During the 2020-2021 academic year, Wallace House teamed with partners across campus to bring conversations into the virtual public space.
Past Events | Fall 2020 – Winter 2021
Unearthing Tulsa: 100 Years Later
A Conversation with Brent Staples, Fred Conrad and Scott Elsworth
Monday, May 17, 2021
4 p.m. ET
Maybe you’ve heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre. It was one of the most horrific examples of white supremacist terrorism in the history of the United States and knowledge of the event was actively suppressed for over fifty years.
From May 31 to June 1, 1921, the Massacre saw the murder of hundreds of Black residents of the Greenwood neighborhood—a bustling and vibrant community known then as Black Wall Street—and more than one-thousand homes and businesses burned to the ground.
As we approach the 100-year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, UMMA and Wallace House invite you to revisit a moment in 1999 when the New York Times Magazine published Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Brent Staples‘ article “Unearthing a Riot,” which was the most significant national media coverage of the event at the time. Portraits of survivors made by renowned photojournalist and U-M alumnus Fred Conrad accompanied this important essay.
In this program, Staples and Conrad will be joined by U-M professor, best-selling author, and historian Scott Ellsworth, author of newly published book The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice, who will facilitate a conversation that will expand our understanding of what has been involved in making the history of Tulsa more visible and, by extension, illuminating the ever-present reality of racial terror and the resiliency of Black communities in our country.
This program is presented by UMMA as part of their ongoing commitment to anti-racist action, and organized in collaboration with professor Scott Ellsworth, a longtime Museum partner, and the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies with support from Wallace House.
Raney Aronson-Rath: A Conversation
Moderated by Lynette Clemetson
Friday, April 2, 2021
8 p.m. ET
Raney Aronson-Rath is the executive producer of FRONTLINE, PBS’ flagship investigative journalism series, and a leading voice on the future of journalism. Aronson-Rath oversees FRONTLINE’s acclaimed reporting on air and online and directs the series’ editorial vision, executive producing over 20 documentaries each year on critical issues facing the country and world. Under her leadership, FRONTLINE has earned two Oscar nominations, and has won every major award in broadcast journalism, including Peabody Awards, Emmy Awards, an Institutional Peabody Award, and the first Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Gold Baton awarded in a decade. She also serves as a judge for the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists.
Aronson-Rath has led an ongoing charge for transparency in journalism – including throughthe FRONTLINE Transparency Project, an effort to open up the source material behind FRONTLINE’s reporting. She served as the sole public media representative on the Knight Commission on Trust, Media, and Democracy, a blue-ribbon panel that published a landmark report on the causes and consequences of growing distrust in democratic institutions, including the press.
This conversation will be moderated by Lynette Clemetson, Director of Wallace House.
This program is a Penny Stamps Speaker Series Event, brought to you with support from Wallace House, Detroit Public Television and PBS Books
Domestic violent extremism: Threats, policies, and new approaches
Monday, March 29, 2021
4 p.m. ET
Register and receive link to watch
Free and open to the public. Join the conversation: #PolicyTalks
In the aftermath of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, a fierce debate has emerged in the media, academia, and public policy about the threat of domestic violent extremism in the United States and what solutions and new approaches are needed to confront this. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence Javed Ali will host Janet Reitman from the New York Times Magazine and Heidi Beirich, Co-Founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, for an in-depth conversation on these and related issues. They will explore what key factors led to the insurrection on January 6, what policy gaps were exposed in the run-up to the events, and how different approaches are needed to tackle this threat before it worsens.
This event is a Policy Talks at the Ford School and Harry A and Margaret D Towsley Foundation Lecture Series event, co-sponsored by Wallace House.
An Ounce of Prevention: Confronting Concerns about the COVID-19 Vaccine
With Nicholas St. Fleur, Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellow
Moderated by Lynette Clemetson
Thursday, March 25, 2021
11 a.m. ET
Register and receive link to watch
Covid-19 has wreaked havoc on our nation for almost a year. Death tolls are hitting their highest daily peak. The advent of a vaccine presents the promise of a way out of this pandemic. However, concerns over the safety of the vaccine in conjunction with the historical reservations of People of Color regarding medical research and treatment have made for a tepid response to the availability of the vaccine. What are the best options to move forward? How do we address the concerns of those reluctant to take the vaccine? Join panelists Dr. Jessie Marshall, Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Dr. Najibah Rehman, Medical Director, Detroit Health Department and Nicholas St. Fleur, Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellow, University of Michigan for a Town Hall Meeting as we discuss the concerns and offer solutions.
This conversation will be moderated by Lynette Clemetson, Director of Wallace House.
This event is co-sponsored by Wallace House and the University of Michigan Detroit Center.
Inside The Cartel Project: The Power of Collaborative Investigative Journalism
With Laurent Richard, Dana Priest, Jorge Carrasco. Moderated by Lynette Clemetson.
The fourth annual Eisendrath Symposium
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
12:30 p.m. ET
In 2012 Mexican journalist Regina Martinez was murdered in her home. She had been reporting on the links between drug cartels, public officials and thousands of individuals who had mysteriously disappeared. Eight years later, her investigations were published simultaneously around the world as The Cartel Project.
Forbidden Stories, a nonprofit newsroom created by Laurent Richard during his year as a Knight- Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan, organized the project, secretly bringing together an international network of journalists dedicated to continuing the work of Martinez. Sixty reporters from 18 countries, followed her leads to expose a global network of Mexican drug cartels and their political connections around the world.
Join journalists Laurent Richard of Forbidden Stories, Dana Priest of The Washington Post and Jorge Carrasco of Proceso for a behind the scenes look at the global investigation and learn how collaborative journalism can keep alive the work of reporters who are silenced by threats, censorship or death.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Eric Foner: In Conversation
Moderated by Lynette Clemetson
Friday, January 29, 2021
8 p.m. ET
Pausing for a moment of post-inaugural reflection, following one of our nation’s most contentious presidential elections and it’s aftermath, this conversation brings together filmmaker, scholar, journalist and cultural critic, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. with prominent historian Eric Foner to contemplate how a divided nation comes together. The two will discuss Reconstruction, the all-too-brief period following the Civil War when the United States made its first effort to become an interracial democracy. The period saw the Constitution rewritten to incorporate the ideal of racial equality, but ended as a result of a violent backlash that erased many of the gains that had been made, with consequences we still confront as a nation. The program will also preview Gates’ most recent project, “The Black Church,” which will premiere on PBS in February.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. Professor Gates is an author and filmmaker whose work includes “Reconstruction: America after the Civil War,” and the related books, “Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow,” with Tonya Bolden, and “Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow.” Gates’ groundbreaking genealogy series, “Finding Your Roots,” is now in its sixth season on PBS.
Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, is one of this country’s most prominent historians. Professor Foner’s publications have concentrated on the intersections of intellectual, political and social history, and the history of American race relations. His books include “Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877,” winner of the Bancroft Prize, Parkman Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Book Award and “The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution.”
This conversation will be moderated by Lynette Clemetson, Director of Wallace House.
This Penny Stamps Speaker Series event and U-M Reverend Martin Luther King Junior Symposium event is part of the Democracy & Debate theme semester with support from Wallace House and the Ford School of Public Policy.
Community as Corporation: Talent Retention in Low-Status America
with Majora Carter, Urban Revitalization Strategist
Moderated by Lynette Clemetson
Friday, November 6, 2020
Noon – 1:30 p.m. ET
Majora Carter, real estate developer, urban revitalization strategy consultant, MacArthur Fellow, and Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, will speak as part of the Real World Perspectives on Poverty Solutions series. The virtual lectures introduce the key issues regarding the causes and consequences of poverty. The series explores interdisciplinary, real-world poverty solutions from a wide variety of perspectives and encourages the formation of a broad community of learners to engage in these issues together.
This conversation will be moderated by Lynette Clemetson, Director of Wallace House.
This event is part of the Real World Perspectives on Poverty Solutions speaker series in partnership with the William Davidson Institute, Wallace House, the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope
Nicholas Kristof, New York Times Columnist and Author
Friday, October 30, 2020
Noon – 1:30 p.m. ET
Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist and author, will speak as part of the Real World Perspectives on Poverty Solutions series. The virtual lectures introduce the key issues regarding the causes and consequences of poverty. The series explores interdisciplinary, real-world poverty solutions from a wide variety of perspectives and encourages the formation of a broad community of learners to engage in these issues together.
This event is part of the Real World Perspectives on Poverty Solutions speaker series in partnership with the William Davidson Institute, Wallace House, the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
María Elena Salinas and Bryan Llenas: Covering America at a Moment of Rupture
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
5 p.m. ET
From partisan politics to diversity shortfalls in U.S. newsrooms, what does it mean for the reporters on the ground? Hear from two of America’s most prominent Latinx journalists on the value of representation and reporting in this hyper-partisan moment. Join our conversation with CBS News contributor, María Elena Salinas and Fox News national correspondent, Bryan Llenas.
The conversation will include introductions by Robert Yoon, Associate Director of Wallace House.
This is part of the Democracy & Debate Theme Semester Event Series.
Covering the Campaign: A conversation with national political reporters
Monday, October 12, 2020
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET
Join us for a conversation with two senior political reporters, Jane Coaston of Vox and Daniel Strauss of The Guardian. Hear what it’s like to be a political reporter during an election season and what political and policy issues are at play in this presidential election. Paula Lantz, associate dean of the Ford School and James Hudak Professor of Health Policy will moderate the conversation.
This is part of the Policy Talks @ the Ford School event series and is co-sponsored by Wallace House.
In Conversation: Ken Burns and Isabel Wilkerson
Moderated by Lynette Clemetson
Friday, October 2, 2020
8 p.m. ET
Our lens on history powerfully influences how we envision and shape the future. Join two of our country’s most accomplished storytellers, documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns, and journalist and author, Isabel Wilkerson, as they discuss the complexities of the American narrative and how grappling with the past might lead us forward.
This conversation will be moderated by Lynette Clemetson, Director of Wallace House.
This is a Penny Stamps Speaker Series event and part of the Democracy & Debate Theme Semester with support from Wallace House and the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA).