Lecture Date: February 13, 2025 The Irene and Curry Roberts Lecture For six decades John Robert Lewis (1940–2020) was a towering figure in the struggle for civil rights in the United States. As an activist and progressive congressman, he was renowned for his unshakable integrity, indomitable courage, and determination to get into “good trouble.” John […]

The Fredericksburg Area Museum (FAM) is proud to announce the launch of a new monthly program series, A Space of Our Own: Black Women in Community, designed to honor and connect Black women in the region. Created and led by Dr. Gaila Sims, FAM’s Vice President of Programs and Interpretation and Curator of African American History, this […]

The Roxanne M. Kaufman Lecture As a teenage actress in 1920s Austria, performing on the stage and in film in light comedies and musicals, Hedy Kiesler, with her exotic beauty, was heralded across Europe by her mentor, Max Reinhardt. However, it was her nude scene, and surprising dramatic ability, in Ecstasy that made her a […]

The Irene and Curry Roberts Lecture For six decades John Robert Lewis (1940–2020) was a towering figure in the struggle for civil rights in the United States. As an activist and progressive congressman, he was renowned for his unshakable integrity, indomitable courage, and determination to get into “good trouble.” John Lewis: In Search of the […]

The Coldwell Banker Elite Lecture Bulent’s new book, Beyond Genius, is more ambitious than his earlier books on Leonardo da Vinci. Positing that genius comes in degrees, from “ordinary” to “magician” to “transformative,” he examines the internal and external conditions that produced hundreds of extraordinarily brilliant men and women. Ultimately, he makes the main focus […]

The UMW Museums Lecture Admired by George Washington, ridiculed by Thomas Jefferson, published in London, and read far and wide, Phillis Wheatley led one of the most extraordinary American lives. Seized in West Africa and forced into slavery as a child, she was sold to a merchant family in Boston, where she became a noted […]

The Walter Jervis Sheffield Lecture General James Longstreet is remembered by many as a prominent Confederate general during the American Civil War. He also was reviled by generations of white Southerners as an apostate—both for criticizing the generalship of Robert E. Lee and becoming a Republican and supporting Black voting and interracial governance during Reconstruction. Centering Longstreet’s […]

The Jubilation by Silver Companies Lecture In America’s collective consciousness, Pat Nixon has long been perceived as enigmatic. She was voted “Most Admired Woman in the World” in 1972 and made Gallup Poll’s top ten list of most admired women fourteen times. She survived the turmoil of the Watergate scandal with her popularity and dignity […]

The UMW Dining Lecture In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald produced his third novel, a slim work for which he had high expectations. Despite such hopes, the novel received mixed reviews and lackluster sales. Over the decades, however, the reputation of The Great Gatsby has grown, and millions of copies have been sold. One of the bestselling novels […]