Good morning and. Wanted im Harold Holzer and i have the privilege of serving as director roosevelt house and speaking for anne kershner, the president of Hunter College. I want to welcome all of you to this Historic Place for this amazing convening that were having. Greetings also to the audience, which will also be privileged to see the event. We have to bring you this morning. And its a truly. One, not only a chance to black history month, not only an opportunity to honor the unsung Billie Holiday, but to do so in the long time home of her favorite america and president franklin d roosevelt. And we have evidence of that, which you may hear along the way today. I havent seen pauls book, but i will find validation, his brand new book. And by the way the brand new book by our convener host Paul Alexander is really what brings us together today. So i am going to hold up better crop his extraordinary new account of Billie Holidays fine final year doesnt that look like an album cover when
But you can make a change. So the book is more than just a reflection of kent state. Its a hope for the future students in generations to you knowgood morning, everyone. Good morning and. Wanted im Harold Holzer and i have the privilege of serving as director roosevelt house and speaking for anne kershner, the president of Hunter College. I want to welcome all of you to this Historic Place for this amazing convening that were having. Greetings also to the audience, which will also be privileged to see the event. We have to bring you this morning. And its a truly. One, not only a chance to black history month, not only an opportunity to honor the unsung Billie Holiday, but to do so in the long time home of her favorite america and president franklin d roosevelt. And we have evidence of that, which you may hear along the way today. I havent seen pauls book, but i will find validation, his brand new book. And by the way the brand new book by our convener host Paul Alexander is really what
Knowgood morning, everyone. Good morning and. Wanted im Harold Holzer and i have the privilege of serving as director roosevelt house and speaking for anne kershner, the president of Hunter College. I want to welcome all of you to this Historic Place for this amazing convening that were having. Greetings also to the audience, which will also be privileged to see the event. We have to bring you this morning. And its a truly. One, not only a chance to black history month, not only an opportunity to honor the unsung Billie Holiday, but to do so in the long time home of her favorite america and president franklin d roosevelt. And we have evidence of that, which you may hear along the way today. I havent seen pauls book, but i will find validation, his brand new book. And by the way the brand new book by our convener host Paul Alexander is really what brings us together today. So i am going to hold up better crop his extraordinary new account of Billie Holidays fine final year doesnt that l
Youre going to have to make some sacrifices. But you can make a change. So the book is more than just a reflection of kent state. Its a hope for the future students in generations to you knowgood morning, everyone. Good morning and. Wanted im Harold Holzer and i have the privilege of serving as director roosevelt house and speaking for anne kershner, the president of Hunter College. I want to welcome all of you to this Historic Place for this amazing convening that were having. Greetings also to the audience, which will also be privileged to see the event. We have to bring you this morning. And its a truly. One, not only a chance to black history month, not only an opportunity to honor the unsung Billie Holiday, but to do so in the long time home of her favorite america and president franklin d roosevelt. And we have evidence of that, which you may hear along the way today. I havent seen pauls book, but i will find validation, his brand new book. And by the way the brand new book by ou
That you could write entire books about. This is one of the few. And this was not a tough sell to a publisher because they saw your piece in vanity fair. They saw the piece in vanity fair, and they thought that it could be expanded upon into a book. And it certainly works very well. For a generation of americans who are not familiar with the song and its been conspicuously absent how would you describe the song and its impact . Well, the song was a song about lynching. You know, it was a song about black bodies hanging on southern trees, and it was a song that came out in 1939 at a time when people simply werent talking about this kind of thing. You know, it was before jackie robinson. It was before Martin Luther king. It was before the armed forces were integrated. It was before rosa parks. It was really the dark ages in the history of civil rights in this country, and all of a sudden, a 23yearold woman, Billie Holiday, is singing about lynching. And i think that the song had enormous