TTC Video - Rights of Man: Great Thinkers and Great Movements [Repost]

Understanding the evolution of human rights—its sacrifices, hopes, visions, leaders, and movements—is important to recognizing how valuable and universal they truly are. The story of the rights of man also reflects the triumphant power of the human spirit to change history, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

Follow this inspirational and profound story in The Rights of Man: Great Thinkers and Great Movements. These 24 lectures tell you the fascinating story of the rights of man, from the visions of history's greatest philosophers, religious leaders, and political thinkers to the awe-inspiring movements that shattered centuries of inequality.

Award-winning Professor Paul Gordon Lauren, one of the world's leading authorities on the history of human rights, guides you in a story that will strengthen your appreciation of your rights—and of the long struggles to obtain them.

Explore the Roots of Your Rights …

Human rights issues play a vital role in the political, moral, and legal landscape.

Throughout The Rights of Man, you encounter the powerful historical movements that established human rights and promoted equality by

establishing a nation's right to self-determination;
abolishing the international slave trade;
ending slavery and racial segregation;
holding leaders accountable for crimes against humanity;
granting voting rights to women and minorities; and
providing protection for workers, children, and wounded soldiers.
Professor Lauren roots this comprehensive look at human rights in the religious, philosophical, and political origins of these movements. You trace the ideas of human rights to the teachings of Jesus and Muhammad; learn how philosophers from Mencius to John Locke contributed influential viewpoints; and witness the power of the American and French revolutions to fight for equal rights for all.

As you investigate the origins of the great human rights movements, you follow several key themes:

The importance of vision: The rights of man were established by people who worked to achieve a just society.
The power of human action: The story of the rights of man is filled with courageous individuals and groups who set out to change the world against seemingly unbeatable odds.
The (sometimes surprising) sources of change: Gradual change through reform, violent social and political upheavals, and even extreme atrocities like the Holocaust provoked dramatic advancements in the rights of man.
… and the Individuals Who Fought for Them

You learn of the great movements for human rights. Each lecture gives you an overview of historical movements like the struggle for women's suffrage, the emancipation of serfs and slaves, the development of the United Nations's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the collapse of colonial empires.

You encounter the great philosophers, religious leaders, politicians, activists, journalists—and the everyday men and women—who fought to make their visions of equality a reality:

Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Quaker women who organized the Seneca Falls Woman's Rights Convention in 1848 to argue for human rights for women. Their work culminated in 1920 with the 19th Amendment, which established the right to vote regardless of gender.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, who fought successfully for their dreams of racial equality. Martin Luther King Jr. moved hundreds of thousands to embrace his goal of ending segregation in the United States. South African activist Nelson Mandela spoke out against his country's policy of apartheid and was elected South Africa's first black president in 1994.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, the Second World War leaders who signed the Atlantic Charter in 1941, which expressed the rights of man as the right to live without fear in a world with economic and social justice and to choose the form of government under which they live
The Rights of Man brings these and other individuals to life through excerpts from their passionate speeches and their powerful proclamations, declarations, and international treaties. Professor Lauren's spirited readings from works such as the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic "I Have a Dream" speech add depth and insight to your understanding of the power of these great historical movements.

A Uniquely Qualified Professor

Professor Lauren has an undeniable passion for the gravity and courage of this remarkable story. He lived and worked in Harlem in the 1960s during the civil rights movement, when he met Martin Luther King Jr. He traveled behind the iron curtain during the cold war, interviewed intellectuals whose political freedoms were suppressed, and sat only feet away from Slobodan Milosevic during the Yugoslavian leader's trial before The Hague's International Criminal Tribunal.

Professor Lauren has spent his career enlightening audiences worldwide, including the general public, professional diplomats, military and intelligence officers, policymakers, and audiences at the United Nations and the Nobel Institute, about the story of the rights of man.

"A great distance in the rights of man has been traveled, and we need to appreciate just how great it has been," notes Professor Lauren.

With this course, you look at the origins and evolution of our human rights, strengthen your understanding of what it means to be a human being with unalienable rights, and become inspired by a profoundly moving story whose latest chapter you're living now.

01 The Rights of Man
02 The Heavy Burden of the Past
03 Religious Belief—Duties and Rights
04 Early Philosophical Contributions
05 Natural Rights and the Enlightenment
06 Rights and Revolutions—America and France
07 Rights of Man at the 18th Century's End
08 Abolishing the International Slave Trade
09 Emancipating Slaves and Serfs
10 Promoting the Rights of Women
11 Advancing the Rights of Workers
12 Protecting the Rights of the Wounded
13 Rights of Man as the 20th Century Begins
14 Peacemaking and Rights—Paris, 1919
15 New Departures for the Rights of Man
16 The Gathering Storm and Attack on Rights
17 War, Genocide, and a Crusade for Rights
18 Peacemaking, Rights, and the United Nations
19 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
20 The Right to Self-Determination
21 The Right to Racial Equality
22 Setting Standards and the Rule of Law
23 Recent Achievements and Challenges
24 The Rights of Man—Past, Present, and Future