Citizen Revolt: Week of June 24
Imagining The Underground Railroad, Juneteenth Celebration, World Grapples With Gender Identity, The British Are Coming
By Katharine Biele @kathybiele
Imagining The Underground Railroad
Quick—before they ban movies, too. The Underground Railroad is a re-imagining of the freedom struggle of Black slaves in early America. "Based on Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer-prize winning novel, the show imagines a pre-Civil War world in which fugitives from slavery ride real trains through real tunnels." While neither slavery nor the flight from it is fiction, this TV drama brings to life the real hardships of the time. Profs & Pints Online: A Scholars' Guide to The Underground Railroad will show you "what the show gets right or wrong about the real Underground Railroad, and why it all matters." You'll hear from Richard Bell, an expert on the actual Underground Railroad, and Nadine Knight, an expert on African American literature and culture as well as television and film. Virtual, Sunday, June 27, 5 p.m., free. https://bit.ly/3v7SeGZ
Juneteenth Celebration
In an event to honor Black Wall Street and "the Entrepreneurial History, Power, and Promise of our Ancestors" the Salt Lake & Utah County Juneteenth Celebration & Black Owned Business Expo will offer a family friendly community event that will feature a Black-owned Business Expo, black art exhibit, food trucks, music and even a movie night. Despite legislative denial, Black Wall Street, which culminated in the Tulsa massacre of May 1921, is an important tragedy in American history to remember. The Gateway, 18 N. Rio Grande, Saturday, June 26, noon-10 p.m., free. https://bit.ly/3gvr9bn
World Grapples With Gender Identity
It's not just the United States. Worldwide, people are trying to come to terms with gender and how to express it. In Wales, the conservative Tories recently banned the nonbinary as a legally recognized gender identity. In Beyond the Binary: Marxism, Gender and Resistance, you will hear about the mounting attacks on trans, nonbinary, gender-fluid or bi-gender socialists, and why oppressive gender stereotypes are considered endemic of a capitalistic state. No matter how you identify, the struggle to end oppression should concern even the most conservative of people. Virtual, Thursday, June 24, noon, free. bit.ly/BeyondTheBinarySW
The British Are Coming
If you think you know about the history of the Revolutionary War, "Winning Independence: The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778–1781" will rock your world. The National Archives Foundation presents John Ferling, whodescribes the underexplored history of the second half of the Revolutionary War. Turns out the French entrance into the fight didn't mean immediate victory. The British turned to a Southern strategy, causing the U.S. economy to collapse and morale to suffer. What turned the tide for the fledgling states and ended in the victory at Yorktown? Register to find out. Virtual, Tuesday, June 29, noon, free. https://bit.ly/3gGSNCp
About The Author
Katharine Biele
A City Weekly contributor since 1992, Katharine Biele is the informed voice behind our Hits & Misses column. When not writing, you can catch her working to empower voters and defend democracy alongside the League of Women Voters.
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