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Indigenous views of Christopher Columbus
A fallen statue of Columbus lays on the ground in the foreground, and two people hold up an End White Supremacy sign in the background.

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Indigenous views of Christopher Columbus

Members of Penn’s Indigenous community discuss their views of Christopher Columbus and how Indigenous people have suffered from Columbus-style colonialism.
Mary Frances Berry, a ‘woman of the century’
portrait of woman with cropped hair and glasses

Mary Frances Berry, Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and a professor of history and Africana studies. (Image: Jim Abbott)

Mary Frances Berry, a ‘woman of the century’

In a profile, the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Professor of History discusses her history as an adviser on education and civil rights, and today’s protest movements.

From Penn IUR

What it’s like to be a teacher in 2020 America
The New York Times

What it’s like to be a teacher in 2020 America

Richard Ingersoll of the Graduate School of Education and School of Arts & Sciences explained how it was decided that women would teach in public schools 150 years ago. “The argument was, ‘Look, women will learn to be better mothers by practicing on other people’s children,’” he said. “Proponents made the case it was a win-win.”

Exploring 'open air' schools, used during tuberculosis outbreak
KYW Newsradio (Philadelphia)

Exploring 'open air' schools, used during tuberculosis outbreak

Cindy Connolly of the School of Nursing spoke about Philadelphia’s open-air schools, which were built to slow the spread of tuberculosis in the early 20th century. The schools even operated in winter. "They would wear what they called little Eskimo suits that looked to me like sleeping bags with hoods," she said.

Looking at the past through the historic present
Person with long brown hair smiles into the camera.

Sophomore Megan Chui interned over the summer at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Looking at the past through the historic present

Sophomore Megan Chui expected her internship at the National Constitution Center to give her insights into how the past plays into the present. The summer of social unrest and the pandemic added a contemporary component to the job.

Kristen de Groot

As China cracks down, Hong Kongers start digitally preserving their city
Vice

As China cracks down, Hong Kongers start digitally preserving their city

Randall Mason of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design commented on efforts to create a digital archive of Hong Kong’s culture. “Preservation is always a reflection of contemporary culture,” he said. “We have to get comfortable with the fact that if we want to communicate the past, it’s a creative process and not just a preservation process. It would be crazy not to use these digital tools.”

Reflections on suffrage: The 19th Amendment at 100
Two women in 1920 standing in fur lined coats and fancy hats, one holds a newspaper called Woman’s Journal and Suffrage News.

Reflections on suffrage: The 19th Amendment at 100

Penn Today reached out to experts from centers and schools across the University to look at suffrage through the lens of history, this election, and the fight yet to come. 

Kristina García, Kristen de Groot

Maps, pandemics, and reckoning with history
Forthcoming

Forthcoming

Maps, pandemics, and reckoning with history

Geospatial data has long been an important tool for scientists and scholars, but now, as society grapples with both coronavirus and a history of systemic racism, can maps help chart a path toward a brighter future?

Erica K. Brockmeier

Many Americans opposed the suffrage movement—even women
KYW Newsradio (Philadelphia)

Many Americans opposed the suffrage movement—even women

Kathy Peiss of the School of Arts & Sciences spoke about women who opposed the suffrage movement. “The anti-suffragists were opposed to the idea of women having the right to vote largely because they saw it as a violation of women’s true gender nature—that they were mothers and wives—and that it might distract them from not only the duties of the home, but also their sense of women’s privileges to be in the home,” she said.