Morehouse College class will teach Black history in the metaverse

This spring, Ovell Hamilton, a professor at Morehouse College in Atlanta, will guide students through a first-of-its-kind course in which Black history is taught entirely through the metaverse, a virtual 3D space where people can interact with one another using avatars.

During class, students will don virtual reality headsets to see firsthand the brutal reality of enslaved Africans lying in chains on top of one another in a slave ship and see an enslaved person standing on the edge of the vessel, facing the harrowing choice between life in bondage or freedom in death.

“It definitely evokes emotions of sorrow,” said Morehouse sophomore Jerad Evan Young, 41, who is Black and is majoring in cinema, television, and emerging media studies. He virtually toured 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. 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.”

When Morehouse College made history by launching its first class in the metaverse last spring, Hamilton was one of 11 professors to teach students using virtual reality technology.