Lecture

In February 1919, in a campus of brownstones on West 23rd Street in Chelsea, a series of seven courses was offered to adults on the “the grave social, political, economic and educational problems of the day.” The courses were an experiment in democracy and a new form of education: one that emphasized the collegiality and expansiveness in learning that led to the formation of The New School. On occasion of welcoming New School’s new president Bob Kerrey, this series is intended to remind the New School community of its historical legacies, and re-frame them for a new millennium.

Charles Beard resigned from Columbia University in 1917 out of protest against the crackdown on academic freedom that WWI presented. He worked with James Harvey Robinson to found an institution that honored “the democratic, social reconstruction grounded in Western political and economic thought.” His course on the the “Problems of American Government” is revisited tonight by Manning Marable.

Participant
Manning Marable