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videos + essays
Over the next two years, Seeing America will grow to include 100 videos, 18 essays, quizzes, discussion questions and lesson plans.
1800 – 1848
Americans looked to define the nation’s identity, independence, and their ideals in the nineteenth century.
Dreaming big
Cole, the great American landscape painter, looks across the vast history of Western architecture
The Peaceable Kingdom as Penn’s parable
In his Peaceable Kingdom series of over 60 images, Hicks depicts a visionary scene of peace on earth that extends back to include William Penn and the founding of Pennsylvania.
A Muslim among the founding fathers
How a portrait of an African Muslim came to hang side-by-side with the founding fathers in one of America's earliest museums.
Settling the American Eden, The Oxbow
Not content to merely paint the land, Cole elevated the landscape to approach the status of historical painting.
A lost history of African Americans in NYC
The creation of a beloved landmark destroyed a thriving community of African Americans and Irish immigrants.
A nude in Victorian America
Though at first glance this nude seems plucked from classical antiquity, it actually alludes to modern politics.
The White Cloud, Head Chief of the Iowas
This dignified portrait of a Native leader belies the cruel treatment he endured at the time of its painting.
Daily life in 1820 Brooklyn
This snowy image of a bygone Brooklyn is sprinkled with farm animals, townspeople... and casual racism.