香蕉秀

Photographs by Liam Weir '18.

Soon television audiences across the nation will have the chance to sit in on a class at Boston College.

A five-person crew from C-SPAN came to campus to film one of Professor Heather Cox Richardson鈥檚 classes, "Race, Riots, and Rodeos: America from the End of the Civil War to 1900," for its "Lectures in History" series. Richardson, the author of five books, is the first 香蕉秀 professor whose class has been documented by the national public service broadcaster.聽

鈥淎lmost everyone we tape for the '' classroom series is recommended in one way or another, either by a fellow professor, or by a C-SPAN producer who saw the person at another event we covered and thought they were an interesting speaker,鈥� says Russell Logan, C-SPAN鈥檚 producer for American History TV. "In Professor Richardson鈥檚 case, it was both."

Audiences have responded positively to the 鈥淟ectures in History鈥� series, which takes viewers inside college classrooms around the country every week to hear lectures on various American history topics, adds Logan. 鈥淏ecause these are real classes, they look and feel a bit different than many of our other programs, which are often talks or panels taped at public venues.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 always a pleasure to work with the wonderful folks at C-SPAN, and to have the chance to bring the great stories and patterns from American history to a larger audience,鈥� says Richardson, discussing her latest book, To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party.聽

鈥淲e chose that particular lecture because years ago a student told me he had never before heard anything about the relationship between women鈥檚 suffrage, Reconstruction, and citizenship and asked me if I would someday talk about that in a setting where it could be put on the Internet for others. The C-SPAN project made that possible.鈥�

The broadcast of Richardson鈥檚 April 12 class is scheduled to take place on July 2聽on C-SPAN鈥檚 American History TV at聽8 p.m. and midnight, and then throughout that weekend. It also will air at various times on C-SPAN 3.

By Sean Hennessey | News & Public Affairs