News from

History

Reset All Filters
524 Results
Past confronts present at ‘History Speaking’ lecture series
Books about U.S. history are stacked on top of one another

In this age of social change and global challenge, history can offer fresh perspectives and important distinctions on current events.

Past confronts present at ‘History Speaking’ lecture series

Penn historians will present a series of lively discussions of historical issues that seek to better orient attendees in the current moment.

Kristen de Groot

Colin Powell’s legacy
Colin Powell, wearing full military garb and standing at a brown wooden podium with a microphone, gestures to his right, sweeping his arm that direction

Colin Powell, seen here making a speech during his time as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, died this week at the age of 84. (Image: Robert D. Ward)

  • Q&A

    • Colin Powell’s legacy

    Historian Mary Frances Berry and Perry World House Visiting Fellow Alice Hunt Friend share thoughts on Powell’s impact on and off the battlefield.

    Kristen de Groot

    A generation shaped by a pandemic
    notecards from generation pandemic

    Homepage image: Strickberger and Jinich asked each person they interviewed to write in their notebook the answer to the question: “After the pandemic I want to…”

    A generation shaped by a pandemic

    Two Penn seniors travel the country to interview young adults about their experiences during the past year to create an oral history archive with stories, images, and video.
    A watershed created to power New York City
    The village of Gilboa in 1919.

    The village of Gilboa in 1919. (Image: NYC Municipal Archives Digital Collections)

    A watershed created to power New York City

    Anna Lehr Mueser, a doctoral candidate in history and sociology of science, studies memory, loss, and technology in the New York City Watershed and the villages that were destroyed to construct it.

    From Omnia

    Honoring William Still on his 200th birthday
    Portrait of William Still.

    Honoring William Still on his 200th birthday

    A conference, a website, and more are planned on campus and around the city to celebrate the abolitionist who helped nearly 1,000 enslaved people to freedom.

    Kristen de Groot

    Protecting and celebrating civil rights heritage and Black histories
    armstrong house

    The two-acre site of the Armstrong School, which has been out of use since the mid-1950’s, includes a church, burial ground, and school house. Researchers at Penn’s Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites and Tuskegee University are collaborating on stabilizing the structure and developing an interpretation plan for the historic site. (Image: Kwesi Daniels)

    Protecting and celebrating civil rights heritage and Black histories

    Launched last fall, Penn’s Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights sites is fostering new and ongoing partnerships while preserving the legacy of civil rights in the U.S.

    Erica K. Brockmeier

    The Divine Comedy’s ‘universal message’
    Woman pages through book. Many other books lie propped open on the table in front of her

    Romance languages professor Eva Del Soldato pages through a volume illustrated by 19th-century French artist Gustave Doré, whose vivid illustrations popularized Dante for a new generation.

    The Divine Comedy’s ‘universal message’

    Seven centuries years after Dante Alighieri's death on Sept. 14, 1321, his “Divine Comedy,” a poem in which an autobiographical protagonist journeys through hell, purgatory, and paradise, is still widely influential.

    Kristina García

    Penn commemorates 20th anniversary of 9/11
    People hold white flowers up during moment of silence

    Penn commemorates 20th anniversary of 9/11

    On Friday, the University community gathered at the Love Statue on campus to remember the precious lives of those lost on that tragic day in 2001.

    Lauren Hertzler