Forum Network

CSI:NY's Hill Harper and filmmaker Gary Ross join local students and a panel of esteemed local experts for a timely Town Hall Meeting entitled, "Lincoln, Douglass and the Transformative Power of Words." The event seeks to underscore the importance of education in the lives of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, draw parallels to contemporary issues, and encourage members of the greater Boston community to rededicate themselves to personal, community, and national education goals.

Highlighting the Town Hall event is a robust panel discussion, moderated by Tufts University history professor and author Peniel Joseph, with panelists Robin Chandler, former director of the Women's Studies Program and current associate professor of African American Studies, Northeastern University, artist, poet and writer; Hill Harper; Gloribell Mota, co-founder of Neighbors United for a Better East Boston; Gary Ross; and John Stauffer, author and chair of the Program in the History of American Civilization, Harvard University.

The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission Foundation hosts the free public event with the help of several area organizations and leaders. It is one of 11 Town Hall Meetings being held across the country under the broad theme of "Lincoln's Legacy: Race, Freedom and Equality of Opportunity." Inspired by Abraham Lincoln's efforts to build an equal opportunity society, the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission's Lincoln Legacy Town Hall Meeting series seeks to build mutual understanding about differing perspectives on race and ethnicity and provide an opportunity to re-examine what it means to be American in the 21st century.