The Public Square hosts an evening celebrating the progressive tradition and the birthdays of Jane Addams and writer/activist Grace Lee Boggs
CHICAGO – – Join The Public Square and the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum for the annual Jane Addams Birthday Conversation on Peace and Justice, this year featuring special keynote speaker, the acclaimed writer, activist, and author Grace Lee Boggs. This event will not only celebrate Jane Addams’ birthday, but will also honor Boggs’ 94th birthday and her commitment to social justice.
This event takes place on Thursday, September 10 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Resident’s Dining Hall (800 S Halsted St, Chicago). This program is free and open to the public. For more information, call 312.413.5353.
This program is sponsored by The Public Square, a program of the Illinois Humanities Council, in partnership with the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum.
ABOUT GRACE LEE BOGGS
Grace Lee Boggs is an acclaimed writer, activist, and speaker, whose more than sixty years of political involvement encompass the major U.S. social movements of this century: Labor, Civil Rights, Black Power, Asian-American, Women’s, and Environmental Justice. Born in Providence, R.I. of Chinese immigrant parents in 1915, Grace received her B.A. from Barnard College in 1935 and her Ph.D. in Philosophy from Bryn Mawr College in 1940. In the 1940s and 1950s, she worked with West Indian Marxist historian C.L.R. James and in 1953 came to Detroit where she married James Boggs, an African American labor activist, writer, and strategist. Working together in grassroots groups and projects, they were partners for over 40 years until James’ death in July 1993. Their book, Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century, was published by Monthly Review Press in 1974.
In 1992, with James Boggs, Shea Howell and others, she founded DETROIT SUMMER, a multicultural, intergenerational youth program to rebuild, redefine, and re-spirit Detroit from the ground up, which completed its 14th season in the summer of 2006. Currently, she works with the Detroit City of Hope campaign, the Beloved Communities Initiative, and writes for the weekly Michigan Citizen. Her autobiography, Living for Change, (University of Minnesota Press, 1998) is widely used in university classes. She has been the recipient of many local, national, and international awards and recognitions. A plaque in her honor is displayed at the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.
ABOUT THE PUBLIC SQUARE
The Public Square, a program of the Illinois Humanities Council, fosters debate, dialogue, and exchange of ideas about cultural, social and political issues with an emphasis on social justice. Programs promote participatory democracy by creating space for public conversations. More information about The Public Square is available at www.prairie.org/publicsquare.
The Illinois Humanities Council is a nonprofit educational organization [501 (c) 3] dedicated to fostering a culture in which the humanities are a vital part of the lives of individuals and communities. Organized in 1973 as the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the IHC creates programs and funds organizations that promote greater understanding of, appreciation for, and involvement in the humanities by all Illinoisans, regardless of their economic resources, cultural background, or geographic location. The IHC is supported by state, federal, and private funds.
D A R E T O K N O W
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