Many CBH Talks were recorded. To view, visit the Center for Brooklyn History Talks YouTube channel at bklynlib.org/CBH-Talks.
Past Events
CBH Talk | Celebrating New York’s Ancestors of Latino Poetry: A Conversation and Performance
The work of New York poets José Martí, Salomón de la Selva, Julia de Burgos, Lourdes Casal, and Clemente Soto Vélez has shaped today’s thriving Latino Poetic tradition and our understanding of what it means to be American. These revolutionary voices represent a range of Latin American…
CBH Talk | Tommy Silk Discusses "Hidden Landmarks of New York" with Barry Bordelon of the Brownstone Boys
New York is a city of landmarks – more than 37,000 of them. Visitors and New Yorkers alike walk by hundreds of these landmarks daily, often never knowing the rich history behind them. One of these New Yorkers, Tommy Silk, has been photographing and chronicling one landmarked building…
Teaching with Primary Sources: The Brooklyn Connections Program — An Election Day Professional Development for Educators
Please join us for our Election Day professional development workshop, "Teaching with Primary Sources: The Brooklyn Connections Program." This day-long event serves as an introduction to CBH Education’s signature archival education program. Participants will learn strategies for teaching with…
The Salon at CBH, Curated by Nikole Hannah-Jones
We’re thrilled by the overwhelming response to the Salon. Please understand that we expect a full house. If we reach capacity our staff will admit as space becomes available. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to ensure a great experience for all.
…
CBH Workshop | Exploring the Archives with Historian Prithi Kanakamedala
How do historians approach the vitally important work of conducting research in an archive? Where do they start? What is the process? And for those researching under-documented peoples and topics, how do they solve for the silences in the archives?
Join historian…
CBH Talk | Mourning and Adorning: Woven Hair Jewelry and Victorian Mourning Traditions
Mourning jewelry – jewelry created to remember deceased loved ones – dates back to the Middle Ages, but its popularity in Western Europe reached a peak with Queen Victoria whose mourning customs following Prince Albert’s death were imitated throughout Britain and beyond. In addition…
CBH Talk | Uncrusted! A David and Goliath Story of Patents, Pizza, and the Invention of Stuffed Crusts
What better way to pay tribute to October's Pizza Month than by spending an evening with Anthony “The Big Cheese” Mongiello, whose David and Goliath fight with Pizza Hut over who owns the idea for Stuffed Crust Pizza played out three decades ago, and continues to be an…
CBH Talk | Indigenous Languages at the Brink
The violent history of erasing First Nations language and culture, and decades of assimilation, threaten to end once and for all the rich linguistic heritage of Native Americans. Language is critical to keeping Indigenous cultural heritage alive. Language is inseparable from cultural…
Brooklyn Is... Exhibition Tour
Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Brooklyn Is...!
Visitors will get an interactive look at the photographs, maps, and community reflections that make up the heart of this exhibition, as well as a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the process of putting together…
Fall Educator Open House
The Center for Brooklyn History invites teachers and educators to our Fall Educator Open House! Unwind from your Wednesday with drinks and snacks while learning about the many ways that CBH can support you and your students throughout the year in our beautiful, landmarked building in Brooklyn…
CBH Talk | The Meaning of Everyday Places
Much of the work of being human happens in everyday places.~ Dr. Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani
Sometimes the places we take most for granted are the heart and soul of our communities. For two decades Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani has studied the…
CBH Talk | The Remarkable Story of Brooklyn’s Nineteenth Century Free Black Communities
The widely held belief that New York was one of the first states to abolish slavery is a myth. In fact, New York was almost the last Northern state to put slavery to an end. Brooklynites, with their farming economy, were especially vested in the perpetuation of enslaved labor. That…
CBH Talk | “Excited Delirium: Race, Police Violence, and the Invention of a Disease” with Aisha Beliso-De Jesús and Elizabeth Hinton
“Excited delirium syndrome” is a controversial medical diagnosis often used in cases of police encounters that end in sudden death, especially those involving Black and Brown people. It was famously used by Derek Chauvin’s legal defense team to justify his killing of George Floyd.…
CBH Talk | NYC’s Jewel Streets and the Hazards of Climate Change
For decades New York City has neglected a twelve-block area that lies on the border of East New York, Brooklyn and Lindenwood, Queens. It’s known as “The Jewel Streets” for the street names Ruby, Emerald, Amber and Sapphire.
Built on low-lying wetlands, lacking…
CBH Talk | “The Presidents and the People” with Corey Brettschneider and Alexis Coe
History shows that American presidents have often pushed the boundaries established for them by the Constitution. In The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It, Brown University politics and constitutional law…
CBH Talk | David Rohde and Timothy Naftali Discuss “Where Tyranny Begins: The Justice Department, the FBI, and the War of Democracy”
In Where Tyranny Begins, two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist David Rohde investigates the strategies Donald Trump systematically used to turn the country’s two most powerful law-enforcement agencies into his personal political weapons.
Over the course of…
CBH Talk | Arlie Russell Hochschild and Matthew Desmond Discuss “Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right”
In Stolen Pride, National Book Award finalist and bestselling author Arlie Russell Hochschild travels to Appalachia where she focuses her sharp analytical eye on a group that confounds many Americans seeking to understand how one can simultaneously believe in democracy and support Donald Trump –…
Brooklyn Is... Exhibition Tour
Come for a free guided tour of the exhibition Brooklyn Is...!
Visitors will get an interactive look at the photographs, maps, and community reflections that make up the heart of this exhibition, as well as a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the process of putting together this exhibition…
CBH Talk | The Embattled University
As the new academic year starts, join three former and current higher education leaders for a conversation about the crises and controversies on campuses across the country.Nicholas B. Dirks, veteran university administrator at both the University of California Berkeley and…
Brooklyn Is... Exhibition Tour
Come for a free guided tour of the exhibition Brooklyn Is...!
Visitors will get an interactive look at the photographs, maps, and community reflections that make up the heart of this exhibition, as well as a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the process of putting together this exhibition…
CBH Talk | From the West Indies to Eastern Parkway: Caribbean Migration and Diaspora in Brooklyn
Just as the Great Migration brought waves of African-Americans from the South to the North, a parallel migration with as important an impact came from Afro-Caribbeans moving to the US from the island nations of Jamaica, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobego, Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican…
Brooklyn Is... Exhibition Tour
Come for a free guided tour of the exhibition Brooklyn Is...!
Visitors will get an interactive look at the photographs, maps, and community reflections that make up the heart of this exhibition, as well as a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the process of putting together this exhibition…
Brooklyn Is... Exhibition Tour
Come for a free guided tour of the exhibition Brooklyn Is...!
Visitors will get an interactive look at the photographs, maps, and community reflections that make up the heart of this exhibition, as well as a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the process of putting together this exhibition…
Collage with our Collection!
We supply images of historic Brooklyn maps. You bring your creative touch! Join us for an evening of conversation and collage-making inspired by the Center for Brooklyn History’s incomparable Brooklyn map collection. We’ll have copies of some of our favorite Brooklyn maps dating as…
Brooklyn Is... Exhibition Tour
Come for a free guided tour of the exhibition Brooklyn Is...!
Visitors will get an interactive look at the photographs, maps, and community reflections that make up the heart of this exhibition, as well as a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the process of putting together this exhibition…
Get Social with CBH
Subscribe to Brooklynologist
Sign up to receive Brooklynologist, our monthly newsletter! Read stories on Brooklyn history, learn about upcoming events and hear about the latest additions to our collection.
Get weekly updates from CBH
Subscribe to the CBH weekly email, in your inbox every Tuesday with links to our latest Photo of the Week blogpost plus great upcoming events at CBH!