What work remains to fully realize the Founding principles? This playlist is a sub-set of primary sources that appear in Plainest Demands of Justice: Documents for Dialogue on the African-American Experience.

How did the Founders understand the principles of liberty and equality? Join us for Constitution Day as BRI Senior Teaching Fellow Tony Williams sits down with Professor Carol Berkin, distinguished historian, author, and expert on the American Revolution and women’s history, to explore the history of these principles during the Founding. How did the American Founding create a government and a civil society based upon the principles of liberty and equality? In what ways did the country fail to achieve the ideals and aspirations of liberty and equality for all Americans?

What were Abraham Lincoln’s views on race and freedom and equality for Black Americans? In this episode of Scholar Talks, Jon White, associate professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University and prize-winning historian and author, joins BRI Senior Teaching Fellow Tony Williams to discuss his two books, "A House Built by Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House" and "To Address You as My Friend: African Americans’ Letters to Abraham Lincoln." Together, they talk about Lincoln’s policies and personal relationships with African Americans during his time in office. How did Lincoln’s views shape his presidency and his relationship with African Americans?

Why is equality a bedrock principle in the United States? Our final Homework Help video of 2021 explores the origins of this principle and how our nation has not always lived up to it throughout our history.