Speaker

Jon Meacham

Lecture date

September 22nd, 2026

Time

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Title

American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union: An Anthology

Pulitzer Prize–winning presidential historian Jon Meacham is a skilled orator with a depth of knowledge about politics, religion, and current affairs. A highly sought-after commentator, he has the unique ability to bring history to life and offer historical context to current events and issues affecting our daily lives.

In American Struggle, Meacham unites centuries of essential American voices to understand our national debates and divisions from 1619 to the present, with his signature commentary on the consequential speeches, letters, and essays that led us to this moment.

Speaker

Eugene Robinson

Lecture date

February 10th, 2027

Time

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Title

Freedom Lost, Freedom Won: A Personal History of America

Eugene Robinson is an award-winning journalist, political analyst on MSNBC, and the author of four books, most recently Freedom Lost, Freedom Won: A Personal History of America. Through his own family’s well-documented history, the book demonstrates how African American history is inseparable from the larger American story, tracing generations from his great-great-grandfather’s emancipation through Robinson’s own coming of age during the civil rights movement and beyond.

Robinson spent 45 years at The Washington Post, where he served as a columnist and editor, and won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for his coverage of the 2008 presidential election. He was a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University, served as a member and chair of the Pulitzer Prize Board, and was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame. 

Speaker

David Hume Kennerly

Lecture date

March 16th, 2027

Time

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Title

In the Room: Sixty Years on The Front Lines of History

David Hume Kennerly is a Pulitzer Prize–winning photographer whose career has placed him on the front lines of history for nearly six decades. At age 25, he became one of the youngest Pulitzer Prize recipients for his coverage of the Vietnam and Cambodia wars, and two years later was appointed personal White House photographer to President Gerald R. Ford. 

Kennerly has photographed 11 U.S. presidents, covered 12 presidential campaigns, and documented history in more than 100 countries. His newest book, In the Room: Sixty Years on the Front Lines of History (2026), presents a remarkable visual chronicle of the people and events that shaped the modern era.

In 2016, the Oregon Historical Society honored Kennerly with its Oregon History Makers Award. His archive is housed at the University of Arizona Center for Creative Photography, where he serves as the university’s first Presidential Scholar.

Speaker

Craig Fehrman

Lecture date

April 13th, 2027

Time

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Title

This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark

Craig Fehrman is a journalist, historian, and the author of This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark, the product of five years of research that draws on newly uncovered documents, Native perspectives, and overlooked voices to offer a fresh account of one of the defining expeditions in American history. Praised by The New York Times as “a page-turner and a fantastic achievement,” the book reexamines the Lewis and Clark Expedition through the experiences of explorers, soldiers, Native leaders, and others whose stories have long been left out of the historical narrative.

Fehrman is also the author of Author in Chief, a critically acclaimed examination of American presidents and the books that shaped them. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications, and he has been featured on NPR and PBS NewsHour. He lives in Indiana with his wife and children.

Speaker

Beverly Gage

Lecture date

May 11th, 2027

Time

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Title

This Land Is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History

Beverly Gage is the John Lewis Gaddis Professor of History at Yale University and an award-winning historian of modern America. Her newest book, This Land Is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History, takes readers on a cross-country journey to explore the people, places, and events that have shaped the nation from its founding to the present. Blending historical insight with contemporary observation, the book reflects on the stories that define the United States as the nation marks its 250th anniversary.

Gage is the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century and The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror. In addition to her teaching and research, she writes for publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.