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 | Isaac Butler and Zoe Kazan Discuss “The Method”
Join director and culture writer Isaac Butler and actress Zoe Kazan for a spirited conversation about the history of Method acting and its impact on American culture. Butler is the author of The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act. Kazan is the granddaughter of Elia Kazan, co-…
CANCELLED - CBH Talk | What’s in a Name? A Screening and Discussion of the Short Documentary “Parker”
Note: This program has been cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control. We apologize for any inconvenience.
For African Americans, naming has always been a fraught topic. Many still carry the last names of enslavers. Others embrace names as a way to…
CBH Talk | Joe Sexton and Errol Louis discuss "The Lost Sons of Omaha"
To watch a livestream of this program, click here.
Veteran journalist Joe Sexton’s new book, The Lost Sons of Omaha: Two Young Men in an American Tragedy, unpacks two linked and tragic deaths stemming from the 2020 George Floyd protests. It tells the story of James Scurlock, a 22-year…
CBH Talk | Jocelyn Simonson and James Forman Jr. Discuss “Radical Acts of Justice”
Across the country, ordinary people are challenging the ideas that prosecutions and prisons make us safer; that public officials charged with maintaining “law and order” are carrying out the will of the people; and that justice requires putting people in cages. In her book Radical Acts of…
CBH Talk | Michael Waldman and Jesse Wegman on the Supreme Court
To watch a livestream of the program, visit this YouTube page.
What happens when the highest court in the land no longer represents the country at large? Among the experts sounding the alarm over the Supreme Court’s hard swerve to the right is Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the…
CBH Talk | College Behind Bars
There are more than two million people living behind bars in the United States—in state and federal prisons, local jails, and immigration detention facilities. Many live in dire conditions despite some efforts to create more humane prisons and jails. In recent years, educators, advocates and,…
Center for Brooklyn History Open House (for Scholars and Faculty)
We invite you to join us at the newly-opened Center for Brooklyn History, former site of the Brooklyn Historical Society, and now a part of the Brooklyn Public Library System, for an open house event.
Come mix and mingle with other scholars interested in researching Brooklyn’s…
CBH Talk | Prison Imperialism: Indigenous and Black Histories of Subjugation and Global Freedom Dreams
In his explosive new book, historian Benjamin Weber reveals how the story of American prisons is inextricably linked to the expansion of American power around the globe. Join him in conversation with cultural strategist and organizer, Piper Anderson. A vivid work of hidden history that spans the…
Center for Brooklyn History Open House (for College Students)
We invite you to join us at the newly-opened Center for Brooklyn History, former site of the Brooklyn Historical Society, and now a part of the Brooklyn Public Library System, for an open house event.
Come mix and mingle with other college students interested in researching Brooklyn’s…
CBH Talk | A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy
In Nathan Thrall’s A Day in the Life of Abed Salama, the struggle over Israel/Palestine is given a profoundly human face through the heart-wrenching story of a tragic accident that killed Abed Salama’s five-year-old son. Granular in its recitation of the daily injustices that make up…
Center for Brooklyn History Open House (for Graduate Students)
We invite you to join us at the newly-opened Center for Brooklyn History, former site of the Brooklyn Historical Society, and now a part of the Brooklyn Public Library System, for an open house event.
Come mix and mingle with other graduate students interested in researching Brooklyn’s…
CBH Talk | Remembering Barbara Ehrenreich
In-person attendance for this program is at capacity! Please join the livestream on the Center for Brooklyn History Public Programs YouTube Channel. To watch the broadcast live, click HERE. Note that we generally overbook our free events to ensure a full house. Please arrive…
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