06/15/2026
From: Save the Date: June 18 for What We Should Know for 'America's 250th' < https://tinyurl.com/2v4xa9ae >
“It’s America’s Birthday, and He’ll Be Mad if He Wants To,” reads the headline in the New York Times over a Richard Kreitner review of Eddie Glaude Jr.’s book, AMERICA, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries. “In ‘America, U.S.A.,’ Eddie Glaude Jr. looks back at the country’s past anniversaries with skepticism and pain.”
Professor Glaude will be the lead panelist at our next Journal-isms Roundtable, to be held Thursday, June 18, at 7 p.m. Eastern, in person in Washington, D.C., and by Zoom. He will be available to sign and personalize copies of his books (the new one and his backlist titles) for those who bring copies with them.
Joining him will be Ray Suarez, the onetime “PBS NewsHour” correspondent who has written books on the history of Latinos in America and has been with us previously
and, tentatively, Gayle Jessup White, public relations and community engagement officer at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the nonprofit that owns and operates Monticello. She serves on Virginia’s Citizens Advisory Council on Furnishing and Interpreting the Executive Mansion, where she is founding chair of the Descendant Committee.
In addition, Marc Morial, CEO and president of the National Urban League plans to join us via Zoom. In March, the National Urban League issued this release:
“As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, the National Urban League and the Demand Diversity Roundtable have released a new civic education resource, America 250: A Guide for Defending Democracy, to help Americans navigate an era of profound democratic challenges.
"The nonpartisan guide equips voters, community leaders, and civic organizations with values‑based and action‑oriented questions designed to illuminate how public officials and candidates understand their constitutional responsibilities. . . .” (Added June 😎
Also: Angela P. Dodson, journalist and author of “Remember the Ladies: Celebrating Those Who Fought for Freedom at the Ballot Box” (2019), and co-author of the just-published “We’ve Been Here Before: How Rebellion and Activism Have Always Sustained America,” written with her late husband, Michael I. Days.
U.S. Catholic calls it “a love letter to our country from a pair of seasoned journalists. The book takes seriously both the country’s audacity and its failures, tracing the arc of advocacy for justice from the original patriots to contemporary activists.
“The title of the book deliberately highlights the paradoxes in American history and identity. ‘We’ve been here before’ is a caution and a comfort at once; it’s a reminder that today’s crises feel familiar because they are, but also that people have survived and pushed the nation toward equality by showing up, encouraging the country to be the best version of itself. . . . “ (Added June 14)
Glaude’s bio reads, “One of the nation’s most prominent scholars, Dr. Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., is an educator, author, political commentator and public intellectual who examines the complex dynamics of the American experience.
“His writings, including Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul; In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America; his New York Times bestseller, Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for our Own; and We Are The Leaders We Have Been Looking For, take an exhaustive look at Black communities, the difficulties of race in the United States, and the challenges we face as a democracy.
“Glaude is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in African American Studies at Princeton University. He is also on the Morehouse College Board of Trustees. He frequently appears in the media as an MSNOW contributor on programs such as ‘Morning Joe’ and ‘Deadline: White House’ with Nicolle Wallace.’ Glaude is a native of Moss Point, Mississippi.”
Who’s in?
You can RSVP by hitting “reply” to this message, if you’re receiving this by email, or by messaging
< jroundtable5 (at) gmail.com > Please specify in-person or Zoom
Zoom information and D.C. location come after RSVPs.
