Chicago Town Hall Discussion: "Our Histories, Our Stories"
June 24, 2009
A Chicago Town Hall Discussion, "Our Histories, Our Stories"
Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, Jr. in conversation with Rick Kogan
How do the stories we tell shape history, and how does history shape the stories we tell?
Monday, June 29th
6:00-7:30pm
(Doors open at 5pm)
Harold Washington Library Center
Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
Chicago Public Library
400 S. State Street
Chicago, IL 60605
312-747-8184
FREE and open to the public
How do the stories we tell shape who we are, as individuals and as a nation?
Why are we still talking so much about race, especially when we have President Obama?
Do race and memory still shape public policy?
With everything going on in the world today, do these issues really matter?
Come share your thoughts. There will be time for audience interaction with Gates and Kogan.
Dr. Gates is perfect to lead a discussion about these questions because his work has encouraged people from all walks of life to explore their unique personal stories, and the impact of those stories on national history. In many ways his most recent film, the engrossing Looking for Lincoln, is about how what we know about Lincoln and his times is based upon the stories we have told and continue to tell about him, and Gates' search for the truth. His most recent book is "Lincoln on Race and Slavery," which has been described as "the first complete collection of Lincoln's important writings on both race and slavery."
Rick Kogan is one of Chicago's most courageous writers and interviewers. The son of legendary newspaperman and author Herman Kogan, Rick has earned a stellar reputation of his own. He is the host of WGN-AM's "Sunday Papers with Rick Kogan" (6:30-9 a.m. Sundays), and a senior writer and Sidewalks columnist for the Chicago Tribune's Sunday magazine. He is also the author or co-author of several books, including the crime novel "Everybody Pays," and "America's Mom: The Life, Lessons and Legacy of Ann Landers."
Co-conveners of the event to date are: Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, Chicago Bar Association, Chicago History Museum, Chicago Public Library, DuSable Museum of African American History, Facing History and Ourselves, The HistoryMakers, Illinois Humanities Council, McCormick Freedom Museum, The Newberry Library, The Richmond Group, Historian Charles Branham, Historian Adam Green, Ms. Anne Oppenheimer.
More information on the ALBC Town Hall Series
202-707-6998
