Memory is shaped by the communities that surround us.

Our collective decisions and dialogue about what to commemorate, the ideals we express and whom we include are deeply rooted in the cultural and political context of our nation. The University of Rhode Island Center for the Humanities presents Memorials and Commemoration in the U.S., a year-long series of virtual and in-person lectures that will explore these ideas on the local and national levels, with a focus on race, ethnicity, and sovereignty.

All events in the series are free and open to the public.

Watch Spring Events

• The Stages of Memory: Reflections on Memorial Art, Loss, and the Spaces Between - James Young
• Recognizing the Legacy of Slavery in Rhode Island - Victoria Johnson, James DeWolf Perry, and Charles Roberts
• On Juneteenth: The Essential Story of “Freedom Day” and Its Importance to American History - Annette Gordon-Reed
  

Watch Fall Events

• A Conversation with Clint Smith: How the Word is Passed - Clint Smith
  
• Think Indigenous: Richard Oakes and the Red Power Movement - Kent Blansett
  
• Walking through Time: the 5,000-Year History of the URI Campus - Kristine Bovy, Catherine DeCesare, Roderick Mather, and Lorén Spears
  
• Before 1776–Time to Break the Silence - Jack (John Kwo Wei) Tchen