Americans are frustrated with our political process and are losing faith in elections as a way to peacefully transfer power. This course explains why our elections work the way they do and how engaged citizens might change the election process if we want to.

Learn about Admiral John Towers, the pioneering naval aviator from Rome, GA. Towers commanded the first transatlantic flight in 1919, and is probably best remembered for his attack on Pearl Harbor in the war games in February of 1932. Come learn about this fascinating man and his accomplishments.

In the decades following the Civil War, New York City built more monuments to the Union cause than any other city in the nation outside of Washington, DC. Ranging from simple standing soldiers to grand triumphal arches and temples, these monuments shaped commemorative aesthetics and iconography at the local and national levels. Unlike Confederate monuments, which were mostly initiated by private organizations, New York’s soldiers’ monuments were largely supported through city and state funding. These civic projects attracted the interest of competing groups—artists, politicians, veterans, and the public—who all sought to influence the growing commemorative landscape. Learn about the works and their creation in a fractious political landscape defined as much by municipal maneuvering as by artistic principle.