Past Events

The 11th annual Masterman Speaker Series event presented by Suffolk University Law School, titled "Truth in the Age of Disinformation, Misinformation, and AI", explores truth in an age of rapid and ever-expanding access to extensive amounts of information from a myriad of sources of varying reliability.

This year, the Masterman Speaker Series will examine how influential members of society, including the media, lawyers, and journalists/journalism schools, are adjusting – or are trying to adjust – to this brave new world, where people are increasingly relying on sources that may have been generated by AI, that may be tainted by disinformation and/or misinformation, and that may be coming from outside the fourth estate.

On this 50th anniversary of busing, how do we take stock of this legacy and what needs to be done now with the Boston Public Schools?

The movement began in the 1960's to improve education for Black students in Boston, but the Boston School Committee refused to make changes and denied Black students were being short changed. The federal court in 1974 found Boston's schools were illegally segregated and then ordered desegregation with busing. There then followed deep racial divisions, turmoil, and white flight from the schools and from the city of Boston.

We hear also about what ways desegregation expanded opportunities for students, teachers, and administrators and the many court orders on hiring of diverse staff, establishing parent councils, bilingual education, university and business partnerships. But the big question is, were the aspirations for high quality education met?

The make-up of Boston schools in 1974 was 60% White, 30% Black, 10% other. The Boston Indicators Project says it is now 45% Latino, 29% Black, 8% Asian, 14% White. So it went from majority white to predominantly students of color school system. The Boston Public Schools were last year not rated well on a whole battery of educational benchmarks by the state's education department. BPS has many challenges to meet now with a more diverse student body, with significant numbers of students who are homeless, those with learning disabilities, and large numbers of recent immigrants whose first language is not English. We will begin to talk about further reforms needed now.

This forum is a collaboration between the BPL and the Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative

These amongst the most important in Boston’s history forever impacted Boston’s reputation to its residents and to the whole country. It was a cauldron of divisions by race and class and this obscured steps forward that were taken...

Boston’s Black community with leaders like Ruth Batson, Ellen Jackson, and Tom Atkins did a 10-year campaign starting in 1963 to try to address severe educational inequities. The Boston School Committee headed by Louise Day Hicks disputed, delayed, denigrated, and rejected all these proposals.

Finally in 1972, the NAACP filed a case in federal court on behalf of 14 parents and 43 children that became the Tallullah Morgan vs. James Hennigan case. Judge Garrity ruled on June 21,1974 that the Boston School Committee had segregated the schools and ordered them desegregated.

Busing began on September 12,1974. It was met with fierce resistance from white anti-busing organizations for the next 4 years. This included demonstrations, motorcades, rallies, and electing more anti-busing politicians to office.

Black students integrating white high schools in South Boston, Hyde Park, Charlestown, and Roslindale faced racial epithets, rocks thrown at school buses, and fights started in the schools. This spilled over into the neighborhoods with a number of violent attacks and some retaliations.

Most of the schools did open and remain peaceful. Judge Garrity also ordered many notable education reforms.

Some change started to come when 3 anti-busing politicians lost their elections and the first Black person was elected to the Boston School Committee in 1977.

This is part of a program hosted by the Boston Public Library and the Boston Busing & Desegregation Initiative commemorating the 50th anniversary of Boston desegregation and busing.

It has been nearly one year since the attacks on October 7th, the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. That day, and the war that ensued, has led to an explosion in antisemitism worldwide and terrible suffering on both sides of the war. Our Hot Buttons Cool Conversations panel of American, Israeli and Palestinian experts will explore the war’s impact in Israel and its political reverberations in this country, including the war’s influence on our looming elections and how the election results could influence the conflict in Israel, Gaza and the rest of the world. 

Bring your smartest friends to the GBH Studios at the Boston Public Library for a nerdy night of NOVA science trivia! Get ready for creative categories and exciting prizes as we test your knowledge of the natural world, space, the history of science, and more!

Registration is encouraged for this free event.

Rita Duffy was born in Belfast and graduated with an honorary BA and MA in Fine Art from the University of Ulster in 1985. One of Ireland's groundbreaking visual artists, she has produced acclaimed public art projects, including her early project Thaw, inspired by the Belfast ship Titanic. This post-conflict project explored Belfast’s relationship with the iceberg and aimed to connect local experiences of colonialism and sectarianism with a universal climate crisis. In 2011, she was awarded a Leverhulme Fellowship to work at the Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster. She was recognized for her contribution to visual arts in Ireland in 2018 and elected to Aosdana, Ireland’s elected “people of the arts.” She was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Architects and was an associate at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she looked at the role of art in post-conflict societies. In 2024, she was appointed the Charlotte Maxeke-Mary Robinson Irish South Africa Research Chair at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.

Her recent projects include The Shirt Factory Project, The Souvenir Shop, Soften the Border, and The Raft. She has held residencies at the Long Room Hub at Trinity College in Dublin and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Duffy’s work is held in museum and private collections worldwide and her public art projects continue to grow in scale and ambition, exploring issues of female identity, history and politics, and borders.

Produced by Boston College Lowell Humanities Series, cosponsored by Irish Studies at Boston College and the Art, Art History, and Film Department.

The alarming acceleration of global warming is a grave threat to all forms of life. The only viable solution is the reduction and removal of the excess greenhouse gases --atmospheric CO2 and methane-- produced chiefly by fossil fuels. This requires immediate transition to renewable energy, combined with removal of atmospheric CO2. But there is a move to delay that transition by means of solar geoengineering. This approach involves the release of chemical particles high in the atmosphere that will shade the Sun. It does not eliminate the CO2 buildup. Solar geoengineering introduces serious risks that must be explained by responsible scientists.

Daniel Cziczo, a prominent atmospheric scientist specializing in the vital role of clouds in climate dynamics, explains the global warming threat and the risks involved in solar geoengineering.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE is pleased to present a film preview and discussion of our upcoming film, The American Vice President. The event will feature an extended clip from the film and a panel discussion with filmmakers and participants.

Click this link to join: https://wgbh.zoom.us/j/99844801974

Featured guests include:

Michelle Ferrari is the writer, producer, and director of The American Vice President. She has been creating innovative, critically-acclaimed documentaries for more than two decades. Her work has been seen on PBS, HBO, and at film festivals nationwide, and has garnered honors from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Writers Guild of America, among many other organizations. A frequent contributor to American Experience, her numerous credits include Peabody Award -nominee The Vote, The Eugenics Crusade, Rachel Carson, and Seabiscuit.

James E. Hite is author of Second Best: The Rise of the American Vice Presidency.

The discussion will be moderated by Cameo George, executive producer of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. George is an Emmy Award-winning producer, writer and journalist with more than 20 years of experience in documentary, broadcast television and digital content production. George has produced, developed and commissioned innovative programming at CNN, NBC News and ABC News.

About the film: The American Vice President explores the little-known story of the second-highest office in the land, tracing its evolution from a constitutional afterthought to a position of political consequence. Focusing on the fraught period between 1963 and 1974, when a grief-stricken and then scandal-plagued America was forced to clarify the role of the vice president, the film examines the passage and first uses of the 25th Amendment and offers a fresh and surprising perspective on succession in the executive branch.

An Israeli and a Palestinian who has lost a close family member to the conflict tell their personal stories of loss and explain their choice to engage in dialogue and reconciliation. Robi Damelin, spokesperson and director of International Relations for The Parents Circle - Families Forum joined the organization after her son was killed by a Palestinian Sniper. Layla Al-Sheikh, lives in Bethlehem in the West Bank. In 2002, her six-month-old son, Qussay became ill, and Israeli soldiers prevented her from taking him to the hospital, and he soon died from the lack of timely treatment.

The moderator is Charles M. Sennott, an award-winning author and editor with 30 years of experience in international, national, and local journalism. Previously, Sennott worked for many years as a reporter at the Boston Globe, where he became Bureau Chief for the Middle East and Europe and a leader of the paper's international coverage.

 The Parents Circle - Families Forum is a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization made up of more than 750 bereaved families. Their common bond is that they have lost a close family member to the conflict. But instead of choosing revenge, they have chosen a path of reconciliation. Through their educational activities, these bereaved members have joined together to take tens of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis on journeys of reconciliation. Learn more about the work of
The Parents Circle – Families Forum
 
American Friends of the Parents Circle – Families Forum shares the human side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the American public in order to foster a peace and reconciliation process.

Presented by Suffolk University's Ford Hall Forum, Political Science & Legal Studies Department, Communication, Journalism & Media Department, Office of Diversity, Access, and Inclusion, Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion, and The Parent’s Circle – Families Forum and the Global Citizens Circle.

This event is SOLD OUT.

Calling all fans of This Old House and craft beer! We invite you to attend this unique 90-minute tasting experience. Guests will be sent a kit containing a selection of four independent, craft beers celebrating the season of Oktoberfest. Whether you're versed in many brew styles or just beginning to learn more about the finer points of artisan craft beer, this entertaining virtual event will expand your knowledge of the history and process that goes into creating these special brews. Each beer has been hand-picked by Certified Cicerone® Cindy Mooney, the co-founder of Your Beer Friend, and the evening’s host.

This exclusive private Zoom will feature This Old House host, Kevin O’Connor, and Charlie Silva, General Contractor. Engage with them as they taste along with you and CIndy. The talented This Old House duo will share unique anecdotes from their arsenal of stories amassed working on the show. Swap tasting notes in the chat with them as you savor the four distinct brews we’ll be sampling during the event.

We hope you, or whoever you're giving this beer kit gift to, is excited to come along on this craft beer journey with us and the duo from This Old House!

Ticket purchases for this event support GBH programming.

Your ticket includes:

- 4 cans of craft beer (enough for two to taste) that will be shipped directly to your door

- Access to the virtual tasting led by Cindy Mooney along with This Old House’s Kevin O’Connor and Charlie Silva

- 90 minutes of beer education which incorporates your beer-related audience questions

IMPORTANT NOTES: Kits cannot be shipped to Canada and the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Vermont, Utah, Rhode Island and West Virginia. We also can not ship to any PO boxes.

Guests must be 21 years old to participate in alcohol related events.

PLEASE NOTE:

- This event is SOLD OUT. The deadline to register for this tasting event was Friday, August 23 at 5pm ET.

- You will need to show identification and sign upon delivery to prove you are 21+ years of age. (The beer will not be delivered without proof of ID)

- This kit includes 4 cans of beer, each can serves tasting pours for 2 people

Photo Credit: Connie Chornuk