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Encounters at the Heart of the World

Elizabeth Fenn

While most Americans know Native American tribes like the Lakota or Cherokee, the Mandan are less well known. In her Pulitzer Prize-winning book Encounters at the Heart of the World, historian Elizabeth Fenn recounts the story of the Plains Mandan tribe as they rose to a population of 12,000, before being nearly wiped out in a few short years. Fenn turns to untraditional sources from archeology to climatology to tell a history that supposedly couldn’t be written.

27 mins

Growing Up in the Deep South

Chioke I’Anson (Virginia Commonwealth University) and Kelley Libby (UnMonumental)

It’s been a year since the mass shooting of churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina by a gunman whose online manifesto includes photos of himself with emblems of white supremacy. The shooting sparked national conversation about the removal of Confederate battle flags and monuments from public spaces. In a candid conversation, Chioke I’Anson and Kelley Libby share their thoughts on Richmond, Virginia’s Confederate monuments, racism, and growing up in the Deep South.

24 mins
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This program is funded in part by the Pulitzer Prize Centennial Campfires Initiative, which seeks to focus on journalism and the humanities, to imagine their future and to inspire new generations to consider the values represented by Pulitzer Prize-winning work. For their generous support for the Campfires Initiative, we thank the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Pulitzer Prize Board, and Columbia University.

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