The Village at the turn of the 20th century was the center of numerous major movements seeking social change: labor, peace, birth control, civil liberties, women’s rights. Central to every one of these movements was an underlying principle: free speech — the right to dissent, to criticize, to protest. From Union Square to the Cooper Union, mass meetings inspired each movement, and allowed significant overlap and exchange between them. Join us as a panel of distinguished scholars and activists explores the importance of free speech campaigns in the trajectory of these movements, including how censorship both fractured and united these movements in common cause, and how the movements themselves served as crucibles in the modern American battle over free speech.

Moderated by recent ACLU president Susan Herman, panelists will particularly focus on the struggle for reproductive rights and labor union organizing, and will offer insights into what these histories tell us about the current political moment.

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Communications and Media Studies at Fordham University; Amy Aronson, Chair.

This event is presented by Village Preservation.

Event time is 6:00 p.m. ET, 5:00 p.m. CT

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