Rockford alumna Ellen Gates Starr (1859-1940) may be one of America’s most important under-studied figures of the early 20th Century. Side by side with her lifelong friend, alumna and Nobel Laureate, Jane Addams (1860-1935), she co-founded Chicago’s famous Hull-House. Part of this story is her role as an articulate conveyor of ideas, both directions, between...

Freelon is a captivating speaker and performer, whose presentations about race, politics, technology and culture leave audiences entertained and enlightened. He will provide an in-depth look at race as a cultural construct, in this multimedia presentation that grapples with the question of a post-racial America, and explores the redemptive, healing and emancipatory power of music...