The 1990s genocide in Rwanda and Burundi turned classmates into adversaries overnight. Learn about how one teen escaped the carnage and made a new life for himself in the United States.
Author Archives: Mikki Gibson
Why Your Family Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island
One of America’s strengths is the way its people have come together from all over the world, many of them through Ellis Island. But the persistent myth that immigrant’s names were “Americanized” by officials at Ellis Island is false.
Can Travel Change You?
Journeys of discovery aren’t just for epic heroes. Anytime we travel someplace new, we change and grow.
Finishing the Dream
Great civil rights advances have been achieved in the United States, but there is still much to be done for the full equality of all. Explore this NBC site to learn about how far we’ve come and how far we have to go.
How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy
Social media can help people connect with others, but it has other, less-positive effects as well. A best-selling psychology author explores this surprising phenomenon.
Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan is credited with the first journey around the world. Learn about how he—and his crew after his death midway through the journey—achieved this incredible feat.
The Man Who Invented Mars
Sometimes, we only see what we want to see. For the influential astronomer Percival Lowell, this meant seeing signs of advanced civilization in Mars’s ancient water channels. In spite of evidence to the contrary, Lowell’s vision of an inhabited neighbor in our solar system inspired years of speculation.
Akira Kurosawa: Throne of Blood
The Tragedy of Macbeth has been produced for the stage and screen innumerable times in the past 400 years. Perhaps the most powerful version so far has been an adaptation by famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Find out how “the Scottish play” translates to an ancient samurai setting.
Film Review: ‘Selma’
The Academy Award-nominated film Selma centers on a key struggle in the American civil rights movement. Read one reviewer’s appraisal of its artistic and narrative achievement.
Chimps Display a Hallmark of Human Behavior: Cooperation
Strong interpersonal connections aren’t only for humans. Learn more about the traits we share with our close genetic cousins, chimpanzees.