Many CBH Talks were recorded. To view, visit the Center for Brooklyn History Talks YouTube channel at bklynlib.org/CBH-Talks.
Past Events
Mapping Memory: The Legacy of Slavery, Abolition, and Freedom in Brooklyn
In Brooklyn, the history of slavery, abolition, and freedom is all around us: not just in museums and historic houses, but in the names of our streets and even the soil beneath our feet. In this professional development workshop, educators are invited to uncover the (sometimes buried) history of…
CBH Talk | The Brownstone Boys and "For the Love of Renovating"
In 2018, Barry Bordelon and Jordan Slocum bought a 130 year-old Brooklyn brownstone and blogged about the trials and triumphs of renovation under the byline “the Brownstone Boys.” The upshot was a devoted following of fellow renovators, a thriving restoration business, and now – a book!…
CBH Talk | Elizabeth Gloucester, The Most Powerful Black Woman Lost to History
Co-presented by the Center for Brooklyn History and The Brooklyn Heights Association
Elizabeth Gloucester, was born into slavery in 1817 in Richmond, Virginia. When she died in Brooklyn Heights six decades later, the Brooklyn Eagle described her as “the wealthiest colored…
CBH Talk | Natalie Foster and Tressie McMillan Cottom Discuss “The Guarantee”
The Guarantee asks us to imagine an America where housing, health care, a college education, dignified work, family care, an inheritance, and an income floor are not only attainable by all but guaranteed, by our government, for everyone.
But isn’t this pie-in-the-sky…
I See My Light Shining: Baldwin-Emerson Elders Project Launch
Join the Emerson Collective and Columbia University in-person at the Center for Brooklyn History for the launch event of "I See My Light Shining: The Baldwin-Emerson Elders Project." This event is hosted by the Baldwin-Emerson Elders Project and will feature a collection of oral testimonies…
CBH Talk | Severe Mental Illness: Our Collective Response and Responsibility
Jonathan Rosen’s acclaimed book, The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions, has helped move the needle on our understanding of severe mental illness and the ways that society -- at the governmental, medical, and individual levels -- has failed…
CBH Talk | Blackface Minstrelsy and the Racial Foundation of American Musical Culture
In his new book, Blacksound: Making Race and Popular Music in the United States, musicologist Matthew Morrison unpacks the political legacy of blackface minstrelsy, showing not only how blackness was commodified by white people as popular entertainment during the nineteenth century,…
CBH Talk | Ari Berman and Chris Hayes Discuss “Minority Rule”
As the United States moves steadily towards a majority-minority future, time and time again the white conservative minority has effectively pushed back representative democracy through voter suppression, election subversion, legislative power grabs, immigration restrictions,…
CBH Talk | Exploring “The White Bonus” with Tracie McMillan and Darrick Hamilton
White Bonus is the money white people receive or save when racism works in their favor. In her new book, The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America, Tracie McMillan asks a pressing question: If racism denies people of color so much, just how much does it…
Celebrating Brooklyn Poets, Past and Present
Dip into the Center for Brooklyn History’s collection and you will find a vast range of poetry. There are works by household names like Walt Whitman, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Marianne Moore, as well as hundreds, perhaps thousands, of poems by writers whose works live in the nooks and…
University Open Air: In Search of Lyricism
In lyric works, emotions are expressed through imagery, musicality, rhythm. Hence, reading and watching lyric works is a highly enjoyable experience. Yet, as the mermaids’ song, lyricism can draw us in to better drown us in what we’d turn away from: pain, grief, injustice, or our daily life.…
University Open Air: Conferencia: Mapa Sonoro de la Música Salsa en Nueva York. En Español
La lectura se realizará en español como un homenaje a todxs lxs inmigrantes afrocaribeñxs que llegaron a Nueva York en los años cuarenta y que, con su cultura y nostalgia por su tierra, crearon la música Salsa. Los participantes en esta conferencia recibirán el magazín Sursystem 08 en español, y…
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