Past Events

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.

Suffolk University’s Ford Hall Forum, the Moakley Archive & Institute, and GBH Forum Network present a program exploring the relationship between access to affordable housing and educational opportunity in Boston’s public schools nearly fifty years after the school busing crisis. This program, moderated by Stephanie Leydon, Executive Producer of digital video at GBH News, is the second in a series examining the lasting impacts of the landmark decision to desegregate Boston’s Public Schools in 1974. This discussion will take a look back at the impact of race-based discriminatory housing policies and education funding formulas while addressing the more recent problems of gentrification and housing affordability. How does Boston position itself to compete with its suburban neighbors when it comes to educational outcomes?

Join us and lend your voice to this important discussion.

Event sponsored by The Boston Desegregation & Busing Initiative.

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.


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.



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.

Cambridge Forum continues its “Living on Borrowed Time” climate series with Dana R. Fisher, renowned climate researcher and self-proclaimed ‘apocalyptic optimist’ discussing her belief that we can no longer wait for governments to pass the laws we need, businesses to do the right thing, or technological silver bullets to maintain a livable planet. Each of us must take action to save ourselves and save the planet.

She'll be joined in the conversation by Pennie Opal Plant and Kathleen Sullivan, and polar explorer and scientist, Dr. Susana Hancock.

“After 28 years of failed climate negotiations, scientifically informed emissions reductions set by governments have languished. Consequently, the pace at which the world is mitigating and adapting to the threat of climate change is far too slow to meet the challenge. Carbon concentrations in the atmosphere continue to rise quickly, as the ice sheets melt and climate shocks—like droughts, floods, and heatwaves—increase in frequency and intensity.

Meanwhile, leadership of the climate negotiations at this late hour has been relegated to petrostates and former fossil fuel executives, which has helped make it impossible to agree upon, let alone implement, policies that could save us from the worst of the climate crisis. The writing is on the wall: the only way for things to get better is after they get much worse. Lives will be lost, and social conflict driven by climate migration and competition for increasingly scarce resources will proliferate. These look like insurmountable odds, and in many ways they are. But there is a slim chance that we can slow climate change enough to preserve our planet and minimize the catastrophe that is just around the corner.”
Adapted from SAVING OURSELVES.

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