The National Archives Presents Special Noontime Book Talks in February
Press Release · Thursday, February 6, 2014

Washington, DC

The National Archives presents a series of noontime public programs in February. These book talks are free and open to the public and will be held in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. Many of the books address Civil Rights issues highlighted in the National Archive new David M. Rubenstein "Records of Rights" permanent exhibition. Attendees should use the Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue at 7th Street, NW. Metro accessible on the Yellow and Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial/Penn Quarter station.

The Heart of Everything That Is:  The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend
Thursday, February 6, at noon
Sioux warrior—statesman Red Cloud is the only American Indian in history to defeat the United States Army in a war. At the peak of Red Cloud’s powers, the Sioux could claim control of one-fifth of the contiguous United States and the loyalty of thousands of fighters. But the fog of history has left Red Cloud obscured. Now, thanks to the rediscovery of a lost autobiography and painstaking research by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, the story of the nation’s most powerful Indian warrior can be told. A book signing will follow the program.

Roosevelt’s Second Act:  The Election of 1940 and the Politics of War
Tuesday, February 11, at noon
Richard Moe examines President Roosevelt’s actions and motives in running for a third term, and discusses the monumental effects this had on the country’s foreign policy as Roosevelt replaced isolationism with his own brand of internationalism. A book signing will follow the program.

Red Power Rising:  The National Indian Youth Council and the Origins of Native Activism
Friday, February 14, at noon
During the 1960s, American Indian youth were swept up in a movement called Red Power—a civil rights struggle fueled by intertribal activism. While some see the movement as militant and others as peaceful, there is one common assumption about its history: Red Power began with the Indian takeover of Alcatraz in 1969. Or did it? Bradley Shreve traces the origin of Red Power back to its beginnings as the National Indian Youth Council and ties the movement to the larger struggle for human rights. A book signing will follow the program.

Slavery’s Exiles:  The Story of the American Maroons
Wednesday, February 19, at noon
Sylviane Diouf, Curator of Digital Collections, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, discusses the lives of “maroons”—men, women, and children who escaped from slavery and made the Southern wilderness their home. They lived alone or in communities, hiding in the mountains of Virginia and the low swamps of South Carolina. Diouf discusses how the American maroons reinvented themselves, defied slave society, and enforced their own definition of freedom. A book signing follows the program.

Dark Invasion:  1915—Germany’s Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America
Friday, February 21, at noon
Howard Blum tells the gritty, true-life tale of German espionage and terror on American soil during World War I and how a New York Police Department inspector helped uncover the plot. A team of German saboteurs—including an expert on germ warfare, a Harvard professor, and a brilliant, debonair spymaster—devised a series of "mysterious accidents" using explosives and biological weapons to bring down vital targets in the United States. Tom Tunney was the policeman assigned the difficult mission of stopping them. A book signing will follow the program.

About the related new permanent "Records of Rights" Exhibit

The new permanent exhibit at the National Archives, "Records of Rights" uses original documents, photographs, facsimiles, videos, and interactive exhibits to explore how Americans have worked to realize the ideals of freedom enshrined in our nation’s founding documents and how they have debated issues such as citizenship, free speech, voting rights, and equal opportunity. Exploring many stories—and showcasing the drive for civil rights for African Americans, women, and immigrants—the new exhibition chronicles the past and current generations whose efforts to secure equality under the law have shaped the country we live in today.

The National Archives is fully accessible, and Assisted Listening Devices are available in the McGowan Theater upon request. To request a sign language interpreter for a public program, please send an email to public.program@nara.gov or call 202-357-5000 at least two weeks prior to the event. To verify dates and times of the programs, call 202-357-5000 or view the Calendar of Events online. To contact the National Archives, call 1-866-272-6272 or 1-86-NARA-NARA (TDD 301-837-0482).

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For press information contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at 202-357-5300.

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