Author of groundbreaking novels like “Esperanza Rising" and "Echo," Pam Muñoz Ryan has made literature more representative by expertly mining her own rich Mexican American heritage.

Dr. Nikhil Goyal, is a sociologist at Wesleyan University and author of the book "Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty." Goyal discusses his research conducted in Kensington, Philadelphia, the poorest neighborhood in...

Witness the inspiring journey of Viola Davis, from challenging beginnings to Oscar triumphs and groundbreaking roles, shaping diversity in cinema.

Permaculture instructor Andrew Millison journeys to India to film the epic work of the Development Research Communication and Services Centre (DRCSC) in the state of West Bengal. We tour multiple villages in the tribal district of...

One of the Cold War’s only violent actions, the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 proved to be a humiliating defeat for the U.S. government.

In the early 1900s, President Theodore Roosevelt's progressive legislation, dubbed the Square Deal, aimed to limit the power of corporations, protect consumers, and conserve natural resources. The Square Deal drastically changed the...

It is the historic New York building that is synonymous with greed, crime and corruption, but what is the true story behind Tammany Hall?

At a time when Jim Crow laws made racial segregation legal across much of the United States, author Richard Wright gave voice to a struggle – as the first African American author to achieve widespread critical and commercial success.

As the Great Depression worsened in the 1930s, thousands of Americans lost their jobs and eventually their homes. Shantytowns dubbed “Hoovervilles” named after unsympathetic President Herbert Hoover, spread across the U.S.

During the Great Depression, the U.S. government detained and deported almost 2 million Mexican American citizens and people of Mexican descent, in an initiative known as the Repatriation Drives.

The youngest inaugural poet in history, Amanda Gorman introduced a new generation to the lyrical power of poetry and became a modern-day icon in the process.

Afong Moy is believed to be the first Chinese woman to step foot on U.S. soil and her presence sparked an American fascination with Chinese culture, but her experience in the United States was far from welcoming.

Tunde Onakoya, National Master and Founder at Chess in Slums Africa, talks about how his organisation uses the game of chess to foster the social and intellectual development of children in Africa and how it can give children an...

Pastor Mick Fleming has devoted all of his time in this lockdown to supporting the poorest communities in Burnley. But his life hasn’t always been this way. He tells us how he swapped a life of crime ​for delivering food parcels​ seven...

Mr. Beat explains why rural voters tend to lean more to the right politically and why urban voters tend to lean more to the left politically.

From struggling to afford a funeral or a wedding to being embarassed to have people to your flat, the hidden costs of poverty are social and emotional as well as financial. A group of women in Leeds is working together to combat that...

Christine's only form of income is a government pension. The British pension is one of the worst in the industrialized world, leaving her struggling to pay the electricity bill most months. In the same town, a few women have developed a...

After noticing an increase in the number of people unable to afford food in their community, a group of women in Leeds began providing free meals for people out of a local church. In this video, one of the women explains some of the...

A group of women use everyday items to tell of the sacrifices and difficult choices they face. Amina is a young woman living in temporary housing after she was illegally evicted from her home by a private landlord. Sarah lost her job...

As a queer Black lawyer, poet and civil rights activist, Pauli Murray understood how our different identities can overlap to create multiple levels of discrimination. Her groundbreaking work in championing equality for all helped change...

Mary McLeod Bethune, an influential educator activist, recognized that going to school could be a form of activism. Her groundbreaking work helped change America for the better.

Elizabeth Hinton is Associate Professor in the Department of History and the Department of African American Studies, with a secondary appointment as Professor of Law at Yale Law School.
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Hinton’s research focuses on the...

It’s easy to forget that the rights and privileges women enjoy today had to be won. It’s been a tough, centuries-long fight against staunch opposition, especially for female writers. Woolf would know! Join us for a detailed analysis of...

Join us for a tour through literary history. In this lesson, Woolf explores the reasons why women have a less robust literary tradition. As the narrator peruses her bookshelves, we meet the heroes of women’s literature… and a few ghosts...