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Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

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Ford Hall Forum

The Ford Hall Forum is the nation's oldest continuously operating free public lecture series. Its mission is to foster an informed and effective citizenry and to promote freedom of speech through the public presentation of lectures, debates, and discussions. Forum events illuminate the key issues facing our society by bringing to its podium knowledgeable and thought-provoking speakers. These speakers are presented in person, for free, and in settings, which facilitate frank and open debate.

http://www.fordhallforum.org/

  • After Saigon: Vietnamese Immigrants in America

    Tue, Dec 6, 2005
    Thirty years ago, the Fall of Saigon ended the Viet Nam War and led to the first wave of Vietnamese immigration to Boston and other cities in the United States. 130,000 refugees fled Vietnam in 1975, fearing reprisal from the Communist Party. The exodus continued and as of the 2000 census, there were nearly 1,220,000 Vietnamese Americans living in the US, the fifth largest Asian immigrant group in the country. Ten years after diplomatic relations between the US and Viet Nam were re-established, as many as 20,000 Vietnamese live and work in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. Panelists talk about generational issues, homeland politics, cultural barriers and challenges, and the contributions Vietnamese Americans have made to the City of Boston and the country as a whole. Presented in partnership with Carney Hospital, Viet AID, City of Boston Office of Neighborhood Services, Office of New Bostonians, Dorchester Reporter.
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  • Role of Public Education and the Common Good

    Thu, May 11, 2006
    Thomas Payzant takes a hard look at the role of public schools in serving the common good. Among other tough questions, Payzant asks whether an increasingly negative view of government that has been growing in American society is at odds with the expectations for what public schools must accomplish. He wonders whether public school districts asked to do too much, and whether the intimate connection between compelling issues of social justice and the role of public schools is more at risk today than at any previous point in the past hundred years.
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  • Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

    Thu, Jan 13, 2005
    Peter Roby, director of the Center for Sport and Society at Northeastern University, moderates a panel after the film screening of *Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson.* Panelists include: Robin Chandler, recently named chair of Women's Studies at Northeastern, professor Bob Hall of the African-American Studies Department, and *Boston Globe* sportswriter and boxing journalist, Ron Borges. Jack Johnson, born in Galveston, Texas on March 31, 1878, became the first black American boxer to win the heavyweight title. During his 30 years of boxing, he fought 113 bouts, winning 78 and losing 35 of them. He had 44 knockouts, 34 of which were won by decision. For more than 13 years, Jack Johnson was considered the most famous and most infamous African American on earth. He battled his way from obscurity to the top of the heavyweight ranks and won the greatest prize in American sports, a prize that had always been the private preserve of white combatants.
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    Disease Du Jour: What Might Be Next?

    Tue, Nov 16, 2004
    A panel of public health experts examines the topic of infectious disease and offers some insights into this ever-changing aspect of medicine and our environment. Hepatitis A. West Nile Virus. Bird Flu. SARS. Monkeypox. Infectious diseases are all around us, and a new one seems to emerge every year. In some cases, transmission may be just a plane ride away. What is causing these new diseases and strains to originate? Is an epidemic on hand? What can we do to protect ourselves and our families? This lecture is presented in collaboration with the Massachusetts Medical Society.
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  • Founding Mothers: Women Who Raised Our Nation

    Mon, Nov 29, 2004
    Cokie Roberts delivers an intimate and illuminating look at the fervently patriotic and passionate women whose tireless pursuits on behalf of their families (and their country) proved just as crucial to the forging of a new nation as the rebellion that established it. While much has been written about the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, battled the British, and framed the Constitution, the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters they left behind have been little noticed by history. Presented in collaboration with the WAND Education Fund and the Old South Meeting House as part of the Partners in Public Dialogue Series.
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  • Momsrising.org: The Motherhood Manifesto

    Thu, Oct 18, 2007
    Joan Blades, well known for co-founding the e-advocacy group MoveOn.org, discusses her new organization, Momsrising.org, and internet advocacy in general. With this new site, she hopes to build an army of citizen activists who will push for strong maternity leave laws, improved health care coverage, and fair wages, among other issues. Do more "family friendly" policies make economic sense for our country? Does an active online community necessarily translate into political influence? Blades screens her documentary film, *The Motherhood Manifesto*, and explores the Internet's ever-changing role in our political process.
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    First Amendment Award: Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

    Thu, Mar 18, 2010
    The Ford Hall Forum presents the 2010 Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which is dedicated to defending and sustaining individual rights at America's colleges and universities. Greg Lukianoff, President of FIRE; Steven Pinker, bestselling author and FIRE Advisory Board member; and Harvey Silverglate, Civil liberties lawyer and FIRE Co-Founder, join moderator Judge Nancy Gertner of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts to discuss their organization's work and what freedom of speech means today.
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  • Extreme Dog: What Right Do Our Pets Have to Be Saved?

    Thu, Sep 16, 2010
    Dr. Nick Trout, staff surgeon at Angell Animal Medical Center and author of *Tell Me Where It Hurts*; attorney John Ensminger, dog advocate and creator of the doglawreporter.blog spot.com; and Dr. Joann Lindenmayer, Associate Professor at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, join moderator Monica Collins, syndicated columnist of *Ask Dog Lady*, to discuss heart wrenching questions relating to our beloved pets. Have we as a society gone too far in treating dogs with extensive medical problems? Is there such a thing as doing too much to save a dog’s life? Should we base our decisions on medical cost, time, or effort for recovery? And who makes these decisions–-the state, the legal system, the doctors, or the owners?
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  • AIDS, Social Justice, and the Politics of Transformation

    Thu, Sep 30, 2010
    Kevin Cranston, Director of the Massachusetts Bureau of Infectious Disease; Dazon Dixon Diallo, President of SisterLove; Julie Davids, Founder and Co-Director of CHAMP (Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project); and Guillermo Chacón, President and CEO of the Latino AIDS Commission converse with moderator Rebecca Haag, President and CEO of AIDS Action Committee about the ongoing problem of HIV transmission. As death from AIDS becomes less common, AIDS service organizations must transform their services and prevention programs to follow a more radical approach. Why are there 56,000 new infections in the U.S. every year when we know what causes HIV, how it’s transmitted, and how to treat it? Join us to discuss how to stop the spread of HIV by addressing the underlying social injustices of racism, sexism, homophobia, violence, substance abuse, and poverty. (Presented in collaboration with Old South Meeting House, a museum and National Historic Landmark dedicated to the free exchange of ideas, as part of the Partners in Public Dialogue series.)
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  • Election 2010 and Communities of Color

    Thu, Nov 4, 2010
    Dr. Maria Idali Torres, director of the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy; Dr. Paul Watanabe of the Institute of Asian American Studies at UMass Boston; and Marvin Venay, executive director of the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus, join State Representative Linda Dorcena Forry to explore how the newly elected and reelected officials are likely to address upcoming legislation affecting Latino, Black, and Asian American populations on education, immigration and language, affordable housing, economic development, and health and safety. Hear what the panel thinks we can do to ensure better representation for our communities.
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