Discover U.S. history through our curated selection of texts and discuss how our nation's history and our understandings of the past inform the present.
This month's text is Cold War, Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy by Mary L. Duziak. Please register online here.
From the publisher: "In what may be the best analysis of how international relations affected any domestic issue, Mary Dudziak interprets postwar civil rights as a Cold War feature. She argues that the Cold War helped facilitate key social reforms, including desegregation. Civil rights activists gained tremendous advantage as the government sought to polish its international image. But improving the nation's reputation did not always require real change. This found on image rather than substance - combined with constraints on McCarthy-era political activism and the triumph of law-and-order rhetoric - limited the nature and extent of progress."
Schedule:
- 5:30-6 p.m. (optional): Hear a summary of the text and additional historical context - ideal for participants who didn't read the book or who want a refresher
- 6-7 p.m.: Participate in a guided discussion of the selected text
- 7-7:30 p.m. (optional): Socialize and enjoy light refreshments
Ages 16 and up.
Fee: $8 (resident) / $10 (non-resident). Drop-ins are welcome as space permits.
Call the museum at (847) 929-8001 or email eengland@skokieparks.org with questions.
Next text will be The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson.