Videos and Recorded Programs

Ashley Brown, winner of the 2025 Shapiro Book Prize, discusses her biography of Althea Gibson, the first African American tennis player to win titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals.

Serena Zabin, professor at Carleton College, discusses the life of Mary Fish, who composed an essay called “A Portrait of a Good Husband,” which described her marriages, her widowhoods, and the epic crises of the 18th century.

Nayan Shah, professor of American studies & ethnicity and history at USC, gives a talk on how Asian artists found different ways to create that attuned their sensitivity to the natural world’s rhythms.

Explore the relationships between medicine and culinary traditions in China past and present, with Vivienne Lo, professor emeritus at University College London.

The Huntington, which holds Octavia E. Butler’s archive, hosted a special conversation on March 26, 2025, about Butler’s novels “Parable of the Sower” and “Parable of the Talents,” which focus on themes of resilience, community, and social change. Moderator Monique Thomas and panelists Nikki High, Tamisha A. Tyler, and John Williams explored Butler’s call to community building, her influence on writers and activists, and how her fiction does—and doesn’t—speak to the present moment.

Lorraine Wilcox, professor at Emperor’s College, presents the writings of three female doctors from late imperial China.

Learn how 17th-century portraits illuminate the experiences and identities of London’s growing African population, particularly enslaved children, in this presentation by Research Fellow Susan D. Amussen, distinguished professor of history and the UC Merced Presidential Chair in the Humanities.