Ford Hall Forum

Last updated

The Ford Hall Forum is the oldest free public lecture series in the United States. Founded in 1908, it continues to host open lectures and discussions in the Greater Boston area. Some of the more well-known past speakers include Maya Angelou, Isaac Asimov, Noam Chomsky, Alan Dershowitz, W. E. B. Du Bois, Al Gore, Martin Luther King Jr., Henry Kissinger, Norman Mailer, Ayn Rand, Cokie Roberts, Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert Frost, Margaret Mead, Malcolm X, Jimmy Wales, and Gwen Ifill.

Contents

The Ford Hall Forum's mission is "to promote freedom of speech and foster an informed and engaged citizenry through the free public presentation of lectures, debates, and discussions." Its events strive to illuminate key issues facing society by bringing to a public podium knowledgeable and thought-provoking speakers. These speakers are presented in person, for free, and in settings that facilitate frank and open debate. All programs provide equal time for speakers' remarks and questions from the audience.

History

The Forum was founded in February 1908 by George W. Coleman, a Boston businessman and then leader of the Boston Baptist Social Union. The first public lectures were held in the Union's meeting place, the Ford Building on Ashburton Place, Beacon Hill, from which the Forum's name originates. The building was named after Daniel Sharp Ford, formerly editor of the Youth's Companion magazine, as well as publisher of a Baptist magazine, the Christian Watchman. Mr. Ford was a noted philanthropist who died in December 1899. [1] When he died, his will bequeathed the building to the Baptist Social Union, so that it could hold free public meetings, concerts, and open discussions on current events. [2] The first speaker was the Baptist Pastor Walter Rauschenbusch whose book "Christianity and the Social Crisis" had been released the year before. [3]

In 1924, Boston and Springfield-based station WBZ agreed to broadcast some of the Ford Hall Forum's Sunday night meetings, [4] giving the speakers and their perspectives a much wider audience than just the people in the room (or the people who read about the speakers when the newspapers reported summaries of what they said). Among the Ford Hall Forum speakers heard on WBZ in 1924 was Rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise, who denounced the Ku Klux Klan. [5] A 1925 talk by Father Michael J. Ahern, who was both a theologian and a scientist (with an advanced degree in geology), discussed the Catholic view on evolution; he also took questions from the audience. [6] And a talk by W.E.B. Du Bois in January 1926 addressed "the hypocrisy of white folk." [7] Not all of the talks were about current events or controversial issues; the listeners also heard presentations from famous humorists, authors, historians, poets, and medical professionals. For example, in late November 1926, Professor Joseph Jastrow, a psychologist from the University of Wisconsin, analyzed some commonly-held superstitions. [8] But while the programs seemed to be popular with the audience, by early 1927 WBZ had stopped broadcasting them, and replaced them with programs that had a sponsor. The Ford Hall Forum continued to provide interesting talks, but the radio audience could no longer hear them. [9] It would not be till the mid 1950s when radio stations began regularly broadcasting Ford Hall Forum events. WCOP did so in 1956 when the station broadcast several talks, including one by anthropologist Margaret Mead. [10] Subsequently, Harvard's WHRB-FM taped and then broadcast several talks during 1957, including one by 1950 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph J. Bunche. [11] The taped presentations continued to be heard on WHRB-FM until December 1961. By the end of 1961, the programs were being heard on WGBH-FM. [12]

As a free speech institution that does not endorse the view of any of its speakers, the Forum has occasionally given a stage to speakers whom other institutions would not (or could not). In 1929, Margaret Sanger appeared at the Forum, visibly gagged, [13] after Mayor James Michael Curley issued an injunction barring her from speaking about family planning. The Forum frequently withstood criticism for hosting meetings that featured activists whose views were considered controversial; the Forum was accused of being a haven for radicals, socialists, and Communists by people who disagreed with some of these speakers. [14] In 1930, W.E.B. Du Bois participated in a debate about whether Black people should be encouraged to seek social equality, [15] a contentious topic in an era when American was still segregated. The Forum endured a large and angry protest in 1933, when a pro-Nazi speaker, Prof. Friedrich Schoenemann, gave a talk; police had to be called to calm the protesters, and several were arrested. [16] Another controversial speaker, Malcolm X, was invited to speak in the 1960s, at a time when he was widely considered too dangerous to be given a public podium in the heart of Boston. In the early 1990s, when former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke was a candidate for a seat in the U.S. Senate, the Forum brought him to Boston to answer questions about his views and about his past.

Ousted by the Boston Baptist Social Union for fear of being associated with radicalism, the Ford Hall Forum began its own separate enterprise in 1929. The stated purpose of the new corporation was: "To provide education such as will develop intelligent, capable, and responsible citizens, minister to the welfare of all, and promote understanding of civic, moral, religious, and spiritual responsibilities. This can be done in part by maintaining a common meeting ground for all the people where there will be full, free, and open public discussion of all vital questions affecting human welfare."

Periodically, the Forum specifically recognizes the value of expressing sentiment that may not always be welcomed but is certainly necessary with its First Amendment Award in honor of Louis P. and Evelyn Smith, long time active benefactors of the Forum. Recipients are listed below along with other speakers.

Since its inception in 1908, the Ford Hall Forum was based at the Ford Building on Ashburton Place, but in late 1941, it moved to a new location: the John Hancock Hall on St. James Avenue. [17] It moved again in October 1946, to Jordan Hall, on Gainsboro Street. [18] Sometime in 1974, Ford Hall Forum relocated to Alumni Auditorium at Northeastern University. [19] The Ford Hall Forum currently is presenting its lecture series in cooperation with Suffolk University.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Monroe Trotter</span> American newspaper editor, businessman, and civil rights activist

William Monroe Trotter, sometimes just Monroe Trotter, was a newspaper editor and real estate businessman based in Boston, Massachusetts. An activist for African-American civil rights, he was an early opponent of the accommodationist race policies of Booker T. Washington, and in 1901 founded the Boston Guardian, an independent African-American newspaper he used to express that opposition. Active in protest movements for civil rights throughout the 1900s and 1910s, he also revealed some of the differences within the African-American community. He contributed to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WBZ (AM)</span> American radio station in Boston

WBZ is a Class A clear channel radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts. Originally started, and formerly owned for most of its existence, by Westinghouse Broadcasting and its successor CBS Radio, WBZ is owned and operated by iHeartMedia.

WBZ-TV is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent WSBK-TV. Both stations share studios on Soldiers Field Road in the Allston–Brighton section of Boston. WBZ-TV's transmitter is located on Cedar Street in Needham, Massachusetts, on a tower site that was formerly owned by CBS and is now owned by American Tower Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mordecai Wyatt Johnson</span> Pastor and president of Howard University

Mordecai Wyatt Johnson was an American educator and pastor. He served as the first African-American president of Howard University, from 1926 until 1960. Johnson has been considered one of the three leading African-American preachers of the early 20th-century, along with Vernon Johns and Howard Thurman.

This is a list of television and radio stations along with a list of media outlets in and around Boston, Massachusetts, including the Greater Boston area. As the television media market titled as "Boston-(Manchester)" it stretches as far north as Manchester, New Hampshire, and ranks as the ninth-largest media market, and one of top-ten-largest radio media market in the United States according to Nielsen Media Research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WRKO</span> Talk radio station in Boston, Massachusetts

WRKO is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned by iHeartMedia, WRKO is a Class B AM station that provides secondary coverage to portions of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine during the day, but is highly directional at night to protect a number of clear-channel stations on adjacent frequencies. WRKO serves as the Boston affiliate for ABC News Radio, Coast to Coast AM and This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal; syndicated personalities Joe Pags, John Batchelor and Bill Cunningham; the flagship station of The Howie Carr Show, and the home of radio personality Jeff Kuhner. The WRKO studios are located in the Boston suburb of Medford, while the station transmitter resides in nearby Burlington. Besides its main analog transmission, WRKO simulcasts over the HD2 subchannel of sister station WZLX, and streams online via iHeartRadio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WMJX</span> Adult contemporary radio station in Boston

WMJX – branded Magic 106.7 – is a commercial adult contemporary radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. The WMJX studios are located in Boston's Allston–Brighton neighborhood, while the station transmitter resides on the Prudential Tower in Downtown Boston. Besides a standard analog transmission, WMJX broadcasts using HD Radio technology, and is available online via Audacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WWBX</span> Boston radio station

WWBX is a radio station with a hot adult contemporary format in Boston, Massachusetts. The format started at 98.5 FM on February 9, 1991, and moved to 104.1 FM, replacing WBCN on August 12, 2009, to allow for the launch of WBZ-FM at 98.5 the next day. Its studios are located in Brighton, and its transmitter is on the upper FM mast of the Prudential Tower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">16th Street Baptist Church</span> Historic church in Alabama, United States

The 16th Street Baptist Church is a Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. In 1963, the church was bombed by Ku Klux Klan members. The bombing killed four young girls in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. The church is still in operation and is a central landmark in the Birmingham Civil Rights District. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2006. Since 2008, it has also been on the UNESCO list of tentative World Heritage Sites.

The Yankee Quill Award is a regional American journalism award that recognizes a lifetime contribution toward excellence in journalism in New England. The award is bestowed annually by the Academy of New England Journalists, and administered by the New England Society of Newspaper Editors. It is considered the highest individual honor awarded by fellow journalists in the region.

The Yankee Network was an American radio network, based in Boston, Massachusetts, with affiliate radio stations throughout New England. At the height of its influence, the Yankee Network had as many as twenty-four affiliated radio stations. The network was co-founded by John Shepard III and his brother Robert, in 1929–1930. The beginnings of what became the Yankee Network occurred in the mid-1920s, when John Shepard's Boston station WNAC linked by telephone land lines with Robert Shepard's station in Providence, Rhode Island, WEAN, so that the two stations could share or exchange programming. Those two stations became the first two Yankee Network stations. In 1930, they were joined by the first affiliated radio stations, including WLBZ in Bangor, Maine; WORC in Worcester, Massachusetts; WNBH in New Bedford, Massachusetts; and WICC in Bridgeport, Connecticut. During the 1930s, the network became known for developing its own local and regional news bureau, the Yankee News Service. The Yankee Network and the Yankee News Service operated until February 1967.

<i>Americas Town Meeting of the Air</i> Public affairs discussion broadcast on radio

America's Town Meeting of the Air was a public affairs discussion broadcast on radio from May 30, 1935, to July 1, 1956, mainly on the NBC Blue Network and its successor, ABC Radio. One of radio's first talk shows, it began as a six-week experiment, and NBC itself did not expect much from it.

Robert Henry Castellon, known as Bob Wilson, was an American radio personality and hockey broadcaster who served as the longtime play-by-play announcer of the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. In 1987, Wilson was honoured with the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award, enshrining him in the broadcasters' wing of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcaster's Hall of Fame in 2007. Wilson's booming baritone voice and his ability to articulate for radio listeners the dynamic flow and possession changes of ice hockey distinguished him from his peers. He also was noted for his detailed descriptions of hockey fights, which pleased his fans but sometimes gained him disapproval from critics.

The Pacifica Forum was a discussion group in Eugene, Oregon, United States. It was hosted by retired University of Oregon professor Orval Etter. It culminated a long slide into extremism by ceasing operations after Etter's death and has not been reconstituted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WBZ-FM</span> Sports radio station in Boston

WBZ-FM is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, WBZ-FM is the Boston affiliate for Fox Sports Radio; the flagship station for the New England Patriots, Boston Bruins, Boston Celtics, and New England Revolution radio networks; and the radio home of Fred Toettcher, Rich Shertenlieb, Scott Zolak, Mike Felger, Tony Massarotti, and Adam Jones. The WBZ-FM studios are located in Waltham, while the station transmitter resides in the Boston suburb of Newton. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WBZ-FM broadcasts over two HD Radio channels, and is available online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew W. Bullock</span> Social leader, civil servant and leading African-American (1881–1972)

Matthew Washington Bullock was an American lawyer, politician and human rights activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Callie Crossley</span> American broadcast journalist

Callie Crossley is an American broadcast journalist and radio presenter in the Boston area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Hanford Ford</span> American lecturer, author, art, literature critic and suffragette

Mary Hanford Ford was an American lecturer, author, art and literature critic and a leader in the women's suffrage movement. She reached early notoriety in Kansas at the age of 28 and soon left for the Chicago World's Fair. She was taken up by the society ladies of the Chicago area who, impressed with her talks on art and literature at the Fair, helped launch her on a new career, initially in Chicago and then across some States. Along the way she was already published in articles and noticed in suffrage meetings.

The League for Political Education was a New York City-based group devoted to providing a forum where people of every rank and station could be educated on the important issues of the day. Founded as a pro-women's suffrage group, the League initially fought for passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and provided general education on social and political issues. After opening up their membership to both genders, they later commissioned the building of The Town Hall and sponsored the long-running radio program America's Town Meeting of the Air. The League essentially dissolved in 1938 when it changed its focus to the daily operations of Town Hall.

This is a timeline of the history of the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA.

References

  1. ↑ "Daniel Sharp Ford Dead," New York Times, December 25, 1899, p. 1.
  2. ↑ "Extended Scope of Ford Hall Work," Boston Herald, October 11, 1908, p. E8.
  3. ↑ "About the Ford Hall Forum". Archived from the original on 2008-09-28. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  4. ↑ "WBZ Hooks Up With Ford Hall, Boston for Sunday Evening Lectures," Springfield (Mass.) Republican, November 30, 1924, F8.
  5. ↑ "Rabbi Wise Challenges High Churchmen to Denounce Klan," Boston Herald, October 20, 1924, p. 6.
  6. ↑ "Ford Hall Forum from WBZ Tonight," Boston Herald, November 29, 1925, p.B11.
  7. ↑ "Negro Orator Expected to Raise Cain at Ford Hall Forum Session Tonight," Springfield (Mass) Republican, January 10, 1926, p. R5.
  8. ↑ "Jastrow Will Talk From WBZ Tonight," Boston Herald, November 28, 1926, p. B10.
  9. ↑ "Local Radio Stations," Springfield (Mass.) Republican, December 1, 1927, p. 2.
  10. ↑ "Ford Hall Forum on WCOP Tonight," Boston Herald, April 8, 1956, p. A21.
  11. ↑ "Bunche on WHRB-FM," Boston Herald, December 8, 1957, p. A 13.
  12. ↑ "AM-FM Stations," Boston Herald, December 26, 1961, p. 17.
  13. ↑ Noble, William (1990). "Frolicking in Ford Hall". Bookbanning in America : who bans books?--and why? . Middlebury, Vt.: P.S. Eriksson. pp.  84. ISBN   0839710801.
  14. ↑ "The Blue Menace," Springfield (Mass.) Republican, March 29, 1928, p. 12.
  15. ↑ "Ad for Ford Hall Forum," Boston Herald, November 8, 1930, p. 18.
  16. ↑ "Ford Hall in 50th Year," Boston Sunday Advertiser, March 23, 1958, p. 15.
  17. ↑ Marion Gillespie Perkins, "Chapel Dedication and Church Anniversary Occur Tomorrow," Boston Herald, October 18, 1941, p. 8.
  18. ↑ "Ford Hall Changes Location," Boston Herald, October 3, 1946, p. 19.
  19. ↑ "Ad for Ford Hall Forum," Boston Herald American, October 10, 1974, p. 20.
  1. Coleman, George W. Democracy in the Making: Ford Hall and the Open Forum Movement : A Symposium. Boston: Little, Brown, 1915.
  2. The Challenge of the Forum. The Story of Ford Hall and the Open Forum Movement. A Demonstration in Adult Education. The New England Quarterly. 1931.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.