James Nichols-Worley was the lead petitioner for expanding the local voting age to 17 years old in his hometown of Southborough, Massachusetts.

Music has always been central to the African American quest for freedom. The Civil Rights struggle and its music provided some of America’s most powerful calls of hope, moral clarity, and equity.

During the 19th century, spirituals such as Steal Away carried coded protest. In the 20th century, protest became explicit. In the 1930s Ethel Waters sang an anti-lynching song that shocked Broadway and Billie Holiday bravely recorded the stinging song Strange Fruit. Duke Ellington’s long career spoke for racial respect and civil rights in such pieces as Black Beauty and [Martin Luther] King Fit the Battle of Alabam’.

As political action picked up and in the 1950s and 1960s, We Shall Overcome became the clarion anthem of the Civil Rights movement and central to America’s moral quest for “a more perfect Union.” Old songs like This Little Light of Mine took on new meaning and fresh songs appeared such as If You Miss Me from the Back of the Bus. Black and white activists alike sang Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind. And great artists—such as Sam Cooke (A Change is Gonna Come), The Impressions (People Get Ready), James Brown (Say It Loud), Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, on up to The Roots—all sang to advance respect and equality.

Dr. John Edward Hasse, long-time music curator at the Smithsonian and Duke Ellington’s biographer, plays stirring video clips of these songs that inspired, motivated, and advocated for what Martin Luther King called for in his “I have a dream” speech: that we all be judged not by the color of our skin, “but by the content of our character.” He will also play works by W.C. Handy and Duke Ellington that helped lay the musical foundation for the Civil Rights movement.

Bookselling information
For in-person attendees, Trident Booksellers & Cafe, one of our community bookstore partners, will provide copies of Hesse's book Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington for purchase and facilitate an author signing from 7 - 7:30 PM following the the audience Q&A. Zoom webinar attendees and any patrons wishing to order copies online may do so from Bookshop dot org by visiting this link.

Many homeless youth go unseen or unheard. The most recent DESE data from the 2022-23 school years reports there were 1790 unaccompanied homeless students in MA.
In Massachusetts, you are considered a homeless youth if you are 24 years of age or younger, not in physical custody of a legal guardian and lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence. While Boston has been allocating funds for this often overlooked demographic, what more can be done to end youth homelessness?

Tori Bedford moderates a conversation with experts who work to address the situation, whether it’s through offering beds, educational programs or assistance with permanent living.

Dr. Alice Colegrove serves as the Director of Homeless Youth Services at the MA Executive Office of Health and Human Services. With over 25 years of dedicated experience in public health, housing, street outreach, and behavioral health, she is a leading voice in Massachusetts’s efforts to prevent and end youth homelessness.

Elisabeth Jackson is the President and CEO of Bridge Over Troubled Waters, a nonprofit in Boston that serves homeless, runaway, and at-risk youth.

The sixth mass extinction currently underway is due to a combination of climate change and destruction of natural habitats. Both crises are the result of our energy, industrial, and food production systems that have upended Nature. Biologist Michael Reed explains how the vitality of our planet depends on the health of ecosystems. Using migratory birds as an example, he describes the interdependence of different forms of life --- birds, animals, fish, insects, plants --and terrain. Dr. Reed also suggests why some species are better able to adapt to the climate and extinction crises than others. Worldwide action is urgently needed.

Michael Reed's research has focused on a variety of conservation problems, but especially the characteristics of species that put them at risk from human-caused threats. Regarding extinction, he is particularly interested in the effects of habitat loss on species survival. Habitat threats include the impact of large-scale grazing, logging, and suburban sprawl.

Bill Rauch is the inaugural Artistic Director of The Perelman Center for the Performing Arts (PAC NYC) at the World Trade Center. His work has been featured on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning production of Robert Schenkkan’s “All The Way” and its companion play “The Great Society,” as well as at many of the largest regional theaters in the country.

From 2007 to 2019, Bill was Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the country’s oldest and largest rotating repertory theater, where he directed seven world premieres as well as innovative productions of classic musicals, including a queer reenvisioning of “Oklahoma!” Among his initiatives at OSF, he committed to commissioning new plays that dramatized moments of change in American history. “American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle” resulted in such plays as Lynn Nottage’s “Sweat” (winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize), Paula Vogel’s “Indecent,” the 1491s’ “Between Two Knees,” Lisa Loomer’s “Roe,” Universes’ “Party People,” Culture Clash’s “American Night,” and Robert Schenkkan’s plays about Lyndon B. Johnson.

Bill is also co-founder of Cornerstone Theater Company, where he served as artistic director from 1986 to 2006, directing more than 40 productions, most of them collaborations with diverse communities nationwide. He has directed world premieres at Portland Center Stage, Center Theater Group, and South Coast Rep, as well as at American Repertory Theater, Yale Rep, the Guthrie, Arena Stage, Seattle Rep, Long Wharf Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Pasadena Playhouse, and Great Lakes Theater Festival. His production of “The Pirates of Penzance” performed at Portland Opera. He was a Claire Trevor Professor at the University of California Irvine and has also taught at the University of Southern California and UCLA.

Cosponsored by the Boston College Theatre Department, English Department, and the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy.

Zack Tripp is Co-Head of Weil’s Appeals and Strategic Counseling practice. He has extensive experience litigating before the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal and state appellate courts, as well as litigating and advising clients on high-stakes legal issues at the trial level.

As part of our "Revolutionary Music: Music for Social Change" programmatic theme, join the Boston Public Library and American Ancestors in-person or online for talk about a sweeping and spellbinding portrait of the longtime kings of jazz—Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie—who, born within a few years of one another, burst through racial barriers to become the most popular entertainers on the planet.

About the book
The Jazzmen is the story of three revolutionary American musicians, the maestro jazzmen who orchestrated the chords that throb at the soul of twentieth-century America. Larry Tye paints a vivid and immersive portrait of the birth of jazz, highlighting the resilience of its trailblazers as they opened America’s ears and souls to the magnificence of their melodies. Each insisted he was a music maker first and last, when in reality all three were cultural and racial insurgents.

There will be time for Q&A from both in-person and online audiences. After the main program ends at approximately 7 PM, there will be an author signing facilitated by local independent bookstore partner Trident Booksellers and Cafe.

Online attendees will have a chance to order copies from another local independent bookstore partner (Porter Square Books) during the main program (6 - 7 PM).