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Action Speaks
Underappreciated Days that Changed America
Action Speaks is a series of contemporary, topic-driven panel discussions framed by the theme: "Underappreciated Days that Changed America." The panels take place Wednesdays in October, National Arts & Humanities Month, at AS220 in downtown Providence. They are recorded, edited, and rebroadcast the following Sunday on Rhode Island's NPR station, WRNI 1290 AM. Films pertaining to the topics are shown each Monday on Rhode Island PBS prior to Wednesday's panel discussion, providing a multi-media foundation for each issue.
For 12 years, Action Speaks has been committed to enhancing cultural life in the capital by providing high-quality, intellectually unbiased discourse between scholars, artists, students, and citizens.
This year’s Action Speaks programs will explore the concept of race and its role in creating our current American society and is part of RICH’s On the Road to Freedom initiative—which marks the bicentennial of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade and celebrates the accomplishments made by individuals and organizations of African-American descent in Rhode Island. All discussions take place from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at AS220’s café, located at 115 Empire Street. The sessions are recorded live and then broadcast over WRNI, Rhode Island’s public radio. Following is the 2008 schedule and list of topics:
Click here for information on the panelists as well as for more details on discussion topics.
Wednesday, October 1
1910—Racist Biologist Charles Davenport Creates the Eugenic Record Office at old Spring Harbor Laboratory: An American Prelude to Hitler or to the Human Genome Project…Perhaps Both?
Wednesday, October 15
1920–Prolific African-American Filmmaker Oscar Micheaux’s Releases Within Our Gates:
Hollywood, Race Films, and the Production of African-American Cinematic Images
Wednesday, October 22
1957–Dissent Magazine Publishes Norman Mailer’s Essay “The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster”: What’s Black? What’s White? What’s Italian? What’s Jewish? Are Race and Ethnicity a Dance Anyone Can Learn?
Wednesday, October 29
2000–The U.S. Census Allows Individuals to Identify Themselves as Mixed-Race:
Tiger Woods, Barack Obama, and How Checking Multiple Boxes Helped Redefine Race in America