Fall lineup blends Colligan, 40th anniversary community events

August 26, 2008

Miami Hamilton’s fall schedule includes a mix of Michael J. Colligan History Project lectures and special programs celebrating the 40th anniversary of Miami’s Hamilton campus. As always, all events are free and open to the public.

Special presentation on "1968"

Jeremi Suri, an up-and-coming historian from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, ushers in the 2008-09 Colligan lecture series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, September 4, in the Harry T. Wilks Conference Center. Suri will discuss the revolutionary year 1968, befitting the 40th anniversary of Miami Hamilton -- the first class on campus was taught in September 1968.

Well respected in the field, Suri’s popular 2006 book The Global Revolutions of 1968 examines the global upheavals of the late1960s. Much of his research is focused on social movements and the influence of ideas.
Suri is an Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer. He received his doctorate from Yale University.

Here’s the remainder of the fall 2008 Colligan/40th anniversary schedule:

Back by popular demand: Winkler & Sullivan

Miami professors Allan Winkler and Dennis Sullivan will perform American Folk Songs of the 1960s at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 16, in the Wilks Conference Center. The duo will evoke the sounds and memories of the 1960s with a special live performance featuring the immortal songs of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and others. Drs. Winkler and Sullivan performed before a full-house in Wilks as part of the Colligan series in 2007.

Tommie Smith: My Stand, Your Challenge

Olympic gold medalist, educator, and activist Dr. Tommie Smith will present My Stand, Your Challenge at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 23, in Parrish Auditorium. During the historical 19th Olympiad in Mexico City in 1968, Smith won the gold medal representing the U.S. in the 200-meter dash. As the Star Spangled Banner played, Smith and teammate John Carlos stood on the victory podium, each raising a black-gloved fist in a historic stand for black power, liberation, and solidarity.

This courageous, unexpected event catapulted Smith into a worldwide spotlight as a human rights spokesman, and a symbol of African American pride. Cheered by some and jeered by others, Smith dedicated his life to champion the cause of oppressed people. The story of the “silent gesture” was captured in the 1999 HBO TV documentary Fists of Freedom.

Smith served on the faculty at Santa Monica College for 27 years, retiring in 2005. He now lives in Georgia.

Seymour Hersh on the 1960s

Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh will present the My Lai Massacre and the 1960s at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 21, in Parrish Auditorium. Hersh won the 1970 Pulitizer Prize for International Reporting for his exclusive disclosure of the Vietnam War tragedy in 1968 in the hamlet of My Lai. Hersh was working for Dispatch News Service in Washington, D.C., when he broke the story.

Hersh is one of America’s premier investigative reporters. He first wrote for The New Yorker in 1971 and has been a regular contributor to the magazine since 1993. In addition to reporting on the massacre at My Lai, Hersh has been recognized for his investigative reporting on the CIA bombing of Cambodia, Henry Kissinger’s wiretapping, the CIA’s efforts against Chile’s Salvador Allende, and the drug-running, vote-stealing activities of Panama’s former General Manuel Noriega. In the 1980s, it was Hersh who revealed the CIA’s illicit sale of U.S. weapons to Libya.

Hersh was born in Chicago in 1937 and graduated from University of Chicago in 1958. He remains one of the most controversial and insightful commentators on foreign policy in the U.S. today.

War stories

Capping off the fall season will be a World War II Veterans Panel facilitated by Butler County’s leading historian Jim Blount. The panelists will share their personal stories of World War II from the bombing of Pearl Harbor through D-Day, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, November 6, in the Wilks Conference Center. Miami Hamilton will host an open house on campus November 6 for all U.S. veterans of foreign wars, culminating with Blount’s program in the evening. The makeup of the panel will be finalized in the coming weeks.

For more information, contact LaDonna Hoskins, 785-3277, hoskinls@muohio.edu.