For a significant majority of Americans, the '50s were good times. The Baby Boom, prosperity and rising homeownership fueled more fun than in previous and subsequent decades. Do you remember "Howdy Doody," poodle skirts, S&H Green Stamps, the McGuire Sisters and big cars with chrome and tail fins? We'll look back on these things and more when covering topics such as suburbanization, television, cars, movies, music, fads, fashions, foods, beverages, toys, games and print media. We'll also touch on social critiques and worries like polio. We'll compare our memories to documents, film clips and music.

Instructor bio: Carl Graves, Ph.D., holds a master's degree in U.S. history from the University of Kansas and a doctorate from Harvard. He taught at the university and community college levels and at Kansas City's Pembroke Hill School.

Let's travel back in time to share the experiences of women who made Kansas Territory their home from 1854 - 1861. Regardless of their political sentiments, women in Bleeding Kansas shared sorrow and grief equally as the territory roiled with turmoil. From the staunch abolitionist Sara Robinson to a young woman robbed of her fiancé, we'll look at the compelling human dramas that took center stage as Kansas decided if she would be a free or slave state.

Instructor bio: Michelle M. Martin is a Michigander by birth and a Kansan and Oklahoman by choice. Martin earned her doctorate in history at the University of New Mexico. Her research probes interracial marriage, gender, race and power in the Mvskoke Nation in Indian Territory from 1870 - 1897.