Through Jan 31, Exhibit: “Lincolnshire, England, Comes to Massachusetts Bay, 1630-1710.”  Boston Public Library, Copley, Boston Rm.  A special exhibition prepared and presented by The Partnership of the Historic Bostons to celebrate the unique historical connections and shared legacies between Boston, Lincolnshire, England, founded in 1086, and Boston, Massachusetts Bay, founded in 1630.  Photographs, maps, books, documents, and portraits provide insight into the 17th century cultural institutions that were challenged in a New World setting. The presentation expands and deepens knowledge of life and times in the Massachusetts Bay area during our country's early formative years.

Tues, Jan 10, 6:30 p.m. WGBH Presents “The American Experience: John and Abigail Adams.” Boston Public Library, Copley, Rabb Lecture Hall.  The Boston Public Library, in partnership with the Massachusetts Historical Society and WGBH invites you to meet the original power couple.  Come to a sneak preview and discussion of American Experience’s latest presidential biography, John and Abigail Adams.  The film will be followed by a discussion featuring Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, James Duncan Phillips, Professor of Early America History at Harvard University; Kelly Cobble, Curator at Adams National Historic Park; Jonathan Chu, Associate Professor of History at UMass Boston, and moderated by Peter Drummey, Stephen T. Riley Librarian, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Wed, Jan 11, 6:30 p.m., Nicholas A. Basbanes discusses his new book Every Book Its Reader: The Power of the Printed Word to Stir the World. Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138.  Inspired by a landmark exhibition mounted by the British Museum in 1963 to celebrate five eventful centuries of the printed word, Nicholas A. Basbanes offers a lively consideration of writings that have that have both influenced the course of history and fired the imagination of countless influential people.

Wed, Jan 11, 4 p.m., Eva Haverkamp (Rice University), “Martyrs in Rivalry: Interactions Between Christians and Jews During the Twelfth Century.” Harvard University, Radcliffe Institute, Colloquium Room, 2nd floor, 34 Concord Ave., 4 p.m. Free and open to the public. (617) 495-8212.  Thurs, Jan 12, 6 p.m. Anne Farrow, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank authors of Complicity: How The North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited From Slavery will discuss their research and findings.  Boston Public Library, Copley, Abbey Rm.  The Boston Public Library and the Museum of Afro-American History offer the Words of Thunder Lowell Lecture Series to honor the bicentennial of the birth of William Lloyd Garrison, Boston abolitionist and editor of The Liberator: www.wordsofthunder.org.

Thurs., Jan 12, 3 p.m., Paul Nyce “The Belgian Bang: Cleric & Astrophysicist Georges Lamaître.” Faculty Lounge, Young Apartments, Eastern Nazarene College.  The acknowledged Father of the “Big Bang” model of evolution of the universe is the Belgian astrophysicist and Roman Catholic priest, Georges Lemaître (1894-1966). This talk will explore his life, his role in the development of the “new” science of cosmology, and his interactions with some of the colorful figures of 20th century astronomy.  Sponsored by the Scholars’ Guild and ENC's IPD Committee.

Thurs, Jan. 12, 6:30 p.m., “Slave Catchers, Slave Resisters: A Documentary Film.”  Boston Public Library, Copley, Rabb Lecture Hall. The Color of Film Collaborative presents a screening of Slave Catchers, Slave Resisters, a documentary by award-winning filmmaker, Judy Richardson. There will be a question and answer session with the filmmakers immediately following the screening.

Mon, Jan 16, 1:00 pm, "A Movement Beyond Borders - MLK Celebration." Boston University, GSU Metcalfe Hall.  A celebration of the life and legacy of the Reverand Martin Luther King, Jr. Guest speaker is John Hume, co-winner of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland. 

Mon, Jan 16, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. “A Tribute to Barbara Jordan and Shirley Chisolm.” Cokie Roberts, Ann Richards and Congresswoman Barbara Lee will share their memories of these two remarkable women. Callie Crossley of WGBH's Beat the Press, will moderate. The JFK Library and Museum.  Free and open to the public. Reservations are strongly recommended as some forums get oversubscribed: 617.514.1643.  Barbara Jordan, who died ten years ago, was elected to the Texas Senate in 1966 and was the first African-American woman from a Southern state to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Shirley Chisholm, who passed away a year ago, was the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress and the first African-American to run as a democratic presidential candidate in 1972. 

Mon, Jan 16, 7 p.m., Award-winning journalist, and best-selling author, Douglas Brinkley discusses and signs copies of his new book, Parish Priest: The Story of Father Michael McGivney and the Kinghts of Columbus.  He will also be joined by his co-author, Julie M. Fenster. 3rd Floor, Harvard Coop, Harvard Square,1400 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02238.

Tues, Jan 17, 6:30 p.m., Philip Dray, “Stealing God’s Thunder: Benjamin Franklin’s Lightning Rod and the Invention of America.” Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, phone: (617) 482-6439.  Long before Benjamin Franklin was an eminent statesman and a father of American democracy, he was famous for being a revolutionary scientist, most notably for his experiments with lightning and electricity. But Franklin had many powerful doubters who were troubled by his presumption in denying God his favorite weapon of resentment. For as long as anyone could remember, all the way back to Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology, one of the gods’ privileges had been the ability to hurl thunderbolts to punish the misdeeds of mortals. Pulitzer Prize finalist Philip Dray uses the story of Franklin’s wild experiments and his battles with his vehement detractors as a metaphor for America’s struggle for democracy and the establishment of our fundamental democratic values.

Thurs, Jan 19, 7:30 p.m., Maria Fias (Universidad de La Coruña), “Black Nuns in Europe: From Slavery to the Convent.” Harvard University, Real Colegio Complutense, 26 Trowbridge St., 7:30 p.m. Lecture in English. Free and open to the public. (617) 495-3536.

Mon, Jan 23, 7 p.m., Jeffry A. Frieden will be discussing and singing copies of his new book, Global Capitalism: Its fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century.  3rd Floor, Harvard Coop, Harvard Square,1400 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02238. 

Tues, Jan 24, 5:30 p.m. Pamela Fox, lecture and book signing: North Shore Boston: Houses of Essex County, 1865-1930. Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02215-3695, Tel: 617.536.1608. 

Tues, Jan 24, 7 p.m., Matthew Stewart will discuss and sign copies of his new book, The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World.  3rd Floor, Harvard Coop, Harvard Square,1400 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02238.

Wed, Jan. 25, Robert J. Allison, “Short History of Boston: An Illustrated History.”  Boston Public Library, Copley.  Allison is author of Short History of Boston.

Tuesday, January 31, 4-6 pm, Susan O’Donovan (Harvard University), "Making Slavery's Cotton: Refashioning Lives on the Antebellum Southern Frontier." Boston University, Location African-American Studies Library, 138 Mountfort Street.  Information Phone 617-353-2795.  Admission: free. Refreshments will be served.

Tues, Jan 31, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking) and James Allison (Faith Beyond Resentment), “The Anatomy of Reconcilliation: From Violence to Healing.”  Location: 3-270, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. For more information, contact: Patricia-Maria Weinmann, 617-253-0108.  A two day, video, down-linked conference sponsored by the Trinity Institute in New York City. Keynote speakers will challenge audience members to revise and transform their understanding of reconcilliation. We will examine the costliness of reconcilliation, the perserverance and patience demanded of the process. Open to the general public.

Thurs, Feb 2 12:15 - 1:00 p.m., Julie Winch (Professor of History at UMass Boston), “The Remonds of Salem: An African American Dynasty.”  Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, phone: (617) 482-6439.  Of African, Dutch and Jewish descent, John Remond (1788-1874) was Salem’s leading caterer for more than half a century. His marriage to Nancy Lenox, the daughter of a black Revolutionary War veteran, led to the creation of a highly successful catering team that was called upon to cater lavish entertainments in Boston and Newport. Julie Winch  will discuss how growing prosperity and links with influential whites strengthened John and Nancy Remond’s commitment to antislavery and civil rights. At considerable cost to themselves, they fought school segregation and even their children became famed antislavery orators and fought for full citizenship for the Commonwealth’s African American community.

Thursday, February 2, 6:30 pm, Christopher Patten, "Cousins and Strangers: America, Britain and Europe in a New Century."  Boston University, PHO Colloquium Room, 9th Floor, URL http://www.bu.edu/ihs. Christopher Patten, the chancellor of Oxford and New Castle universities, was the European Commissioner for External Relations from 1999 until 2004. He was previously the member of Parliament for Bath, chairman of the Conservative Party, and the last British governor of Hong Kong, overseeing the return to China in 1997. He is the author of East and West: China, Power, and the Future of Asia, and, most recently, Cousins and Strangers: America, Britain and Europe in a New Century. Admission: free. 

Thurs, Feb 2, 7:30 p.m., Stanley Hauerwas (Duke Divinity School, Theological Ethics), “Candelmas Lecture.”  Boston College, Gasson 100 

Sat, Feb 4, Peter Drummey (Stephen T. Riley Librarian, Massachusetts Historical Society), “The Four Careers of Charles Pomeroy Stone, 1824-1887.”  Library of the Boston Athenæum, 10½ Beacon Street.  General Charles P. Stone (“Stone Pasha”) has been described as “the American Dreyfus.” While his Civil War career and its ruin has interesting echoes in present-day political debates—the power of the president to hold suspected enemies without charge or trial—Peter Drummey also will briefly review three of Stone’s other “careers” that indicate, anecdotally, how far a Civil War soldier might get from home.

Tues, Feb 7, 6:30 p.m., Lawrence Buell Powell M. (Cabot Professor of American Literature at Harvard University) discusses his edited book, The American Transcendentalists: Essential Writings.  Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138. Transcendentalism was the first major intellectual movement in U.S. history, championing the inherent divinity of each individual, as well as the value of collective social action. This nineteenth century movement changed how Americans thought about religion, literature, the natural world, class distinctions, the role of women, and the existence of slavery. 

Wed, Feb. 8, 7 p.m., Eduardo Galeano, “The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent.” Boston Public Library, Copley, McKim Conference Rm.

Thurs, Feb 9, 12:15 – 1:00 p.m., Cassandra Pybus, “Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty.”  Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, phone: (617) 482-6439.  Award-winning author Cassandra Pybus tells the alternative and heroic story of freedom fought and won by dozens of slaves. During the American Revolution, thousands of slaves fled their masters to find freedom with the British. Having emancipated themselves – and with the rhetoric about the inalienable rights of free men ringing in their ears – these men and women struggled tenaciously to make liberty a reality in theirs.  Booksigning to follow.  Free with museum admission. 

Thurs, Feb 9, 5:30 p.m., Marcus Milwright (University of Victoria, British Columbia), “Defining Islamic Archaeology.” Room 318, Sackler Museum, 5:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. (617) 495-2355.

Fri, Feb 10, 3:00 p.m., Mario Biagioli (professor of history of science, Harvard University) will discuss his new book Galileo's Instruments of Credit: Telescopes, Images, Secrecy.  Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138.  In six short years, Galileo Galilei went from being an obscure mathematics professor running a student boarding house in Padua to a star in the court of Florence to the recipient of dangerous attention from the Inquisition for his support of Copernicanism. Galileo’s astronomical discoveries reshaped the debate over the physical nature of the heavens, and transformed his life and the lives of those around him. Focusing on the aspects of Galileo's scientific life that extend beyond the framework of court culture and patronage, Biagioli offers a revisionist account of his career. Galileo's Instruments of Credit will find grateful readers among scholars of science studies, historical epistemology, visual studies, Galilean science, and late Renaissance astronomy.

Thurs, Feb 16, 12:15 - 1:00 p.m., Margot Minardi, “Of Guns and Umbrellas: Memory, Slavery and Abolitionism at Bunker Hill.”  Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, phone: (617) 482-6439.  In 1843, the suspicion that President John Tyler had brought a slave to the dedication of the Bunker Hill Monument set Boston abolitionists up in arms. This incident was by no means the only time in the antebellum years when the celebration of American liberty ran up against the messy reality of slavery. Margot Minardi, Ph.D. candidate in History at Harvard University, explores why the Revolutionary past mattered to nineteenth-century Bostonians and how they used that history to make the case for or against abolition.

Thurs, Feb 16, 5:30 p.m., Jill Lepore, lecture and book signing: New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan.  Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02215-3695, Tel: 617.536.1608. 

Fri, Feb 17, 3:00 p.m., Timothy Kenslea will discuss his new book The Sedgwicks in Love: Courtship, Engagement, and Marriage in the Early Republic.  Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138. The Sedgwicks in Love examines the changing relationship between women and men in post-Revolutionary America, through the relationships of the seven brothers and sisters of one prominent Massachusetts family.

Wed, Feb. 22, Ron Grim, “Using Maps in Genealogy.” Boston Public Library, Copley.  Grim is the curator of the Norman Levanthal Map Center, Boston Public Library. 

Wed, Feb 22, 7:30 p.m., William Finnegan, "What's the Story? Journalism and Power." Boston College, Gasson 100. William Finnegan is one of the nation’s foremost writers of political non-fiction and has been a staff writer for the New Yorker for nearly twenty years. He is the author of eight books, including Crossing the Line: A Year in the Land of Apartheid (1986); A Complicated War: The Harrowing of Mozambique (1992); Dateline Soweto: Travels With Black South African Reporters (1995); and Cold New World: Growing Up in Harder Country (1999).

Thurs, Feb 23, 12:15 - 1:00 p.m. Marion Kilson, “William Lloyd Garrison and the Ambassadors of Abolition.”  Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, phone: (617) 482-6439.  On January 1, 1831, William Lloyd Garrison published the first issue of his antislavery newspaper the Liberator, quickly gaining him a reputation as one of the most radical abolitionists of his day. Marion Kilson, co-curator of the Words of Thunder exhibitions at the Boston Public Library and the Museum of Afro-American History will discuss Garrison’s life work, the black and white men and women who worked with him in the anti-slavery movement, and his unique relationship with Black Boston. 

Thurs, Feb 23, 12:00 - 1:15 p.m., Seth Jacobs (Boston College), “Combating ‘Evildoers’ in the Developing World: From Eisenhower's Vietnam to Bush's Iraq.”  Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College, 24 Quincy Road Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, phone: 617-552-1860.  RSVP.

Thurs, Feb 23, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. “Phillis Wheatley Day.” Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, phone: (617) 482-6439.  As one of Old South’s most famous congregation members, slave and world renown poet, Phillis Wheatley’s life is celebrated all day with activities such as a scavenger hunt & quill pen writing. Admission: Free with museum admission. 

Fri, Feb 24, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. “Ben Franklin Day: Celebrate his 300th Birthday!”  Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, phone: (617) 482-6439.  Born in Boston across the street from the Old South Meeting House, Benjamin Franklin was baptized at the Old South and his family worshipped here for many years. Visit the pew his family rented (No. 11) and learn about his life as a boy. Admission: Free with museum admission. 

Fri, Feb 24, Noliwe M. Rooks (associate director of The Program in African American Studies at Princeton University) will discuss her new book White Money/Black Power: The Surprising History of African American Studies.  Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138.  The history of African American Studies is often told as a heroic tale, with compelling images of black power and passionate African American students who refuse to take “no” for an answer. Noliwe M. Rooks argues for the recognition of another story that proves that many of these programs were actually begun due to funding from the Ford Foundation or, put another way, as a result of white philanthropy. 

Mon, Feb 27, 7:30 p.m., Lectura Dantis, a public reading of Dante's Divine Comedy, presents Purgatorio X with Professor Alessandro Vettori, Rutgers University. Bilingual texts of the canto will be distributed at the door. The presentation of the text is in English, and the reading in Italian....  Boston College, Devlin 101. 

Thurs, March 2, 12:00 pm - 5:00 p.m., “Marathon Reading of Benjamin Franklin’s Writings.”  Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, phone: (617) 482-6439.  In celebration of Franklin’s 300th birthday, Old South presents a five-hour marathon reading of many of Franklin’s most beloved writings. Beginning with Franklin’s Autobiography and including works such as his Silence Dogood letters, listen as local figures, historians and students bring Franklin’s witty and insightful voice to life. *Any participant who remains for the full five hours will receive a free bound copy of Franklin’s writings and membership to Old South Meeting House. 

Wed, March 8, 7 p.m., Jeremy Rifkin, “The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream.” Boston Public Library, Copley, McKim Conference Rm.

Thur, March 9, 5:30 p.m., Carol Bundy, lecture and book signing: The Nature of Sacrifice: A Biography of Charles Russell Lowell, Jr., 1835-1864.  Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02215-3695, Tel: 617.536.1608.

Thurs, March 9, 12:15 - 1:00 p.m., Joyce E. Chaplin (Professor of History at Harvard University), “Franklin’s Gulf Stream: Science and Circulation in the Atlantic.”  Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, phone: (617) 482-6439.  Benjamin Franklin drew one of the first accurate charts of the Atlantic Gulf Stream enabling ships to take full advantage of the swifter current. Professor Joyce E. Chaplin explores the impact of Franklin’s discovery and how his own observations and experiments fit into the 18th century scientific world in the British colonies. 

Wed, March 15, 6 p.m., Ellen Lipsey, “Preserving Boston's Landmarks.” Boston Public Library, Copley, Rabb Lecture Hall.

Wed, March 15, 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. Anne Braude (Harvard University), Topic: To Be Announced.  Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College, 24 Quincy Road Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, phone: 617-552-1860. 

Thurs, March 16, 12:15 - 1:00 p.m., Keith Arbour, “Franklin’s Boyhood in Boston.”  Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, phone: (617) 482-6439.  Born in 1706 across Milk Street from Old South Meeting House, Benjamin Franklin lived the first 17 years of his life in Boston. Historian Keith Arbour discusses Franklin’s early education, his indenture as a printer to his brother James and his often troubled relationship to the town of his birth. 

Thur, March 16, 7 p.m., Howie Carr, “The Brothers Bulger: How they Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century.” Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, phone: (617) 482-6439.  Journalist Howie Carr reveals the real story behind the infamous Bulger brothers—two brothers from South Boston who grew up to control a state. With political corruption on one side and deadly force on the other, the Bulgers shared a diabolic and destructive alliance for decades. Carr’s telling of these parallel stories of these two brothers, rich in anecdote and shocking in their revelations, read like an unholy hybrid of All the King’s Men and The Godfather. Book Signing to follow. Free and Open to the Public. 

Thurs, March 23, 7:30 p.m., Thomas King, SJ (Georgetown University, Theology Department), “Anniversary Lecture: Teilhard De Chardin: Missionary to the Modern World.”  The Weston Library, Sherrill Hall, Room 3A, 99 Brattle Street, Cambridge 

Thurs, March 23, 12:15 - 1:00 p.m., Elizabeth Riely, “Benjamin Franklin and the Wild Turkey: Two ‘Original Natives.’”  Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, phone: (617) 482-6439.  The wild turkey plays an integral role in American history. Historian Elizabeth Riely explores Benjamin Franklin’s encounters with the odd-looking bird, from his “turkey-fries” leading up to his famous kite-flying experiment with electricity to his celebrated remarks on why the turkey would be more suitable than the bald eagle as a symbol of our nation. 

Fri, March 24, 12:00 - 1:15 p.m., Robert Orsi (Harvard University), “Studying Children’s Religion.” Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College, 24 Quincy Road Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, phone: 617-552-1860.  RSVP.

Mon, March 27, 7:30 p.m., Lectura Dantis, a public reading of Dante's Divine Comedy, presents Purgatorio XI with Professor Deborah Contrada, University of Iowa. Bilingual texts of the canto will be distributed at the door. The presentation of the text is in English, and the reading in Italian....  Boston College, Devlin 101. 

Wed, March 29, Jim Vrabel, “Lessons Learned While Attempting to Compile a Chronological History of Boston.”  Boston Public Library, Copley.  Vrabel is the author of When in Boston.

Thurs, March 30, 6:30 p.m., James Green (professor of history at UMASS Boston) and Howard Zinn (author of A People’s History of the United States), “Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing that Divided Gilded-Age America.”  Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108, phone: (617) 482-6439.  In May of 1886 Americans awoke to the news that a bomb had exploded a Chicago labor rally killing several policemen. Coming in the midst of the largest national strike Americans had ever seen, the bombing, the mass hysteria it created, and the sensational trial and executions that followed, made headlines across the country. National sentiment turned against the burgeoning labor movement, ending a moment of hope for the nation’s working class. James Green Howard Zinn will discuss the exhilarating rise of a visionary union movement and its downfall in the wake of the Haymarket tragedy.

Sat, April 1, Richard Brady Williams author of “Chicago's Battery Boys: The Chicago Mercantile Battery in the Civil War's Western Theater.” Library of the Boston Athenæum, 10½ Beacon Street.

Wed, April 5, 4:30 - 6:30 p.m., “Pope Benedict after One Year,” a Panel discussion featuring Boston College faculty members: Thomas Groome, James Weiss, Mary Ann Hinsdale, Kenneth Himes. Moderator: Alan Wolfe. Location: To Be Announced. Sponsored by the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College, 24 Quincy Road Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, phone: 617-552-1860.
ward
Thurs, April 6, 7:00 p.m., Brian Ward (professor of history, University of Florida), "Bigger Than Elvis, More Popular Than Jesus: The Beatles, Race, Religion and the American South."  An ENC History Department Lecture.  Historian Brian Ward is co-editor of The Making of Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement (Macmillan/New York University Press, 1996) and editor of Media, Culture, and the Modern African American Freedom Struggle (University Press of Florida, 2001).  He is also the author of the award-winning Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness and Race Relations (UCL Press/University of California Press, 1998) and most recently, Radio and the Struggle for Civil Rights in the South (University Press of Florida, 2004).   Reviewing this latest book in the American Historical Review, Michael T. Bertrand notes that Ward brings "to the forefront a subject that many historians have rarely granted serious attention. By successfully incorporating the unconventional into a familiar story, he has once again helped to legitimize popular culture within his chosen profession. More importantly, Ward has proven that he is one of the leading civil rights historians of his generation."*   In January 2005 WBUR's Tom Ashbrook featured professor Ward on a show devoted to "The Power of Black Radio."  See also Talking History's program on Ward's book, Just My Soul Responding.

Wed, April 19, 6 p.m., Scott Tilden, “Museum Design in America.” Boston Public Library, Copley, Rabb Lecture Hall.

Mon, April 24, 7:30 p.m., Lectura Dantis, a public reading of Dante's Divine Comedy, presents Purgatorio XII with Professor Brian O'Connor, Boston College. Bilingual texts of the canto will be distributed at the door. The presentation of the text is in English, and the reading in Italian....  Boston College, Devlin 101 

Wed, Apr. 26, Clint Richmond, “Political Places of Boston: An Illustrated Virtual Tour of Historical Sites.”  Boston Public Library, Copley.  Richmond is the author of Political Places of Boston.

Wed, April 26, 7:30 p.m., Dean Harold Attridge (Yale Divinity School), “Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code, or the Enduring Appeal of Conspiracy Theories.”  Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College, 24 Quincy Road Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, phone: 617-552-1860. 

Sat, May 6, John Stauffer (Professor of English, African and African American Studies and the History of American Civilization, Harvard University) “Across the Great Divide:  The Friendship between Douglass and Lincoln.”  Library of the Boston Athenæum, 10½ Beacon Street.  Professor Stauffer’s presentation explores the unlikely friendship of Frederick Douglass and Lincoln that began in 1863.  But even before they met they shared a lot in common, for they were the two preeminent self-made men in the nineteenth century.  They loved music and literature and educated themselves by reading the same books.  In the process of remaking themselves they came together as friends.  Professor Stauffer details the nature of their friendship, on what it was based, and ends the talk by showing how, after Lincoln died, his memory and their friendship continued to shape Douglass' life.

Wed, May 17, 6 p.m., Matthew Frederick, “Copernicus Goes to Suburbia.” Boston Public Library, Copley, Rabb Lecture Hall.  Seating is limited.
 

Past ENC History Department Lectures