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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/

Arlie Russell Hochschild with Stolen Pride

Sat, Oct 26, 2024

Suffolk University's Ford Hall Forum presents author Arlie Russell Hochschild, Ph.D., one of the most influential scholars of her generation upon the publication of her latest book, Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right in conversation with award-winning author James Carroll.

In her first book since the widely acclaimed Strangers in Their Own Land, National Book Award finalist and bestselling author Arlie Russell Hochschild now ventures to Appalachia, uncovering the “pride paradox” that has given the right’s appeals such resonance. For all the attempts to understand the state of American politics and the blue/red divide, we’ve ignored what economic and cultural loss can do to pride. What happens, Arlie Russell Hochschild asks, when a proud people in a hard-hit region suffer the deep loss of pride and are confronted with a powerful political appeal that makes it feel “stolen”?

Hochschild’s research drew her to Pikeville, Kentucky, in the heart of Appalachia, within the whitest and second-poorest congressional district in the nation, where the city was reeling: coal jobs had left, crushing poverty persisted, and a deadly drug crisis struck the region.

In Stolen Pride, Hochschild focuses on a group swept up in the shifting political landscape: blue-collar men. In small churches, hillside hollers, roadside diners, trailer parks, and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, Hochschild introduces us to unforgettable people, and offers an original lens through which to see them and the wider world. In Stolen Pride, Hochschild incisively explores our dangerous times, even as she also points a way forward.

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Edward O’Keefe with 'The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt', the Women Who Created a President

Mon, Oct 21, 2024

In this evening focused on women’s and family history, Edward F. O’Keefe shines light on the women who “created” President Roosevelt—the impact and influence of, among others, his mother, sisters, and his wives.
The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt is based on dozens of interviews with descendants, thousands of archives, and new discoveries at Harvard University and Roosevelt’s home.
Following an illustrated presentation comprised of new and exclusive photographs, O’Keefe is in conversation with the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Debby Applegate.

Presented by American Ancestors’ American Inspiration series in partnership with Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University and GBH Forum Network.

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Countdown to November 5: America’s Next Most Unprecedented Presidential Election

Fri, Oct 18, 2024

The 2024 presidential election cycle has been an almost literal rollercoaster ride. Join renowned pollster David Paleologos of Suffolk University's Political Research Center who will discuss the most recent Suffolk University survey results, the crucial issues motivating voters, and the key demographics that could make-or-break this next most unprecedented presidential election.

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Diane Dimond with 'We're Here to Help: When Guardianship Goes Wrong'

Thu, Oct 10, 2024

The state-run guardianship system, called conservatorship in some states, is largely unregulated, ill-understood, and increasingly populated by financially motivated predators. Just how guardianship works and its real-life effects remained a mystery to most until the very public case of pop star Britney Spears. It suddenly became clear that those conscripted into the system lose all their civil rights in the process. Currently, there are an estimated 1.5 to 2 million Americans under court control, but no one can say for sure how many are affected because no government entity keeps track of citizens who have lost the right to determine their own fate.

Established in the late 1800s, the guardianship system was designed to assist the most vulnerable citizens: the elderly and the physically or intellectually disabled. While guardianship has been beneficial to many “wards of the court,” this little-understood process can be a judicial rollercoaster from which there is seldom an escape, and which often leads to financial devastation for the ward. Each year, fifty billion dollars belonging to wards are placed under the control of court appointees, tempting bad actors. As investigative journalist Diane Dimond discovers, the number of exploitive and abusive guardianship cases nationwide demands our urgent attention.

Explosive and compelling, We're Here to Help tells the human stories behind the headlines and shows how to avoid the risks of voluntary or involuntary guardianship.

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Holding onto Humanity

Mon, Sep 23, 2024

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.

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A History of Our Future

Thu, Sep 19, 2024

Luisa Neubauer, the acclaimed German climate activist and co-founder of the school strike for climate movement in Germany, commonly referred to as Fridays for Our Future discusses her recent co-authored book, Beginning to End the Climate Crisis: A History of our Future with Sabine von Mering, director of the Center for German and European Studies and professor of German and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Brandeis University and co-editor of the forthcoming Routledge Handbook of Grassroots Climate Activism, and a climate activist with 350Mass, and Jule Manitz, a climate justice activist with Extinction Rebellion Boston, where she plays a pivotal role in organizing and supporting impactful protests, including civil disobedience actions.

The moderator is Beth Daley, executive editor and general manager of The Conversation and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for climate reporting at The Boston Globe.

In this book, Luisa Neubauer, the best-known German climate activist, and her co-author create the history of our future. If we don’t change course now, we’ll eliminate ourselves. Politicians, entrepreneurs, citizens, everyone must take action. But how? One thing is undisputed: There is no planet B. We must inform and organize ourselves to save the future. In Beginning to End the Climate Crisis, Neubauer presents solutions that are ready to be implemented and must finally be put into practice. But she also demonstrates the attitude with which we must deal with this exceptional situation: undaunted but level-headed. And unyielding towards those who determine our future. Because the last chance for a positive end to the climate crisis is NOW.

This event is part of a new series of author events - the First Annual Book Festival- , presented by Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University and Brandeis University Press. The series is based on recently published books from Brandeis University Press and brings prominent authors to Boston to discuss topics of current and enduring interest.

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“Nat Turner, Black Prophet: A Visionary History” with co-author Gregory P. Downs & historian Vincent Brown

Mon, Oct 7, 2024

Join American Ancestors featured author and a guest historian-expert for an insightful discussion of Nat Turner, Black Prophet, a bold reinterpretation of the causes and legacy of Nat Turner's rebellion. This new, definitive account offers a fresh look at Black history.

In August 1831, a group of enslaved people in Southampton County, Virginia, rose up to fight for their freedom. They attacked the plantations on which their enslavers lived and attempted to march on the county seat of Jerusalem, from which they planned to launch an uprising across the South. After the rebellion was suppressed, well over a hundred people, Black and white, lay dead or were hanged. The uprising was the idea of a single man: Nat Turner. An enslaved preacher, he was as enigmatic as he was brilliant. He was also something more—a prophet, one who claimed to have received visions from the Spirit urging him to act.

With co-author Gregory P. Downs and moderator-historian Vincent Brown of Harvard, we’ll unpack how and why Nat Turner inspired the largest enslaved people’s rebellion in the US between 1811 and 1861 and became an enduring icon of resistance. Nat Turner, Black Prophet, a narrative history by the late historian Anthony E. Kaye and Downs, his collaborator, provides a new understanding of one of the nineteenth century's most decisive events.

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Nancy Nichols with Women Behind the Wheel

Thu, Apr 18, 2024

Suffolk University’s Ford Hall Forum; Communication, Journalism & Media, English, and the History, Language & Global Culture Departments, and Women’s & Gender Studies Program; present:

An evening with award-winning author Nancy A. Nichols, upon the publication of her new book Women Behind the Wheel: An Unexpected and Personal History of the Car. She will be joined in conversation by Amy Monticello, MFA, associate professor and chair, English Department, Suffolk University.

About Women Behind the Wheel

The invention of the automobile a little more than a century ago created a new and movable arena in which women’s struggle for power and autonomy would play out in myriad and often unexpected ways. Cars shaped the way women live, the way women work and date and dress, the way they care for their families, and the way they approach the elusive dream of work-life balance.

Yet despite its dramatic impact on the lives of women, few have stopped the speeding automobile in its tracks to document the impact this technology has had on women. The car may have been “born in a masculine manger,” but beyond this persistent men-and-machine myth lies a different story: women, too, have always loved their cars and the exhilarating freedom of the open road.

Blending cultural analysis, biography, literary criticism, and memoir, Women Behind the Wheel reclaims a neglected history and reveals how the car—and all that surrounds it—has become our most gendered technology.

Praise for Women Behind the Wheel
“Fascinating, funny, enraging and often very moving. For all its hard-edged machinery, gender warring and auto-business shenanigans, the emotional engine of this book is Nichols’s own poignant story.”—The New York Times

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Upward Mobility in Boston: 50 Years After Busing

Mon, May 6, 2024

Suffolk University's Ford Hall Forum and Moakley Archive & Institute, The Boston Desegregation and Busing Initiative, and GBH Forum Network, continue a series of programs examining the lasting impacts of the l974 landmark decision to desegregate Boston’s Public Schools. This panel discusses upward mobility in Boston, exploring the city’s historic institutional roadblocks that have hindered progress for people of color fifty years after busing. It explores solutions to address these persistent issues such as enhancing educational opportunities, closing the wealth gap, increasing home ownership, and broadening access to job opportunities.

The panelists are Ron Bell, longtime community activist and founder of Dunk the Vote, and alumnus of Boston Latin School; Karilyn Crockett, Ph.D., assistant professor, Urban History, Public Policy & Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Tatiana M. F. Cruz, Ph.D., assistant professor and interdisciplinary program director of Africana Studies, Department of Critical Race, Gender and Cultural Studies, Simmons University. The program’s moderator is Kris Hooks, editor-in-chief of The Boston Globe’s newsroom team, Money, Power, Inequality: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap, which focuses on addressing the racial wealth gap in Greater Boston.

Background
In our first program, Driving for Desegregation: Boston 50 Years After Busing, Adrian Walker, columnist for The Boston Globe, led a panel that explored the long-term impacts of busing on the city of Boston, including the current state of Boston’s public schools and racial equity in a myriad of arenas. In our second program held last week, our panel, moderated by Stephanie Leydon, GBH News, the panel explored race, housing, and education equity 50 years after busing. This discussion explored the impact of race-based discriminatory housing policies and education funding formulas while addressing the more recent problems of gentrification and housing affordability and how Boston positions itself to compete with its suburban neighbors when it comes to educational outcomes.

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Busing Crisis in Boston

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Gender Equality and Reproductive Rights After Dobbs

Tue, Apr 2, 2024

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade sparked dramatic shifts in the abortion and reproductive rights landscape in the United States. These changes have cut to the core of the nature of democracy in America.

This panel examines the far-reaching consequences of restrictions on reproductive and LGBTQ rights nearly two years after the Dobbs decision. Gender equality activists and advocates discuss how reproductive justice is intertwined with the wider attack on bodily autonomy and what can we do to protect these rights in this election year and beyond.

The afternoon’s panelists are Dallas Ducar, RN, CEO, Transhealth; Polly Crozier, Esq., Director of Family Advocacy, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), and Kristie, Monast, MS Ed, Executive Director, HealthQ. The afternoon’s moderator is Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, PhD, associate professor and chair, Communication, Journalism & Media Department, Suffolk University.

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