This year marks the 250th birthday of Jane Austen, one of the most famous and best-loved English authors. The six novels she completed give us a window into her era and life, with the realities of poverty, illness, war, and death rumbling through. Historian and author Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger leads a journey into Jane Austen’s world through the lens of her works and examines their ongoing relevance in the modern world.

The feats and names of baseball’s Negro Leagues stars are legendary: Satchel Paige, James “Cool Papa” Bell, Josh Gibson, and more. The story of the league and its players is more than a history of sports: It’s a story about American society. Historian Louis Moore explores how baseball became Black America’s game; the rise and fall of the Negro Leagues; and what inclusion of their stats into those of today’s Major League Baseball means for the past and present players.

Although writer James Baldwin and his queer contemporaries had to keep their sexuality at least partly hidden during the 1950s and ’60s, they could fight openly for civil rights. An exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance captures the spirit and times of the activists who created a historic and enduring force for equality. Rhea Combs, co-curator and the gallery’s director of curatorial affairs, provides an overview. 

Artificial intelligence is transforming the world of art authentication. Art historian Noah Charney and Carina Popovici, co-founder of Art Recognition, an AI-driven art verification company, reveal how AI analyzes brushstrokes, patterns, and pigments with precision beyond human capability, offering groundbreaking solutions to combat art forgery and identify authorship. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

During India’s colonial period (1757–1947), the British imperial system sought out Indian resources for exploitation and had a dramatic impact on the traditional arts and crafts of the subcontinent. Art historian Robert DeCaroli traces the rising influence of European powers in South Asia. Topics include the late art of the Mughal Empire, Company painting, Orientalism, photography, traditional crafts for domestic and foreign markets, Indo-Saracenic architecture, and colonial museums. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)

Pablo Picasso reinvented himself every few years with groundbreaking creative developments that would change the course of art. In a 4-part series, art historian Joseph P. Cassar looks at Picasso’s early years, his Blue and the Rose periods, his masterpiece Guernica, and his lifetime of artistic experimentation and innovation marked by playfulness and genius. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)

As soon as television began in the late 1940s, advertising was a vital part of the picture. Media historian Brian Rose examines how advertising evolved during television’s first two decades and the important role it played in convincing viewers that the key to happiness was to buy their way into the American dream.

At its peak, the Roman empire extended from Britain to the Sahara Desert, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Euphrates River. Yet in 476, the last western Roman emperor was deposed. In a 4-part series, historian David Gwynn analyzes the dramatic events which shaped the decline and fall of the Roman empire in the west, exploring the transformation from the ancient to the medieval world that laid the foundations for modern Europe. This session focuses on the fourth-century Roman empire.