National Archives Public Programs in June
Press Release · Thursday, May 26, 2022

Washington, DC

Join us for special public programs in June as the National Archives commemorates Juneteenth with a virtual musical performance on June 17 and an in-person Family Day on Saturday, June 18, in conjunction with the National Archives Museum display of the original Emancipation Proclamation and General Order No. 3 (June 18–20). A June 1 in-person evening program in partnership with CNN Original Series commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in.

The programs marked “In Person Only” will be held in the William G. McGowan Theater and the Boeing Learning Center of the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC. Attendees should use the Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue at Seventh Street, NW. Metro accessible on the Yellow and Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial/Penn Quarter station. Reservations are recommended and can be made online. For those without reservations, seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. The theater doors will open 45 minutes prior to the start of the program. Late seating will not be permitted 20 minutes after the program begins.

Special Note: for the display of the original Emancipation Proclamation and General Order No. 3, the National Archives Museum will be open for special extended hours of 10 a.m.–7 p.m. for the Juneteenth weekend, June 18, 19, and 20. Free admission.  

(In Person Only) Screening & Panel Discussion – Watergate: Blueprint for Scandal 
Wednesday, June 1, at 7 p.m. ET
Register in advance 
William G. McGowan Theater, National Archives Building
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in, we will host an in-person screening of the premiere episode of the new CNN Original Series Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal. The series, told firsthand by John Dean, former White House Counsel to President Richard Nixon, examines the Watergate affair and the anatomy of the infamous break-in that started it all. Featuring rich archival footage and interviews with key insiders who had a front row seat to the biggest Presidential scandal of the 20th century, Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal questions if America has learned anything since Watergate or if we, as a nation, are destined to repeat the past. Following the screening, John Dean and special guests will join us to discuss the episode, moderated by CNN Senior Legal Analyst Laura Coates.

(Virtual Only) Book Talk – The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy: Weak Power, Great Power, Superpower, Hyperpower
Tuesday, June 7, at 1 p.m. ET 
Register to attend online; watch on the National Archives YouTube Channel
In The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy, Michael Mandelbaum offers a new framework for understanding the evolution of the foreign policy of the United States. He divides that evolution into four distinct periods, with each defined by the consistent increase in American power relative to other countries. He portrays the United States first as a weak power, from 1765 to 1865, then as a great power between 1865 and 1945, next as a superpower in the years 1945 to 1990, and finally as the world’s sole hyperpower, from 1990 to 2015. He also presents three features of American foreign policy that are found in every era: the goal of disseminating the political ideas Americans have embraced from the first, the use of economic instruments in pursuit of foreign policy goals, and a process for formulating policy and implementing decisions shaped by popular influence. Joining the author in conversation will be author and New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman.

(Virtual Only) Book Talk – The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning
Wednesday, June 15, at 1 p.m. ET
Register to attend online; watch on the National Archives YouTube Channel 
Fifty years after the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed, the Clotilda became the last ship to bring enslaved Africans to the United States. The ship was scuttled and burned on arrival to hide evidence of the crime, allowing the wealthy perpetrators to escape prosecution. Despite numerous efforts to find the sunken wreck, Clotilda remained hidden for the next 160 years. But in 2019, author Ben Raines successfully concluded his obsessive quest through the swamps of Alabama to uncover this important historical artifact. Raines recounts the ship’s perilous journey, the story of its rediscovery, and its complex legacy. Against all odds, Africatown, the Alabama community founded by the captives of the Clotilda, prospered in the Jim Crow South. Clotilda is a ghost haunting three communities—the descendants of those transported into slavery, the descendants of their fellow Africans who sold them, and the descendants of their American enslavers. Program and the upcoming Emancipation Proclamation and General Order No. 3 Featured Document Presentation is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of The Boeing Company.

(Virtual Only)Music Performance & Panel Discussion – Juneteenth: A Celebration
Friday, June 17, at 7 p.m. ET
Register to attend online; watch on the National Archives YouTube Channel
In commemoration of Juneteenth, celebrating the liberation of enslaved people in the Confederate states, and in conjunction with the display of the original Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln, and General Order #3 (which transmitted the news of emancipation to the residents of the state of Texas), we join with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) for a discussion with a musical performance. Moderated by Dr. Elizabeth Clark-Lewis, professor of history at Howard University, the program will include Dr. Anton House, Delaware State University, and Don and Jocelyn Pinkard, members of the ASALH Dallas Branch. Violinist Gabrielle Clover will perform. Program and the upcoming Emancipation Proclamation and General Order No. 3 Featured Document Presentation is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of The Boeing Company.

(In Person Only) Juneteenth Family Day
Saturday, June 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET
Boeing Learning Center, National Archives Museum
Celebrate Juneteenth—the annual holiday commemorating the end of legal slavery in the United States—with family-friendly art-making and activities at the National Archives Museum. Program is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of The Boeing Company.

(Virtual Only) Book Talk –The Education of Betsey Stockton: An Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom
Wednesday, June 22, at 1 p.m. ET
Register to attend online; watch on the National Archives YouTube Channel 
Author Gregory Nobles will discuss the remarkable story of a Black woman’s journey from slavery to emancipation, from antebellum New Jersey to the Hawaiian Islands, and from her own self-education to a lifetime of teaching others. It’s a compelling chronicle of a critical time in American history and a testament to the courage and commitment of a woman whose persistence grew into a potent form of resistance. In this first book-length telling of Betsey Stockton’s story, Nobles illuminates both a woman and her world, following her around the globe and showing how a determined individual could challenge her society’s racial obstacles from the ground up. Joining the author in conversation will be Dr. David Latimore of the Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies at the Princeton Theological Seminary. Program and the Emancipation Proclamation and General Order No. 3 Featured Document Presentation is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of The Boeing Company.

(Virtual Only) Lunch & Learn: Maj. Evan Perperis
Thursday, June 23 at 1 p.m. ET
Register to attend online 
Maj. Evan Perperis will join the Eisenhower Library for their June Lunch & Learn event. This Lunch & Learn series is hosted by the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. It is held the fourth Thursday of each month. The 2022 program theme is "Dwight Eisenhower: The Making of a Leader" and focuses on family, military, the presidency, and mentorship.

(Virtual Only) Book Talk – Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution
Tuesday, June 28, at 1 p.m. ET
Register to attend online; watch on the National Archives YouTube Channel 
The heroic story of the founding of the U.S. Navy during the Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of America’s first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels. In Rebels at Sea, historian Eric Jay Dolin corrects that omission and contends that privateers, as they were called, with their privately owned vessels, were in fact critical to the American victory. Dolin explains that at a time when the young Continental Navy numbered no more than about 60 vessels, privateers rushed to fill the gaps. Nearly 2,000 set sail over the course of the war, with tens of thousands of Americans serving on them and capturing some 1,800 British ships. The author argues that privateersmen were as patriotic as their fellow Americans and that they greatly contributed to the war’s success: diverting critical British resources to protecting their shipping, playing a key role in bringing France into the war on the side of the United States, and bolstering the new nation’s confidence that it might actually defeat the most powerful military force in the world.