How Does Confronting Our History Build a Better Future?

Moderated by William Sturkey, University of Pennsylvania Historian and Hattiesburg Author

Los Angeles In-Person | Streaming Live on YouTube

Recent attempts to confront difficult history have exposed major divisions over memory in the United States. But scholars, social justice activists, and many others argue that grappling with the sins of the past, and the ways they reverberate into the present, is a necessary foundation for reimagining the future. Museums are finding new ways to collaborate with communities on projects that tie together historical harm and present-day problems. Cities are paying reparations to Indigenous and Black residents for past dispossession in order to address 21st-century inequality. And across the U.S., institutions are acknowledging and apologizing for past harms as a starting point to creating lasting structural change. What are the best and most creative ways societies are using history to make a better tomorrow? Can our approaches to history unite as well as divide? And how can organizers ensure that all perspectives can be represented in ways that help bring people together?

L.A. LGBT Center communications officer and former editor in chief of Out magazine Phillip Picardi, and author and journalist Krista Tippett visit Zócalo to discuss how society might draw strength and coax vision from the shortcomings and failures of its collective past.

Zócalo invites our in-person audience to join us after the program for a reception with complimentary food and beverages, and a special guest musical performance.

Zócalo Public Square values audience safety. During events at ASU California Center, as bag searches are not permitted, only clear bags (maximum size 12” x 6” x 12”) and small clutches (maximum size 8 ½” x 5 ½”) are allowed in the venue. Zócalo may be able to provide a limited number of clear bags to help accommodate guests. Questions? Ask us at [email protected].

The ASU California Center is inclusive and accessible for all. A platform wheelchair lift is available at our main entrance via Broadway (ground level). Upon checking in for the event, please inform Zócalo staff if you need assistance, or contact [email protected] for additional information.

Lieutenant General (ret.) Robert E. Schmidle, Jr., Air Force veteran and social worker Noël Lipana, and Farnaz Fassihi, journalist and United Nations Bureau Chief at the New York Times, visited Zócalo to discuss what it means to bear responsibility for war and its atrocities, and why that matters. This first event of the series was streamed live from Los Angeles, CA, and was moderated by William Sturkey, University of North Carolina Historian and Author of Hattiesburg.

For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway.

Civil rights historian Daphne Chamberlain, visual and performance artist Richard Lou, and Patrick Weems, executive director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, visit Zócalo to discuss what public memory looks like in the 21st century, and how future generations might experience the act of looking back. This second event of the series was streamed live from Jackson, MS, and was moderated by William Sturkey, Author of Hattiesburg.

For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway.

Benjamin W. Rawlins Professor of Communication Andre E. Johnson, Monument Lab co-founder and artist Ken Lum, and reparations leader Robin Rue Simmons join Zócalo and the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis to discuss what repair looks like, and how different people and places have stumbled and succeeded in its pursuit. This third event of the series was streamed live from Memphis TN, and was moderated by William Sturkey, Author of Hattiesburg.

For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

ASU California Center at the Herald Examiner, 1111 South Broadway, Los Angeles, United States