film features Berry and Roosevelt, among others.

Left side of image shows a book cover reading "Undoing Slavery" and the right side of the image shows the author, Kathleen Brown.

Q&A

‘Undoing Slavery: Bodies, Race and Rights in the Age of Abolition’

Historian Kathleen M. Brown’s new book reexamines the antislavery struggle and is the focus of the first episode of a new podcast series from the McNeil Center for Early American Studies.

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