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American Experience
One Slave Makes a Difference
George Latimer arrived in Boston in the fall of 1842, only to be thrown in jail at the request of a Virginia planter. Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison rallied other local abolitionists to call for Latimer's freedom. It worked, and within months Massachusetts passed the Personal Liberty Act, which would soon have nationwide ramifications.
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When US inner cities erupted in violence in 1967, LBJ created a commission to investigate.
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Revisit 1970s Boston, when court-mandated school integration unleashed racial unrest.
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Unsung scientist Mária Telkes dedicated her career to harnessing the power of the sun.