Last fall, three esteemed Yale historians teamed up to teach "America at 250: A History," which explored the nature of American identity from 1776 to the present, as part of the 2025 DeVane Lecture course, an annual lecture series that is open to the public at no charge.
In the semester-long course, David Blight, Joanne Freeman, and Beverly Gage, all professors in the Department of History in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, explored a wide range of topics in advance of the nation's 250th birthday, which is being celebrated in 2026.
The three scholars jointly delivered the first and last lectures of the course, as an introduction and a wrap-up. In between, they delivered eight lectures individually based on their own areas of expertise.
In the video above here, recorded before the start of the series, the three historians discussed the themes they would explore, the ways America has continued to reinvent itself since 1776, and why this is a good time to step back and consider the arc of the nation's story.
The full series of lectures is available to view on Yale YouTube for free.
