This summer brings important 400th anniversaries. On July 30, 1619, the Virginia General Assembly, the first representative governing body in British America, met in a Jamestown church. Late in August a ship brought against their will 20 or so Africans, the first of their race in British America. The lack of a precise date or number suggests that already these captives were not being treated as individual human beings made in God’s image.

Twenty years ago Rosaria Butterfield professed faith in Christ. Subsequently, she married Kent Butterfield, a pastor, and moved to Durham, N.C. She told her story of God’s grace in The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert and in WORLD issues dated March 23, 2013, and Aug. 6, 2016. Her new book, The Gospel Comes With a House Key, describes why and how to be hospitable in our neighborhoods.

James Watt died 200 years ago this summer, but his face now graces the Bank of England’s 50-pound bills, each worth about $56. A sentence below his picture explains why Watt had a Eureka! moment on the Glasgow Green that led to his invention of steam engine improvements that revolutionized commerce: “I can think of nothing else but this machine.”

Christian historian Herbert Schlossberg, who chronicled the relationship between Western history and religion, died Friday of pancreatic cancer. He was 84.

“Herb lived a long and very satisfied life,” his wife, Terry, wrote from Virginia. “He accomplished what he set out to do, and more.”

Editor’s note: Marvin Olasky continues his monthly biographical series on key individuals from late 19th and early 20th century American history. In February and March, we looked at the life of John D. Rockefeller. In April and May, we studied Grover Cleveland.

The gut-punching photographs and stories in Chris Arnade’s Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America (Penguin Random House, 2019) explain how Donald Trump won crucial Midwest states in 2016. Free trade has reduced the cost of many items but also led to many factory closures, and Arnade shows us some of the unemployed and despairing. It’s easy to say “move to places where jobs exist,” but many are neither readily mobile (for family reasons) or easily trainable for different occupations.

Marvin Olasky’s interview with Kelly Shackelford, president of the legal firm First Liberty Institute, appears in the June 8 issue of WORLD Magazine. Here are additional excerpts from their conversation about religious liberty cases and the U.S. Supreme Court.