Past Events

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 also plays works by W.C. Handy and Duke Ellington that helped lay the musical foundation for the Civil Rights movement.

Join GBH Music in welcoming the Ulysses Quartet as its first-ever quartet in residence with a free performance at the GBH Studio at the Boston Public Library on Wednesday, May 22, at noon.

The Ulysses Quartet's season-long partnership as quartet in residence furthers GBH Music's ongoing effort to connect with listeners of all backgrounds and ages. The partnership will span over fifty performances and events throughout the year, including with the Boston Public and Massachusetts schools. The Ulysses Quartet’s residency at GBH is made possible by a generous contribution from the Mattina R. Proctor Foundation.

Registration is encouraged for this free event.

Photo credit: Lara St. John

This event is presented with support from CRB and the Ulysses Quartet.

The Ulysses Quartet’s residency at GBH is made possible by a generous contribution from the Mattina R. Proctor Foundation.

What does an equitable and sustainable future look like? How can we continue making progress amidst conflict, pandemics, and climate disasters? We’ve invited global leaders to our opening plenary, to address these universal questions, and share how they’re wielding technology through global crises.

Speakers include MIT President Sally Kornbluth, WHO Director-General Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health, Dr. Vanessa Kerry, and Grammy-nominated artist, Simón Mejía of Bomba Estéreo.

In 2014, Jeffrey K Smith wrote "The Museum Effect" in which he put forth the case that museums, libraries and cultural institutions educate and civilize us as individuals and as societies. He suggested that visitors who spend time with their thoughts elevated, leave the institution as better people in some meaningful fashion than when they entered.

We will discuss this idea with Natalie Dykstra, the acclaimed biographer, of CHASING BEAUTY, about the life and legacy of Isabella Stewart Gardner, one of the first female art collectors in America. "Isabella Stewart Gardner is best known today for the Boston museum that bears her name, but as Dykstra makes clear in her luminous new biography, the Gilded Age doyenne was herself a figure to be reckoned with. A daughter of wealth who married into more, the flamboyant Gardner quickly became the queen of haute bohemia — and in the process, one of America’s most serious collectors. A lively portrait of a moment, a woman and the power of art". - NYT

Was Gardner doing essential work in the cultural education of her fellow Americans or just satisfying her own wanderlust by spending money on expensive indulgences. Join the conversation to express your views and discover more.

With the development of technology and advances in pre-natal care, the childbirth experience should be safer than ever.  Yet, in Massachusetts, life-threatening and fatal complications associated with labor and delivery have increased at alarming rates for all birthing people, with Black women experiencing the highest rates of death. 

In this forum, legislators, healthcare experts and advocates discuss the state of maternal health in the Commonwealth, and how better access to care can ensure that giving birth is safe, nurturing and survivable. 

The speakers are:
Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha, Ph.D.
Emily Anesta
Nashira Baril, MPH
Representative Brandy Fluker Oakley
Representative Kay Khan, RN/MSN
Senator Liz Miranda
Lucy Lomas, M.D.
Jo-Anna Rorie, Ph.D.
GBH News Saraya Wintersmith is moderating the discussion

This event will be followed by a reception.


This talk is a partnership between the Commonwealth Beacon and GBH Forum Network supported by
Bay State Birth Coalition
Boston Children’s Hospital
Boston’s Higher Ground
Boston Public Health Commission
Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Children’s HealthWatch
MassNOW
Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition (MAWOCC)
NAACP, Boston Chapter
Neighborhood Birth Center
New England Medical Association (NEMA)
The Wagner Foundation
Boston Public Health Commission

SOLD OUT

Immerse yourself in New England's history! Join GBH at The Massachusetts Historical Society for an exclusive curated just-for-you exhibit of objects that changed New England’s history. Sip a glass of wine or beer as you chat with the historians behind the collection.

Did you know that Paul Revere never actually said “the British are coming” during his midnight ride to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams about the British troop movements? In his letter to Jeremy Belknap, he expressed discretion about alerting his fellow Patriots by placing a signal lantern in the steeple of Old North Church to warn them of the British movements. The MHS will have the original Letter from Paul Revere to Jeremy Belknap, circa 1798 on display during this event. Come see it for yourself!

This open house style event invites you to wander among the artifacts as you savor a glass a wine (or local brew) and chat with MHS’s curators about objects on display.

We are excited to be partnering with The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) to bring you this unique experience. The Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history.

Guests will be welcomed in the main entrance of MHS in Boston’s Kenmore Square neighborhood and guided up the marbled staircase to the second floor (elevators available as needed) where this unique collection is on display. Guests are invited to enjoy a complimentary beverage and a light bite while walking through the exhibit and chatting with MSH historians.

This event is hosted by GBH News' Craig LeMoult.

Tickets include:
- Access to an exclusive exhibit put together by MHS for specially for this event
- Complimentary beer, wine, and bites
- Access to MHS curators to answer questions about the items on display

All ticket sales support GBH.

Parking/Directions:
Conveniently located where the Back Bay meets the Fenway in the heart of Boston, the Massachusetts Historical Society is accessible from the city's major highways and by public transportation via train, subway, or bus.

Visitors in need of handicapped-accessible parking are advised that the wheelchair ramp for the building is located on the right side of the building (when facing the front door), adjacent to the HP-placard designated street spaces on the Fenway access road at the corner of the building. Find out more here: www.mbta.com

If you are driving, please keep in mind that street parking is limited but there are a few public parking garages surrounding the area.

The maximum capacity of this event is 100
This is an age 21+ event


This event is presented in partnership with The Massachusetts Historical Society.

In the wake of the Boston Tea Party, the British government in 1774 sought to rein in Massachusetts colonists with a series of harsh laws that closed Boston’s port and severely limited the right to representative government and due process of law. The fallout from these so-called Coercive Acts, including the attempted dissolution of the colony’s legislative branch, sparked intense debates within the community and became a critical factor on the road to the American Revolution.

Historians and current Massachusetts elected officials discuss and answer the audience questions on the meaning of the Coercive Acts today, with a particular focus on the role of the Massachusetts Legislature in our constitutional scheme of state government. The topics heatedly debated at the time—competing interpretations of representative government, the relative powers of the executive and legislative branches, the role of the individual and community in relation to government proper , and the consequences of resisting arbitrary power—still resonate strongly today.

American Experience presents a virtual PAST FORWARD conversation exploring the harmful chemicals in the food, clothes, and other goods that Americans buy and use every day. This conversation is inspired in part by our new streaming film Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal.

Panelists will examine how American consumer culture acts in conjunction with corporate negligence and government laxity to expose the public to chemical hazards. They will also explore how wealth can determine one's level of exposure, and the government’s regulatory approach to consumer protection over time. They will look forward by asking what actions consumers can take to protect themselves.

Panelists:
Dr. Jennifer Thomson is an associate professor of history at Bucknell University. Her current book project examines the effect of the Environmental Protection Agency's sewer grant construction program on racial residential segregation. Her first book, The Wild and the Toxic: American Environmentalism and the Politics of Health, explored the various discourses of health that environmentalists deployed in the late twentieth century.

Dr. Bhavna Shamasunder is an associate professor and Chair of the Department of Urban & Environmental Policy at Occidental College. She teaches and conducts research at the intersection of environmental health & justice, with a focus on inequalities in chemical exposures faced by low-income communities and communities of color who live and work in urban and/or industrial environments.

This conversation will be moderated by Tim Bartley. Tim teaches in the Department of Sociology and the Earth Commons Institute at Georgetown University. His work focuses on sustainability standards, environmental justice movements, and the regulation of global industries. More broadly, he is interested in political, organizational, and economic processes that shape environments, workplaces, and the expression of rights around the world.

This event will be livestreamed on our YouTube and Facebook pages.

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).

Understanding the accelerating expansion of our universe is one of the most important goals of modern astronomy. And it is a huge technical challenge. Paul Martini, with an international team of almost 500 researchers, built the unique telescope, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), that captures (via spectrographs) light from galaxies and supermassive black holes (quasars) 11 billion light-years away. The first results are amazing, and provide the best explanation of dark energy and cosmic expansion that is currently possible. Dr. Martini describes the DESI project, its scientific significance, and the very exciting results so far.