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Lessons from Hiroshima, 75 years later
Mushroom cloud rises over Hiroshima after the American atomic bombing in 1945

Aerial image of Hiroshima after the American atomic bombing of the city on Aug. 6, 1945.

Lessons from Hiroshima, 75 years later

Penn Today asks scholars and experts to share their thoughts on the 75th anniversary of America’s atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Kristen de Groot

Gouverneur Morris: A Founder, disabled American
Oil painting depicts two men in 18th century dress and powdered wigs at a desk, one sitting down, the other standing.

This 1783 oil painting by Charles Willson Peale depicts Gouverneur Morris (left) and fellow Founding Father Robert Morris. (Image: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Bequest of Richard Ashhurst.)

Gouverneur Morris: A Founder, disabled American

Best known for writing the “We the People” preamble to the Constitution, Gouverneur Morris also lived with painful disabilities. History doctoral candidate Jennifer Reiss looks at him through this underexplored lens.

Kristen de Groot

What happens to a dream deferred? 60-Second Lectures on racial injustice
Screenshot of four people in a grid form, top left is Mary Frances Berry, top right is Margo Natalie Crawford, bottom left is Guthrie Ramsey, bottom right is Dagmawi Woubshet

Clockwise from top left: Mary Frances Berry; Margo Natalie Crawford; Guthrie Ramsey; and Dagmawi Woubshet. (Image: Penn Arts & Sciences)

What happens to a dream deferred? 60-Second Lectures on racial injustice

In an effort to amplify the messages of the recent protests against racist violence, Penn Arts & Sciences created a special series: What Happens to a Dream Deferred? 60-Second Lectures on Racial Injustice.

From Omnia

Brazil’s coronavirus crisis
People wearing face masks chat on the street in Olinda, Brazil

From Operação contra novo Coronavírus, Olinda, Brazil, May 20, 2020. (Image: Alice Mafra)

  • Q&A

    • Brazil’s coronavirus crisis

    Brazil has become one of the world’s deadliest hotspots for the novel coronavirus, second only to the United States in deaths and infections. Melissa Teixeira, a historian of modern Brazil, shares her thoughts on the nation’s response and challenges it faces in battling the virus.

    Kristen de Groot

    Newly digitized Marian Anderson collection now accessible online
    Portrait of Marian Anderson in 1920 with her chin resting on top of her hand.

    Marian Anderson ca. 1920. (Image: Penn Libraries collection)

    Newly digitized Marian Anderson collection now accessible online

    Penn Libraries has completed digitization of more than 2,500 items from its Marian Anderson collection, now available for public view on a new website.

    From Penn Libraries

    Cholera vs. flu: Philadelphia’s historical epidemic successes and failures
    Map from 1830s depicting the eastern United States, showing cholera cases with red highlights

    The map depicts the spread of cholera in Pennsylvania and other eastern states in 1832. (Image: Courtesy of the New York Academy of Medicine)

  • Q&A

    • Cholera vs. flu: Philadelphia’s historical epidemic successes and failures

    Philadelphia’s response to the 1918 influenza might be the poster child of how not to handle an epidemic. Timothy Kent Holliday makes the case that the city was well equipped for outbreaks decades and even centuries earlier.

    Kristen de Groot

    Children’s literature as ‘seed work’
    Ebony standing along Locust Walk Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, associate professor of literacy, culture, and international education in the Graduate School of Education.

    Children’s literature as ‘seed work’

    Penn GSE’s Ebony Elizabeth Thomas discusses the importance of more diverse books for kids and the challenges that continue to stifle early anti-racist learning. She also shares a curated list of recommended books for youth catered to this particular moment.

    Lauren Hertzler

    What the 1968 Kerner Commission can teach us
    Historic image of police storming a storefront in 1967 during a riot in Detroit.

    President Lyndon Johnson established the Kerner Commission to identify the genesis of the violence in the 1960s that killed 43 in Detroit and 26 in Newark. Pictured here, soldiers in a Newark storefront. (Image: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture)

  • Q&A

    • What the 1968 Kerner Commission can teach us

    Criminologist and statistician Richard Berk, who worked on the report as a graduate student, explains the systemic racism and poverty found to underlie violent unrest in the 1960s and where COVID-19 and the economy fit today.

    Michele W. Berger