OLLI Special Presentations are lectures that are Free and Open to the Public. We encourage you to attend and to bring with you a friend or neighbor who may not have attended an OLLI course before.
Having Special Presentations, in addition to our regular courses, allows us to schedule short lectures that are of special interest to our members, and may also be on a topic that has come to the forefront in the news, in local interest, or concern.
Examples of recent Special Presentations include: How the Civil War Generation Wanted Us to Remember Their War, Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at UVA, One Drop: Symbolism of the Racial Integrity Act, Inventing the Nonsmoker: The Unheralded Activists in the History of the Cigarette , The Racial and Ethnic History of Charlottesville, The 2020 Elections -- 10 Days and Counting.
As they are scheduled and confirmed, upcoming OLLI Special Presentations will be listed below.
*DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in the Special Presentations are those of the Presenters and do not necessarily represent official policy or position of OLLI at UVA.
Watch for Upcoming Special Presentations, dates and times are still to be determined:
June: Melton McLaurin. ME TO: ENSLAVED WOMEN, SEXUAL ABUSE, AND RESISTANCE
McLaurin, Professor at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, will examine the lives of 3 enslaved women that resisted abuse. The results of their actions varied significantly, depending on the circumstances of their enslavement.
McClaurin has published eleven books and numerous articles. His book, Celia, a Slave, was a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year.” Celia, a Slave deals with one of the three women he will describe.
July: James Morone , HOW AMERICAN POLITICS TURNED TRIBAL FROM GEORGE WASHINGTON TO THE PRESENT
Morone, political scientist at Brown University, starts by focusing on two fundamental conflicts that appeared in the 1800 presidential election between Jefferson and Adams and remained important factors in presidential elections up to the present. He has published a fascinating book on this subject: Republic of Wrath: How American Politics Turned Tribal from George Washington to Donald Trump.
August: SUMMER VACATION
September: Eric Rauchway, University of California, Davis. WHY THE NEW DEAL MATTERS
In his new book, Why the New Deal Matters, Rauchway shows how the New Deal fundamentally changed American life and why it remains relevant today. The New Deal was America’s response to the gravest economic and social crisis of the 20th Century, Rauchway argues, and it can be a source of inspiration for responding to the greatest crisis of the 21st Century.
October: Terry Root, Stanford University and the Woods Institute for the Environment. THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Dr. Root was the lead author for influential reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Those reports along with work by All Gore, received the Nobel Prize for leadership in bringing the problem of climate change to worldwide attention. Root will trace early scientific efforts that revealed mankind’s impact on climate, show how leaders responded to this evidence, and identify potential consequences for life here and around the world. Dr. Root will also identify what we can do to save the planet.
November: Peter Onuf, Professor of History at the University of Virginia. THOMAS JEFFERSON
Onuf is one of this nation’s top scholars on Thomas Jefferson and his times.
