Tracie Powell is a leader in philanthropic efforts to increase racial equity and diversity in news media; the Pivot Fund supports independent BIPOC community news. Powell was a Fall 2021 Shorenstein Center Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, where she researched mechanisms for funding and capacity building for minority media outlets. Prior to her work with The Pivot Fund and Harvard, Powell was founding fund manager of the Racial Equity in Journalism (REJ) Fund at Borealis Philanthropy. Powell is also the founder of AllDigitocracy.org, which focuses on the media and its impact on diverse communities. She was a senior fellow with the Democracy Fund, where she worked on the Public Square Initiative that seeks to support informed dialogue through nonprofit journalism investments. Powell was a 2016 Knight Fellow at Stanford University and has written regularly for the Columbia Journalism Review. She is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and The University of Georgia’s Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Carol Wood is Business Innovation Director for the Colorado News Collaborative, which supports 180 media organizations in Colorado. Founder of Emerge Media Group, she provides fractional COO services, as well as monetization and sustainability consulting, to news organizations across the country. Carol’s passion to protect democracy and press freedom drives her work helping all types of media companies develop sustainable business practices, strategy, growth and sound operations.

Sarah Stonbely (Ph.D., NYU) is director of the State of Local News Project in the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Stonbely came to Medill from the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ, where she served as research director for more than seven years. As such she designed, managed, and executed the research agenda, which supports the Center’s mission of growing and strengthening local and collaborative journalism. In her new role, Stonbely will oversee Medill’s nationally cited research on the growing spread of local news deserts and the emergence of new models to address this crisis.

“Bobbie” Roessner, founding editor of The New Bedford Light, is passionate about the power of public service journalism to inform and empower communities. Former managing of The Hartford Courant, where she helped lead the Courant newsroom to one Pulitzer Prize and three Pulitzer finalists. As executive editor of Hearst Connecticut Media Group, she oversaw an amalgam of five daily newspapers, more than a dozen weekly newspapers and an array of digital products. Roessner was a Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University and has twice been a Pulitzer juror. She currently serves on the board of the New England First Amendment Coalition, advocating for open government and press freedoms.

Why is it that historic figures such as Samuel Adams, James Otis, and John Hancock are remembered as heroes, yet Metacom—the Wampanoag leader whom the English called King Philip—is virtually unknown? The year 2025 will mark the 350th anniversary of the devastating and bloody conflict between New England colonists and Indigenous people that is most commonly known to history as King Philip’s War. However, very little is known about his campaign to end English mistreatment and his fight for independence and property rights for his people. Throughout the 1830s, Willam Apess, a Pequot minister and activist, continued fighting for Indian rights. Revolutionary Spaces is proud to celebrate the legacy of both Apess and Metacom at A Community Reading of William Apess’s Eulogy on King Philip (Metacom), where we commemorate the ideals for which they fought—ideals that were not so different from those that Americans fought for in 1775.

This talk is produced in partnership with the Institute for New England Native American Studies (INENAS) at the University of Massachusetts Boston and the Northeastern Humanities Center.

Moderating is J. Cedric Woods (Lumbee), Director of INENAS. Drew Lopenzina, Professor of Early American and Native American Literature at Old Dominion University, provides historical context for the eulogy and the 19th-century events that informed Apess’s writing. Guest speakers then read excerpts from the eulogy followed by a brief panel discussion to critically address the history of Native American conversion to Christianity, the significance of King Philip’s War, and the importance of Apess’s eulogy.

From historian and author of the popular daily newsletter LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN, a vital narrative that explains how America, once a beacon of democracy, now teeters on the brink of autocracy -- and how we can turn back.

In the midst of the impeachment crisis of 2019, Heather Cox Richardson launched a daily Facebook essay providing the historical background of the daily torrent of news. The essays soon turned into a newsletter and, spread by word of mouth, its readership ballooned to more than 2 million dedicated readers who rely on its plainspoken and informed take on the present and past in America.

In Democracy Awakening, Richardson crafts a compelling and original narrative, explaining how, over the decades, a small group of wealthy people have made war on American ideals. By weaponizing language and promoting false history they have led us into authoritarianism -- creating a disaffected population and then promising to recreate an imagined past where those people could feel important again. She argues that taking our country back starts by remembering the elements of the nation’s true history that marginalized Americans have always upheld. Their dedication to the principles on which this nation was founded has enabled us to renew and expand our commitment to democracy in the past. Richardson sees this history as a roadmap for the nation’s future.

Please notice that the in-person registration is sold out but you can register to take part to the event through zoom.

Ford Hall Forum and GBH Forum Network invite you to a panel discussion moderated by Adrian Walker of The Boston Globe, with Zebulon V. Miletsky, PhD., associate professor of Africana Studies, Stonybrook University and the author of, A History of Boston’s Long Black Freedom Struggle, Alisa R. Drayton, Executive Director, Yawkey Club of Roxbury, and Marilyn Flowers-Marion, chairperson, Retired Teachers Chapter of the Boston Teachers Union, who will share their lived experiences of court-ordered busing in Boston during the 1970s. The panel will also explore 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. Looking to the future, the panel will consider what a more equitable Boston Public School System might look like.

Lily King is the award-winning author of five novels. Her most recent novel, Writers & Lovers, was published on March 3rd, 2020, and her first collection of short stories, Five Tuesdays in Winter, will be released on November 9, 2021. Her 2014 novel Euphoria won the Kirkus Award, The New England Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Award. Euphoria was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by The New York Times Book Review. It was included in TIME's Top 10 Fiction Books of 2014, as well as on Amazon, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, and Salon’s Best Books of 2014.

Each of the last presidential elections has presented its own unique challenges, from historically unpopular candidates to voting during a global pandemic. 2024 is shaping up to be no different. Join David Paleologos, Director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center and one of the United States’ most respected and trustworthy pollsters, to discuss our next unprecedented presidential election. Get the inside scoop on the swing states, critical voting blocs, and crucial issues that could make or break the 2024 elections. The afternoon's moderator is Latoyia Edwards, Emmy award-winning anchor on NBC10 Boston and NECN.

At Beyond the Page, we believe in the power of knowledge, the magic of stories and the beauty of shared experiences. This event series features interactive sessions with renowned authors discussing their latest work and their writing process. Whether you're seeking profound discussions or heartfelt emotions, these events offer something truly special for everyone.