Tag Archives: Clinton School Speaker Series

Tonight at Clinton School – Discussion of Thurgood Marshall and 1949 Groveland Boys Case

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UACS DevilBefore he was on the Supreme Court, before he supported the Little Rock Nine, before Brown v. Board of Education, Thurgood Marshall was a longtime crusader not just for civil rights, but for human rights.  T

Tonight at the Clinton School, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gilbert King, Justice Marshall’s son, Thurgood Marshall, Jr., will discuss the 1949 Groveland Boys case.

Gilbert King is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys and the Dawn of a New America. The book, about four black men falsely accused of raping Norma Lee Padgett, a 17-year-old white woman in Groveland, Fla. in 1949, unearthed a largely forgotten chapter in the long history of racial injustice in the United States, and explored, in painstaking details, the tactics used by Thurgood Marshall, the future Supreme Court Justice, to chip away at the foundations of Jim Crow law.

The program will begin at 6pm at the Clinton School of Public Service.  A book signing will follow.

“Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid that Avenged Pearl Harbor” tonight at the Clinton School

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UACS TokyoThe Doolittle Raid is a feat of legend: a daring, some thought suicidal, bombing mission designed to avenge the attack on Pearl Harbor by taking the fight to the heart of the Japanese Empire—Tokyo. The raid’s success became a rallying point for the United States, destroyed Japan’s sense of its own invulnerability, and helped force a confrontation at Midway, a critical turning point in the Pacific War.

Shrouded in secrecy at the time, the raid quickly entered the realm of myth, almost literally: the White House and the American press began using “Shangri-La,” the name of a fictional mountaintop utopia, as a stand-in for the undisclosed launching point of the operation. In “Target Tokyo,” award-winning historian James Scott strips away the layers of the legend and provides the first truly comprehensive account of the raid, one that’s based on new interviews and scores of never-before published records drawn from archives across four continents.

The presentation will begin at 6pm this evening at the Clinton School.

THE BAREFOOT LAWYER tonight at the Clinton School

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uacs barefootThe son of a poor farmer in rural China and blinded by illness when he was an infant, Chen Guangcheng became a self-taught lawyer and a political activist. Repeatedly harassed, beaten, and imprisoned by Chinese authorities, Chen was ultimately placed under house arrest. Despite his disability, he was determined to escape to freedom and fight for the rights of his country’s poor. After two years, one morning he climbed over the wall of his heavily guarded home and escaped. Days later, he turned up at the American embassy in Beijing, and after high-level negotiations, was able to leave China and begin a new life in the United States. Both a riveting memoir and a revealing portrait of modern China, “The Barefoot Lawyer” tells the story of a man who has never accepted limits and always believed in the power of the human spirit to overcome any obstacle.

He will speak tonight at the Clinton School at 6pm.

Symposium on the Moral Imperative of Music Education tonight; sponsored by Clinton School and Spirit of Harmony Foundation

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sohf_webThis evening from 6pm to 9pm at the Clinton School and the Spirit of Harmony Foundation are presenting a symposium on the importance of music education.    The Spirit of Harmony Foundation was founded by musician, songwriter and record producer Todd Rundgren.  The symposium will explore the social, neurological, economic, academic and creative benefits of music education and will conclude with a short musical performance by Todd.  

It will take place in the Wally Allen Ballroom of the Statehouse Convention Center.

The symposium panel includes:
– “The Social Benefits of Music Education: Music education improves children’s lives by making them more successful academically and in their social interactions (working with others and self-confidence)” with Margaret Martin, founder of the Harmony Project.
– “The Neurological/Physical Benefits of Music Education: Music education changes a child’s brain in ways that last a lifetime, making the child a better student and a more mentally fit adult” with Nina Kraus, director of Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory.
– “The Economic Benefits of Music Education: The proven physical and social benefits of music education ultimately result in substantial economic assets that manifest throughout a person’s lifetime” with George S. Frod, co-founder and chief economist at Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies.
– “The Academic Benefits of Music Education: Individual students experience substantial and life-change positive results from active participation in music education programs” with Carl Mouton, director of bands for Maumelle High School.
– “The Emotional/Creative Benefits of Music Education: Music changes the world and changes ourselves” with Todd Rundgren, founder and president of the spirit of Harmony Foundation.
The evening will also feature a performance from members of the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra, under the direction of Geoffrey Robson.
For more information, visit  http://www.spiritofharmony.org/symposium.html

“The Golden Hour: Africa’s Rise and the Challenge for American Diplomacy” is topic of Todd Moss talk at Clinton School today at noon

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As Africa’s prominence on the global stage increases, it offers challenges and opportunities for the US.  Todd Moss will examine this today at noon in a Clinton School address.

Todd Moss is chief operating officer and senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. Moss also serves as vice president for programs and secretary of the board. In addition to his institutional and fundraising responsibilities, his work focuses on U.S.-Africa relations and financial issues facing sub-Saharan Africa, including policies that affect private investment, debt, and aid. Moss directs the Emerging Africa Project and is currently working on energy in Africa, cash transfers in new oil economies, and new ideas for upgrading US development policy. In the past he led the Center’s work on Nigerian debt, Zimbabwe, the future of the World Bank’s IDA, and the African Development Bank.

Moss served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs at the U.S. Department of State from May 2007 to October 2008 while on leave from CGD. He originally joined the Center in July 2003 from the World Bank where he served as a consultant and advisor to the Chief Economist in the Africa Region. Prior to joining the Bank, he was a Lecturer at the London School of Economics (LSE) in the postgraduate Development Studies Institute. Previously, Moss has worked as an Analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and was Assistant Director of U.S. Policy Programs at the Overseas Development Council (ODC). Moss is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and the author of numerous articles and books, including Adventure Capitalism: Globalization and the Political Economy of Stock Markets in Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and African Development: Making Sense of the Issues and Actors (Lynne Rienner, 2nd ed., 2011).

Moss is also the author of The Golden Hour  (Penguin/Putnam, 2014), a thriller about American diplomacy and infighting after a coup in West Africa. The novel’s sequel Minute Zero will be released in 2015.

“Art. Race. Identity. Bringing ’30 Americans’ to Little Rock” – An Arts Center discussion at Clinton School today

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The Arkansas Arts Center premieres a new exhibit tomorrow – “30 Americans.”  Today at noon at the Clinton School, Dr. Todd Herman will discuss the exhibit.

“30 Americans” presents a sweeping survey of artwork by many of the most important African American artists of the last four decades. Organized by the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, the exhibition features work by such early and influential artists as Barkley L. Hendricks, Robert Colescott and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and those of younger and emerging artists, like Kehinde Wiley, Wangechi Mutu, and Shinique Smith. Often provocative and challenging, “30 Americans” explores what it means to be a contemporary artist and an African American today. Whether addressing issues of race, gender, sexuality, politics, or history—or the seeming lack thereof—the works in the exhibition offer powerful interpretations of cultural identity and artistic legacy.

Dr. Herman, executive director of the Arkansas Arts Center will discuss the steps taken to bring a nationally recognized exhibition to Little Rock and the impact it will have.

Leocadia Zak of USTDA will lead discussion on international trade at Clinton School

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LzakToday at 12 noon at the Clinton School, Leocadia Zak will participate in a discussion on international trade and economic developement.

She is the director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, which helps U.S. businesses create jobs through the export of their goods and services for priority infrastructure projects in emerging economies. USTDA links U.S. companies to export opportunities by funding project planning activities, pilot projects, and reverse trade missions while creating sustainable infrastructure, development, and economic growth in partner countries. For the sixth year in a row, USTDA’s export multiplier increased in FY 2014 — for every dollar the Agency programmed, an unprecedented $76 in U.S. exports were generated.

Zak will participate in a discussion on international trade and economic development, including President Obama’s trade policy agenda and trends in emerging markets, moderated by former Arkansas Economic Development Commission director Grant Tennille.

Leocadia I. Zak was appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate as the Director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, which helps U.S. businesses create jobs through the export of their goods and services for priority development projects in emerging economies. USTDA links U.S. companies to export opportunities by funding project planning activities, pilot projects and reverse trade missions while creating sustainable infrastructure and economic growth in partner countries. For the sixth year in a row, USTDA’s export multiplier increased in FY 2014 — for every dollar the Agency programmed, an unprecedented $76 in U.S. exports were generated. Further, the $5.8 billion in new exports identified last year brings USTDA’s total exports generated to over $51 billion.

Prior to joining USTDA, Ms. Zak was a partner in the Washington and Boston offices of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., practicing in the areas of corporate, municipal and international finance. Ms. Zak was also an Adjunct Professor of Law and has taught International Project Finance at the Boston University School of Law, Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law Studies and at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Ms. Zak received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.