The Goddess of the White Umbrella (the Buddhist deity Ushnisha-sitatapatra) is one of many powerful female deities. She manifests her power with her thousand heads, arms, and legs. She has eyes on the palms of each of her hands and soles...

A mandala is a schematic diagram that portrays the sacred environment of a particular deity. The mandala is used by practitioners as a guideline for meditation. It helps people visualize the way in which they will restructure the world...

The main image in this painting is Avalokiteshvara (1), the Bodhisattva of Compassion. He is the principle patron deity of Tibet. He sits on a lotus throne upon a lunar disc. This god takes many forms, such as the Dalai Lamas of Tibet,...

Mahakala Bramanarupa is one of over 70 different deities of the Mahakala type. These are wrathful deities particularly adept at quelling monsters and overcoming demons, whether they be outer, inner or secret. Some deities, such as...

The South relied on slavery heavily for economic prosperity and used wealth as a way to justify enslavement practices.

In Tibet, religious paintings come in several forms, including wall paintings, thangkas (sacred pictures that can be rolled up), and miniatures for ritual purposes or for placement in household shrines. Thangkas were commissioned for...

Penden Lhamo is one of the more wrathful female deities of Buddhism. Among her many roles, she is the special protector of the city of Lhasa, the Gelukpa Order, and the Dalai Lamas of Tibet. She was invited to Tibet in around the...

This black cabinet was once stored in the gongkhang of an unknown temple in Tibet. Forbidden to the uninitiated, the gongkhang is a special room set aside for the worship of wrathful deities, where only the initiated monks of the...

Prayer wheels are an example of Buddhist technology. This technology allowed the faithful to multiply the number of prayers they expressed by millions. This is because prayer wheels are filled with copies of mantras (sacred spells...

The vajra (Tibetan: Dorjie) and bell (Sanskrit: ghanta; Tibetan: drilbu) are the most important ritual objects of Tibetan Buddhism. Most every lama has a pair and knows how to use them. They represent "method" (vajra) and "wisdom"...

The abolition movement sought to end the practice of slavery in the United States.

During the nineteenth century, enslaved African Americans worked on large plantations in the US South under brutal conditions.

During the first half of the nineteenth century, demand for cotton led to the expansion of plantation slavery. By 1850, enslaved people were growing cotton from South Carolina to Texas.

A quick comprehension check over African Americans in the early republic of the United States.

Learn about African Americans in the early republic.

A quick comprehension check over reform movements in the US during the mid 1800s.

This is an image of the goddess Durga. She is shown in a triumphant pose as the slayer of the buffalo demon, Mahisha. Durga is a manifestation of the Goddess, who can also appear as the consort Parvati or as a destructive figure Kali....

Yogini temples typically included sculptures of seven female goddesses known as matrikas ("mother-goddesses"). These feminized versions of Hindu gods are identifiable by the most common attributes of their male forms. The goddess here is...

Learn about the origins of the Samurai, The First Warrior Government (The Kamakura Shogunate, 1185-1333, The Second Warrior Government: The Ashikaga Shogunate of the Muromachi Period (1338-1573), The Third Warrior Government: the...

This is a container to hold cold, fresh water made especially for use in the Japanese tea gathering. Its shape reminds us of a wooden bucket used to carry water from a well, but it is made out of porcelain, a glazed ceramic fired at a...

Learn about some of the different computer file types.

Find out the basics of modular arithmetic.

After learning about algorithms, find out what to learn next.

A review of programming with JavaScript and ProcessingJS, and guidance of what to learn next.