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Ford Hall Forum

The Ford Hall Forum is the nation's oldest continuously operating free public lecture series. Its mission is to foster an informed and effective citizenry and to promote freedom of speech through the public presentation of lectures, debates, and discussions. Forum events illuminate the key issues facing our society by bringing to its podium knowledgeable and thought-provoking speakers. These speakers are presented in person, for free, and in settings, which facilitate frank and open debate.

http://www.fordhallforum.org/

Remembering Trauma

Tue, Feb 10, 2004

Clinician and laboratory researcher Richard McNally challenges the ready acceptance of a notion he says goes beyond common sense, and contends that traumatic experiences are indeed unforgettable and the evidence for repressed memories is surprisingly weak. Are horrific experiences indelibly fixed in a victim's memory? Or does the mind protect itself by banishing traumatic memories from consciousness? How victims remember trauma is the most controversial issue in psychology today, spilling out of consulting rooms and laboratories to capture headlines, rupture families, provoke legislative change, and influence criminal trials and civil suits. This lecture is presented in collaboration with Boston Theatre Works to coincide with the world premiere of *Conspiracy of Memory*, a timely new drama by local playwright Steven Bogart that explores issues of aging, forgiveness, acceptance, and redemption.

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Mental Health Month , Food and Wellness

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Putting Massachusetts Students and Schools to the Test

Wed, Apr 10, 2002

James Peyser, chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and Ted Sizer, founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools, discuss the controversial Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test. Heated debate has surrounded the MCAS test since 1993, when it was first introduced to identify and help students and schools that were failing. Advocates call the MCAS test the foundation for a bold plan to reform education in the state while critics insist this standardized text is too narrow in its assessment of students' abilities.

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Defending Guantanamo Bay Detainees

Thu, Mar 30, 2006

In a program cosponsored by Amnesty International USA, three lawyers currently defending prisoners in Guantanamo Bay talk about who the detainees are and why the United States continues to hold them. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States government has held hundreds of men at Guantanamo Bay as part of its "global war on terrorism." Some see the methods employed there as necessary to protect ourselves against new and horrifying threats to national security. However, the secrecy and questions about the legality of the imprisonments have drawn concern from lawmakers, foreign governments, and human rights groups. They claim that such measures violate the Geneva Conventions, inspire anti-Americanism, and infringe upon the very foundations of our civil rights.

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Reclaiming Democracy

Sun, Oct 2, 2005

Eli Pariser, the campaigns director of MoveOn, a grassroots Internet advocacy group, talks about his work, the state of democracy today, and what lies ahead. Moderated by Susan Shaer, executive director of Women's Action for New Directions (WAND), and president of the Ford Hall Forum. Cosponsored by the WAND Education Fund.

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Women to Women: Journey to Darfur

Thu, Nov 17, 2005

Linda Mason, Liz Walker and Gloria White-Hammond discuss their experiences and thoughts about the future of Darfur and its people and what the United States can do. This lecture includes a presentation of video footage of the women's 2005 trip produced by Liz Walker. In February, 2005, Mason, Walker and White-Hammond traveled to Darfur in the western part of Sudan to raise global awareness of the conflict and to raise funds to support the women and children of Darfur. Recent news reports peg the number of displaced people at 2.5 million and estimate 200,000 to 400,000 have died, mostly women and children, in what has been described as ongoing ethnic genocide. Over 200,000 people have fled across the border to Chad.

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After Saigon: Vietnamese Immigrants in America

Tue, Dec 6, 2005

Thirty years ago, the Fall of Saigon ended the Viet Nam War and led to the first wave of Vietnamese immigration to Boston and other cities in the United States. 130,000 refugees fled Vietnam in 1975, fearing reprisal from the Communist Party. The exodus continued and as of the 2000 census, there were nearly 1,220,000 Vietnamese Americans living in the US, the fifth largest Asian immigrant group in the country. Ten years after diplomatic relations between the US and Viet Nam were re-established, as many as 20,000 Vietnamese live and work in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. Panelists talk about generational issues, homeland politics, cultural barriers and challenges, and the contributions Vietnamese Americans have made to the City of Boston and the country as a whole. Presented in partnership with Carney Hospital, Viet AID, City of Boston Office of Neighborhood Services, Office of New Bostonians, Dorchester Reporter.

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Role of Public Education and the Common Good

Thu, May 11, 2006

Thomas Payzant takes a hard look at the role of public schools in serving the common good. Among other tough questions, Payzant asks whether an increasingly negative view of government that has been growing in American society is at odds with the expectations for what public schools must accomplish. He wonders whether public school districts asked to do too much, and whether the intimate connection between compelling issues of social justice and the role of public schools is more at risk today than at any previous point in the past hundred years.

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Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

Thu, Jan 13, 2005

Peter Roby, director of the Center for Sport and Society at Northeastern University, moderates a panel after the film screening of *Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson.* Panelists include: Robin Chandler, recently named chair of Women's Studies at Northeastern, professor Bob Hall of the African-American Studies Department, and *Boston Globe* sportswriter and boxing journalist, Ron Borges. Jack Johnson, born in Galveston, Texas on March 31, 1878, became the first black American boxer to win the heavyweight title. During his 30 years of boxing, he fought 113 bouts, winning 78 and losing 35 of them. He had 44 knockouts, 34 of which were won by decision. For more than 13 years, Jack Johnson was considered the most famous and most infamous African American on earth. He battled his way from obscurity to the top of the heavyweight ranks and won the greatest prize in American sports, a prize that had always been the private preserve of white combatants.

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Disease Du Jour: What Might Be Next?

Tue, Nov 16, 2004

A panel of public health experts examines the topic of infectious disease and offers some insights into this ever-changing aspect of medicine and our environment. Hepatitis A. West Nile Virus. Bird Flu. SARS. Monkeypox. Infectious diseases are all around us, and a new one seems to emerge every year. In some cases, transmission may be just a plane ride away. What is causing these new diseases and strains to originate? Is an epidemic on hand? What can we do to protect ourselves and our families? This lecture is presented in collaboration with the Massachusetts Medical Society.

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Founding Mothers: Women Who Raised Our Nation

Mon, Nov 29, 2004

Cokie Roberts delivers an intimate and illuminating look at the fervently patriotic and passionate women whose tireless pursuits on behalf of their families (and their country) proved just as crucial to the forging of a new nation as the rebellion that established it. While much has been written about the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, battled the British, and framed the Constitution, the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters they left behind have been little noticed by history. Presented in collaboration with the WAND Education Fund and the Old South Meeting House as part of the Partners in Public Dialogue Series.

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