Wallace House Presents our 2023-2024 lineup of live events with Anna Clark, Martin Baron, Jake Tapper, and Rachel Swarns. Please mark your calendars for the events below and join us.
For nearly two decades of reporting from and about Michigan, 2017 Knight-Wallace Fellow and ProPublica journalist Anna Clark has covered numerous consequential stories, from the Flint water crisis to the mass shooting at Oxford High School. Join her for a discussion on the dangers of a culture of secrecy for Michigan and beyond, and what it takes to push back.
This is an in-person event and will not be live-streamed. A video recording will be available on our website after the event.
More information about this event.
Human rights violations are systematic in Haiti. The situation has worsened considerably since the multiplication of massacres in 2018 and the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021. The gangs control large areas of the country and practice a scorched-earth policy. Knight-Wallace Fellow and Haitian journalist Roberson Alphonse will share his observations on the Haitian tragedy.
More information about this event.
Hosted by:
Donia Human Rights Center Lecture
Co-sponsors:
International Institute
Special Documentary Screening “Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine”
5:30 PM ET | Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023
An in-person event at Stamps Auditorium, Walgreen Drama Center
1226 Murfin Ave., Ann Arbor
Free and open to the public
Register Here
The U-M Space Institute will host a special screening of the Netflix documentary about the design and launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and a panel discussion featuring 2013 Knight-Wallace Fellow and Film Director Shai Gal and Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, the previous Associate Administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, as well as other experts in space and astronomy.
“Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine” follows the ambitious decades-long mission to create and deploy the largest-ever space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope. The documentary showcases a remarkable team of NASA engineers and scientists as they take a giant leap in trying to understand the mysteries of the universe.
More information about this event.
Co-sponsors:
University of Michigan Space Institute
Department of Astronomy
Aerospace Engineering
A Detroit book event with Martin Baron and Stephen Henderson
“Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos and The Washington Post”
6 PM ET | Monday, Oct. 16, 2023
Reception following conversation
Detroit Public Theater
3960 Third Avenue, Detroit
For eight years, Martin Baron served as executive editor of The Washington Post, leading its newsroom from Jeff Bezos’s purchase of the paper to the election and presidency of Donald Trump. Join Baron in conversation with Stephen Henderson for a discussion on Baron’s new book “Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos and The Washington Post,” as he details his tenure at The Post and examines larger issues of the press and its role in democracy.
More information about this event.
Co-sponsors:
Detroit Public Television (DPTV)
CNN anchor and Chief Washington correspondent, Jake Tapper
4:00 PM | Friday, Nov. 3, 2023
Lydia Mendelssohn Theater
911 N University Ave, Ann Arbor
Free and open to the public
Register Here Registrations are not required, but allow us to send you event updates and reminders.
Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Join us for a special event featuring CNN anchor and Chief Washington correspondent, Jake Tapper, as part of the continuing series: “Democracy in Crisis: Views from the Press.” Tapper will be joined in conversation with Wallace House Director, Lynette Clemetson. Their wide-ranging discussion will cover the state of democracy and the role and responsibility of the press in a democratic society, as well as how Tapper’s experience of being an anchor and correspondent informs his craft of writing.
Tapper’s newly released book, “All the Demons Are Here,” will be available for purchase at the event. The author will stay for a short book signing after the program.
This event is presented by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy in partnership with Wallace House Center for Journalists and U-M Democracy & Debate.
More information about this event.
Co-sponsors:
Alumni Association of the University of Michigan
A Book event with Laura Meckler
“Dream Town: Shaker Heights and The Quest for Racial Equity”
6:30 PM | Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2023
Literati Bookstore
124 E Washington Street, Ann Arbor
Free and open to the public
Literati Bookstore is proud to welcome Laura Meckler to present and discuss her book Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity in collaboration with Wallace House Center for Journalists and the Department of English Language and Literature at The University of Michigan. She’ll be joined in conversation by Dr. Brianne Dotson.
More information about this event.
In 1838, a group of America’s most prominent Catholic priests sold 272 enslaved people to save their largest mission project, what is now Georgetown University. Journalist, author, and NYU professor Rachel Swarns followed one family through nearly two centuries of indentured servitude and enslavement to uncover the harrowing origin story of the Catholic Church in the United States. Through the saga of the Mahoney family, Swarns illustrates how the Church relied on slave labor and slave sales to sustain its operations and to help finance its expansion.
Swarns book will be available for purchase at the event.