Many CBH Talks were recorded. To view, visit the Center for Brooklyn History Talks YouTube channel at bklynlib.org/CBH-Talks.
Past Events
CBH Talk | “Excited Delirium: Race, Police Violence, and the Invention of a Disease” with Aisha Beliso-De Jesús and Elizabeth Hinton
“Excited delirium syndrome” is a controversial medical diagnosis often used in cases of police encounters that end in sudden death, especially those involving Black and Brown people. It was famously used by Derek Chauvin’s legal defense team to justify his killing of George Floyd.…
Introduction to History Day 2025
In this virtual workshop we will discuss what you need to know to enter the 2025 History Day contest and learn more about the theme "Rights and Responsibilities in History." Bring any questions you have for a Q&A with our NYCHD Coordinator!
Open to all NYC teachers and students.…
CBH Talk | NYC’s Jewel Streets and the Hazards of Climate Change
For decades New York City has neglected a twelve-block area that lies on the border of East New York, Brooklyn and Lindenwood, Queens. It’s known as “The Jewel Streets” for the street names Ruby, Emerald, Amber and Sapphire.
Built on low-lying wetlands, lacking…
New York City History Day Kickoff & Info Session
Brooklyn Public Library’s Center for Brooklyn History (CBH) is the host of NYC History Day! NYCHD 2025 is the regional contest for National History Day (NHD). New York City middle and high schoolers get to do original research on a historical topic of their choice and make their own exhibition,…
CBH Talk | “The Presidents and the People” with Corey Brettschneider and Alexis Coe
History shows that American presidents have often pushed the boundaries established for them by the Constitution. In The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It, Brown University politics and constitutional law…
CBH Talk | David Rohde and Timothy Naftali Discuss “Where Tyranny Begins: The Justice Department, the FBI, and the War of Democracy”
In Where Tyranny Begins, two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist David Rohde investigates the strategies Donald Trump systematically used to turn the country’s two most powerful law-enforcement agencies into his personal political weapons.
Over the course of…
CBH Talk | Arlie Russell Hochschild and Matthew Desmond Discuss “Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right”
In Stolen Pride, National Book Award finalist and bestselling author Arlie Russell Hochschild travels to Appalachia where she focuses her sharp analytical eye on a group that confounds many Americans seeking to understand how one can simultaneously believe in democracy and support Donald Trump –…
CBH Talk | The Embattled University
As the new academic year starts, join three former and current higher education leaders for a conversation about the crises and controversies on campuses across the country.Nicholas B. Dirks, veteran university administrator at both the University of California Berkeley and…
CBH Talk | From the West Indies to Eastern Parkway: Caribbean Migration and Diaspora in Brooklyn
Just as the Great Migration brought waves of African-Americans from the South to the North, a parallel migration with as important an impact came from Afro-Caribbeans moving to the US from the island nations of Jamaica, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobego, Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican…
Collage with our Collection!
We supply images of historic Brooklyn maps. You bring your creative touch! Join us for an evening of conversation and collage-making inspired by the Center for Brooklyn History’s incomparable Brooklyn map collection. We’ll have copies of some of our favorite Brooklyn maps dating as…
CBH Talk | “We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance” with Kellie Carter Jackson and Lauren N. Williams
In We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance, historian Kellie Carter Jackson presents a radical reframing of Black resistance, exploring the many forms of activism employed against white supremacy over centuries, and offering a fundamental corrective to the historical record.…
CBH Talk | “Treating Violence” with Rob Gore and Marlon Peterson
Dr. Rob Gore has worked in the Emergency Department of Kings County Hospital for almost 20 years. He knows all too well the violence that plagues Brooklyn’s youth, especially its youth of color.
Gore is the visionary behind Kings Against Violence Initiative (…
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