Morehouse College Professor Teaches Black History Course In The Metaverse

A new way of teaching will immerse students in history by allowing them to experience historical events in the metaverse.

Morehouse College in Atlanta is set to launch a first-of-its-kind Black history course that will be taught entirely in the metaverse. According to NBC News, the course will open in the spring and will be led by professor Ovell Hamilton. Students enrolled in the course will enter the virtual 3D space to experience the lives of enslaved African Americans. The course, which is a part of the Virtual Reality Project, will be titled “History of the African Diaspora Since 1800.”

Content for the course is inspired by “Journey for Civil Rights,” a separate Black History course Hamilton instructed through VictoryXR, the tech company Morehouse partnered with. The course will recreate important moments and artifacts beginning with the Haitian Revolution, leading to the civil rights movement.

“That is an experience that they would not have if they were sitting in a classroom, if they were sitting in a lecture,” Hamilton said regarding the virtual experience of the La Amistad slave ship.

“When you go there and see the bottom of a slave ship, see the slaves packed in together…you will have a new appreciation and you have a greater knowledge of how the events took place.”

Students will experience the brutal reality of enslaved Africans shackled on top of one another while others stand at the edge of the vessel choosing between life and death. “It definitely evokes emotions of sorrow,” said Morehouse sophomore Jerad Evan Young, a Black student majoring in cinema, television, and emerging media studies.

Young had the opportunity to virtually tour the Underground Railroad and a slave ship in Hamilton’s world history class.

“Also, there’s a sense of pride because not everybody made it through the slave trade,” Young added.

“You know, you had to really be a strong individual. So, that let me know that my ancestors were strong enough to last that grueling journey across the sea.”

Morehouse College reportedly made history this past spring after launching its first official course in the metaverse. Hamilton was designated to teach students using the virtual technology, along with 10 other professors.

Enrollees can experience historical moments such as attending Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, entering an all-white high school in Arkansas in 1957, and touring a slave ship.