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X-WR-CALNAME:Eugene Robinson: "Freedom Lost\, Freedom Won" 
X-WR-TIMEZONE:Eastern Time (US & Canada)
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DTSTAMP:20260606T200111Z
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_52142388303911
DTSTART:20260519T230000Z
DTEND:20260520T000000Z
DESCRIPTION:Pulitzer Prize–winning former Washington Post columnist Eugen
 e Robinson tells our nation’s torturous racial history through his own f
 amily’s story\, starting with his great-grandfather’s freedom from sla
 very and threading his way to his own narrative and reaching today’s Bla
 ck Lives Matter movement\, asking whether this time will be different.\n\n
  \n\nOn March 27\, 1829\, a wealthy white planter and entrepreneur named R
 ichard Fordham purchased four enslaved African Americans from a woman name
 d Isabella Perman. One of them was journalist Eugene Robinson’s great-gr
 eat-grandfather\, a boy called Harry.\n\n \n\nStarting from this transacti
 on\, which took place in Charleston\, South Carolina\, Freedom Lost\, Free
 dom Won brings to life 200 years of our nation’s history through the eye
 s of the remarkable family that Harry founded. Assigned a formal name—He
 nry Fordham—and put to work as a blacksmith\, he achieved his own freedo
 m a decade before the Civil War. He was there when victorious Union troops
  marched into Charleston in 1865\, ending slavery and guaranteeing liberty
  for Black people—only on paper\, though\, and only for a time.\n\n \n\n
 Robinson traces the arc of his familial lineage through the repeated cycle
 s in which African Americans have fought their way upward toward freedom a
 nd opportunity\, been forced back down again\, and renewed their determine
 d climb.\n\n \n\nFrom his great-great-grandfather’s achievement in becom
 ing a “free person of color” before emancipation to his great-grandfat
 her’s Reconstruction-era success\, from his father’s odyssey of the Gr
 eat Migration to his own coming-of-age during the civil rights movement\, 
 Robinson delves into a rich archive of Black narratives\, arguing that we 
 still have a long way to go before it is possible to speak of a “post-ra
 cial America.”\n\n \n\nSetting his extensive research within the larger 
 historical context\, Robinson provides both an indictment of structural ra
 cism and an illustration of how it has been fought and\, at times\, courag
 eously overcome. Freedom Lost\, Freedom Won tells our country’s tortuous
  racial history through Robinson’s family’s story of struggle and surv
 ival\, pushing us to consider how far the nation has come—willingly or n
 ot—and how far it still has to go.\n\n \n\nEugene Robinson will be joine
 d in conversation by Karsonya Wise Whitehead\, host of Today with Dr. Kaye
  on WEAA 88.9 FM\n\n \n\nAbout the Author: \n\nEugene Robinson is a Pulitz
 er Prize–winning American journalist\, former columnist\, and associate 
 editor of The Washington Post\, author\, and political analyst. His prior 
 positions included foreign editor\, London correspondent\, and South Ameri
 can correspondent. Born in Orangeburg\, South Carolina\, he graduated from
  the University of Michigan and worked at the San Francisco Chronicle befo
 re joining The Washington Post.\n\n \n\nAbout the Moderator: \n\nKarsonya 
 Wise Whitehead is the host of Today with Dr. Kaye on WEAA 88.9 FM.   She i
 s the founding director of The Karson Institute for Race\, Peace & Social 
 Justice\, as well as a communication and African and African American Stud
 ies professor at Loyola University.   \n\n \n\nAbout the Program: \n\nTo a
 ttend in person please register here. Doors will open to registered attend
 ees at 6 pm. A local bookseller will be on-site and have books available f
 or purchase.Free parking vouchers are available to program attendees who p
 ark at the Franklin Street Garage (15 W. Franklin Street) after 4pm.  Ask 
 Pratt event staff for your parking voucher prior to or after the program. 
 This free event will be presented in-person and virtually.
GEO:39.294601;-76.617302
LOCATION:Central Library\, Wheeler Auditorium 
SUMMARY:Eugene Robinson: "Freedom Lost\, Freedom Won" 
URL;VALUE=URI:https://calendar.prattlibrary.org/event/eugene-robinson-freed
 om-lost-freedom-won
CATEGORIES:Writers LIVE!
CATEGORIES:Virtual Event
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