In the summer of 2020, I faced two challenges as I prepared to teach my course on Russian history to Peter the Great in the fall semester: first, the need to transform a course normally taught in a classroom into a virtual format during Covid-19, and second, the need to respond to growing protests about racial injustice during summer 2020. Now, my memory of teaching pre-Petrine Russia in fall 2020 will always be associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter protests, and the storming of the US Capitol.