Conversations from the Cullman Center: “Perilous Fight: Civic Patriotism in a Season of Ethnic Nationalism”: The Joanna Jackson Goldman Memorial Lectures, delivered by Jon Meacham, Part II
THIS IS A TWO-PART PROGRAM. YOU MUST REGISTER SEPARATELY FOR PART I, ON SEPTEMBER 23, AND PART II, ON SEPTEMBER 24. To register for Part I on September 23, click here.
Jon Meacham will deliver the Joanna Jackson Goldman Memorial Lectures on American Civilization and Government in two parts: Part I on September 23, Part II on September 24. This biennial lecture series at The New York Public Library, established by the estate of the historian Eric F. Goldman in honor of his wife, aims to encourage provocative comment and analysis concerning contemporary issues of deep, long-term significance for American democracy.
“Perilous Fight: Civic Patriotism in a Season of Ethnic Nationalism”: Part II of the Joanna Jackson Goldman Memorial Lectures.
Civic patriotism and ethnic nationalism have emerged as competing traditions in American politics and culture. Put very generally, “civic patriotism” can be understood as the allegiance of a people to a state devoted to principles of human liberty, individual dignity, representative government, and equality before the law. “Ethnic nationalism” can be seen as the impulse of a people to extend rights and to protect and pursue the interests only of a particular group whose members share, for instance, a place of birth, language, religious affiliation, or characteristics associated with racial categories and hierarchies. These ideas will be explored and defined in the first lecture of the series. To register for Part I on September 23, click here.
The second lecture will explore how the tension between these forces has shaped our post–World War II politics, with specific attention to the following hypothesis: that the United States only became a multiracial democratic republic in 1965, with the passage of voting-rights legislation and more liberal immigration reform. The ferocity of the reaction against the post–Jim Crow America is evidence of the scope of the shifts that found legislative expression in the years of President Johnson’s Great Society. And finally, we will seek to chart the crack-up of a governing consensus that prevailed in the years of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
To attend | Please register for an In-Person Ticket. Doors will open around 5:30 PM. For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance, but registration does not guarantee admission. All registered seats are released shortly before start time, and seats may become available at that time. A standby line will form 30 minutes before the program.
The video recording of both lectures will be made available on the Library’s YouTube channel later in September. The lectures will not be livestreamed.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jon Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer. The Rogers Chair in the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, he is the author of the New York Times bestsellers And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle; His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope; The Soul of America; The Hope of Glory: Reflections on the Last Words of Jesus; Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush; Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power; American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House; American Gospel; and Franklin and Winston.
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ACCESSIBILITY NOTES
- Assistive listening devices and/or hearing loops are available at the venue.
- You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org.
- This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs. A visual navigation guide is available here.
If you have symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or suspect you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, please stay home.
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The Cullman Center is made possible by a generous endowment from Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman in honor of Brooke Russell Astor, with major support provided by Mrs. John L. Weinberg, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Estate of Charles J. Liebman, The von der Heyden Family Foundation, John and Constance Birkelund, and The Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, and with additional gifts from Helen and Roger Alcaly, The Rona Jaffe Foundation, The Arts and Letters Foundation Inc., William W. Karatz, Merilee and Roy Bostock, and Cullman Center Fellows.