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Facing History and Ourselves is a national organization that supports educators, transforms schools, and gathers communitiies for meaningful dialogue about today’s most profound and challenging issues. They’re headquartered in Boston, but we have a Facing History presence right here in Memphis, and I’ve promoted their work on Spotlight before. This week, I’d like to bring your attention to their upcoming Global Summit on Repair, Reconstruction, and Restoration. On Thursday, May 6 in an all day workshop, they’ll be convening scholars, civil society leaders, artists, and educators from around the world. They welcome attendees from the general public who are interested in learning more about the topics of the Global Summit, and they welcome students over the age of 18. Through keynote talks and breakout sessions, they’ll explore some of the processes that have been used and are being developed in countries around the world, including South Africa, Germany, Colombia,
“Spotlight on Lifelong Learning” with Laura Loth, is a weekly look at some of the exciting public conversations upcoming around Memphis. Laura Loth is a
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This week, I’d like to Spotlight an event organized by my own home department at Rhodes College the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. We’ll be welcoming Julia Elsky, a professor of French at Loyola University in Chicago, who will be discussing her new book, “Writing Occupation: Jewish Émigré Voices in Wartime France.” In this book, Elsky asks important questions about language and identity in a time of oppression, and discusses Jewish writers who emigrated from Eastern Europe to France in the early 20th century. A number of these authors chose to switch from writing in their native languages to writing primarily in French, a language that represented both a literary center and the promises of French universalism. Even during the second world war, they continued to write in their adopted language, even as Nazi occupiers denied their French identity through xenophobic and antisemetic laws.
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For many of us PBS fans, there’s a certain kind of pleasure in watching a good Ken Burns documentary, especially for the archival footage that brings historical topics to life and transports us to another time. Archival footage helps add context to a documentary’s interviews with scholars and talking heads. But more importantly, it can help us visualize the lived experiences of regular folk as well as the presidents, generals, and the ones holding the power, and it give us a variety of vantage points. How do filmmakers find this footage, and how do they make careful, appropriate use of this footage to help us have a richer view of history?
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A lot of our museums and cultural institutions are doing double duty these days they’re cautiously beginning to open their doors and offer socially distant programming, but they’re also taking care of those of us who still feel more comfortable with online events. The National Civil Rights Museum has reopened, but its virtual programming remains vibrant and highly topical. This week, on Tuesday at 6 :30pm you can catch an online screening of “The Vanishing Trial,” a documentary that investigates the trial penalty. “Trial Penalty” is the term used to describe the substantially longer prison sentence a person receives if they exercise their right to trial instead of pleading guilty. The documentary reveals how the trial penalty has led to the shocking disappearance of one of the most fundamental individual rights and the explosion in America’s prison population. Throughout the film, you’ll hear the perspectives of national experts, including former federal judge