Speaker

Michael Luo

Lecture date

Originally aired: March 10th, 2026

Time

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Title

Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America

Michael Luo is an executive editor at The New Yorker and writes regularly on politics, religion, and Asian American issues. Before joining The New Yorker in 2016, he spent 13 years at the New York Times as a metro reporter, national correspondent, and investigative reporter and editor. He is a recipient of a George Polk Award and a Livingston Award for Young Journalists.

Luo published his first book, Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America, in April 2025. It tells the story of a people who, beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, migrated by the tens of thousands to a distant land they called Gum Shan — Gold Mountain. Americans initially welcomed these Chinese arrivals, but, as their numbers grew, horrific episodes of racial terror erupted on the Pacific coast. In a captivating debut, Luo follows the Chinese from these early years to modern times, as they persisted in the face of bigotry and persecution, revealing anew the complications of our multiracial democracy. Drawing on archives from across the country and written with a New Yorker writer’s style and sweep, Strangers in the Land is revelatory and unforgettable, an essential American story.

Speaker

Keisha Blain

Lecture date

Originally aired: February 17th, 2026

Time

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Title

Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights

Keisha N. Blain is one of the most innovative and influential young historians of her generation. A professor of Africana Studies and history at Brown University, a columnist for MSNBC, and former president of the African American Intellectual History Society, Blain’s research and writing examine the dynamics of race, gender, and politics in both national and global perspectives. 

Even before they were recognized as citizens of the United States, Black women understood that the fights for civil and human rights were inseparable. Blain’s latest book, Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights (September 2025), tells how, throughout two hundred years of American history, Black women were at the forefront of national and international movements for social change, weaving connections between their own and others’ freedom struggles around the world. Without Fear is an account of their aspirations, strategies, and struggles to pioneer a human rights approach to combating systems of injustice. 

Speaker

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Lecture date

Originally aired: September 9th, 2025

Time

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Title

An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s

Doris Kearns Goodwin is a world-renowned presidential historian, public speaker, bestselling author, and a partner in Pastimes Productions. Goodwin is often called upon to share her vast knowledge of leadership and provide historical context for current-day events, especially as our democracy is challenged, international wars rage, and we continue to struggle in a divided and polarized country.

Her eighth book, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, takes readers on the emotional journey Doris and her husband, Richard (Dick) Goodwin, embarked upon as they delved into more than 300 boxes of letters, diaries, documents, and memorabilia that Dick had saved for more than 50 years. The Goodwins quickly realized they had before them an unparalleled personal time capsule of the 1960s and the events and pivotal figures of the decade — John Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, and especially Lyndon Johnson, who greatly impacted both their lives.