Past Events

The GBH BPL studio will host Outspoken Saturdays, a spoken word poetry event for emerging artists. Every first Saturday of the month, the series will be created in collaboration with spoken word artist Amanda Shea.

David-James is an interdisciplinary creator based in Boston, Ma. With a background in Fine Arts and in music performance, David-James has made an effort to combine mediums and create his own brand: Notan Collective. Within this Brand, the Artist has been able to release projects that showcase his interdisciplinary nature, such as “Mournin” and “Shades.” Both of which shows his abilities in visual arts, as well as his skills in music production, songwriting and performance.
Boston bred artist Pop Off emerged on the scene with his breakout project, "Diamonds in the Rough." With its old school hip hop style production, Pop Off has stamped his place in Boston's rap scene with his raw rap style, use of the city's slang, and mentions of its neighborhood streets.

Photo credit: United Artistry LLC

From shipping lanes to marine conservation, the high seas are at the center of geopolitical and strategic interests for countries around the world. How are maritime territories governed, and how are political disputes resolved? What can be done to improve cooperation on the high seas?

Join us for a timely discussion of these questions and more with Dr. Steven Wills, Navalist at the Center for Maritime Strategy. The program features expert remarks from Dr. Wills and live audience Q&A.

Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras is a definitive account of Blaxploitation cinema—the freewheeling, often shameless, and wildly influential genre—from a distinctive voice in film history and criticism

In 1971, two films grabbed the movie business, shook it up, and launched a genre that would help define the decade. Melvin Van Peebles’s Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, an independently produced film about a male sex worker who beats up cops and gets away, and Gordon Parks’s Shaft, a studio-financed film with a killer soundtrack, were huge hits, making millions of dollars. Sweetback upended cultural expectations by having its Black rebel win in the end, and Shaft saved MGM from bankruptcy. Not for the last time did Hollywood discover that Black people went to movies too. The Blaxploitation era was born.

Written by Boston Globe film critic Odie Henderson, Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras is a spirited history of a genre and the movies that he grew up watching, which he loves without irony (but with plenty of self-awareness and humor.) Blaxploitation was a major trend, but it was never simple. The films mixed self-empowerment with exploitation, base stereotypes with essential representation that spoke to the lives and fantasies of Black viewers. The time is right for a reappraisal, understanding these films in the context of the time, and exploring their lasting influence.

Odie Henderson will be in conversation with Candace McDuffie, nationally acclaimed senior writer at The Root, who focuses on race, gender, and entertainment.

Kristin Hannah is a New York Times bestselling author of 20 novels including Firefly Lane (2008), The Nightingale (2015), The Great Alone (2017) and The Four Winds (2021).

Hannah shares her insights on writing, editing and more during this conversational Q&A. She has over 30 years of writing experience and is also excited to discuss her newest book The Women.

Set to release on February 6, The Women follows 20-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath during the turbulent, transformative era of 1960s America as she impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps to follow her brother to war. The story reveals how America, and herself, have changed when she returns.

Ray Anthony Shepard has put together an award-winning book for young readers to counter what he says are "years of sanitized Black History months and schoolbooks." He has chosen instead to tell the story from the inside - examining the question of race through the lyrical biographies of six prominent American heroes, all of whom challenged and changed the racial barriers of their day - Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B Wells, MLK and Barack Obama.

Cambridge Forum guest speaker Shepard, intertwines his academic research with personal memories of his mother's stories about her enslaved father, accounts informed by his own experiences of living through eight decades from the era of Jim Crow to the present day. He provides a refreshing and corrective understanding of the role of race in American life - Black and White. As a retired history teacher and textbook editor, he now writes books "that didn’t exist when I was in the classroom and books I couldn’t publish as an editor.” Ray Anthony Shepard graduated from the University of Nebraska and the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The conversation will be moderated by Jude Nixon, Professor of English and former Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Salem State University.

Come to the GBH Studio at the Boston Public Library to learn about “ What is Owed?” — a new podcast from GBH News hosted by reporter Saraya Wintersmith.

"What is Owed?" is a seven-part GBH News podcast that will examine Boston's critical and historic role in the national reparations debate happening across the country and in other parts of the world. The series seeks to understand how reparations might look in Boston, one of America’s oldest cities that still struggles to shake stigmas of its past when it comes to racial equity.

Celebrate the launch of the podcast with the team and enjoy live music by GBH Lounge artist and performer Nadjya Facey-Maccow.

Black History Month is a time to celebrate Black excellence, and so James “Jimmy” Hills welcomes to the GBH Studio in the Boston Public Library three rising voices from the community to talk about their advocacy and impact on equity in the city of Boston.

Join us at GBH Studios in Brighton  at 7:00 pm for a panel discussion on one of the least known forms of hierarchical oppression: Caste. It is an ancient form of division and the subject of Ava Duverney’s shocking new film, Origin, which examines a writer’s journey through India, Germany and America to understand caste and its enduring impact.

Our panelists include: Suraj Yengde, W.E.B. Dubois fellow at Harvard University, who plays himself in “Origin”, Tufts professor Ravi Shankar, whose new book explores race, shame, the criminal justice system and what it means to be a brown man in America; Arun Rath, host and executive editor of GBH’s local All Things Considered; and moderator, Chellamal Keshavan, current Masters in Public Policy Candidate at the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University.

Together they will explore their personal reckonings of growing up in the U.S. yet not escaping caste, how caste intersects specifically with anti-Black racism in America, and the ways in which individuals and society perpetuate oppressive structures.

Phillip Martin, Senior Investigative Reporter will deliver the welcoming remarks.

Bobby Stevenson, a renowned local gospel recording artist, has achieved remarkable success in the Boston music industry. With five Boston Music Awards to his name, including the prestigious Ricky Award, his soulful voice and inspiring lyrics have left an indelible mark on the Boston gospel music scene. Stevenson continues to uplift and inspire listeners with his award-winning talent.

Join us for an evening of music, wine, and food. Registration is encouraged for this free event.