By Definition: The Virginia Racial Integrity Act of 1924
Passed at the height of the Eugenics Movement, the Racial Integrity Act proclaimed the existence of only two racial categories in Virginia—”colored” and white. The law stripped Native Americans and …
The Fall Guy: Great Frame-Ups in History
John Wilkes Booth will forever be known as the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, but does history remember Samuel Mudd, the physician who set Booth’s leg and was tried as a …
The Monroe Papers: The National Legacy of a President
James Monroe is one of the most understudied, underrated presidents in American history. Today there is a Virginia consortium dedicated to remedying that condition. “The Papers of James Monroe” is …
Destiny Revealed: Stonewall Jackson’s War Years
An awkward teacher and quirky citizen, Stonewall Jackson left the quiet college town of Lexington, Va., to join Virginia’s Army of the Potomac. Within months, Jackson established himself as an …
Unlikely Hero: Stonewall Jackson’s Early Years
Orphaned at an early age, Stonewall Jackson spent his youth struggling for identity and striving for acceptance from family, friends, and teachers. Celebrated Virginia Tech historian James “Bud” Robertson, author of Stonewall …
Let’s Get Fiscal: Year-End Tax Tips
Before the W-2s and the shoe boxes full of receipts start appearing, two accounting professors, Richard Newmark from Old Dominion University and James Smith from William & Mary, join us to discuss strategies to …
High Anxiety: Understanding Social Disorders
Part I: Education professor Valerie Morprew of Longwood College shares new approaches for treating Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Find the segment audio here. Part II: Mark McCormick, a Virginia Commonwealth University psychiatrist and director of the …
School for Scandal? Literary Censorship in K-12 Curriculum
Each year, venerated literature, from Huckleberry Finn to Catcher in the Rye, is banned from school libraries around the country by parents and religious groups who find the content of these classics unfit …
Good Morning, Vietnam: 25 Years After the Fall of Saigon
Vietnam is emerging as the economic frontier of the 1990s, and nations around the globe are lining up to take advantage of its needs and resources. Even the U.S. can’t …
Take This Job and Love It: Labor Unions in the 90s
The economic recession of the early 90s, downsizing, plant closings, NAFTA, and the move toward overseas manufacturing have left America’s once all-powerful labor unions reeling from loss of membership and, …
Conquering Depression: The New Deal’s W.P.A. Program in Virginia
The Great Depression left thousands of Virginians out of work, from unskilled laborers to accomplished artists. The Works Progress Administration, a branch of FDR’s New Deal, sought to change that. …
Bounty Hunters: Efforts to Improve Virginia Agricultural Production
Part I: William & Mary marine scientist Gene Burreson explains the plight of the Chesapeake oyster and efforts to improve the industry. Find the segment audio here. Part II: Virginia State University animal scientist Terry …
And Then There Were None: Endangered Species in Virginia
Part I: Virginia Tech wildlife scientist James Fraser discusses the threat that Chesapeake Bay shoreline development poses to bald eagles and current efforts to save our national bird from extinction. Find the segment …
Beyond Redemption? The Debate over Prisoner Rehabilitation
For the better part of a century Americans believed education and training would help criminal offenders turn their lives around. Today, however, Virginians have abolished parole, and the state spends …
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Voices of Vietnam
The Vietnam War pulled America apart, dividing our country into factions. And yet, memories of the Vietnam War unite us. In a new eight-part special series, With Good Reason explores the unresolved tensions in our understanding of the war and the perspectives and people it forever changed.