Show & Tell: What Can We Learn from Artifacts of California Elections?
Take a trip back through California’s voting history in this show-and-tell led by historian Susan D. Anderson and archivists from across the state. Hear seldom-told stories of struggles for voting rights and representation, from Suffrage to Civil Rights and more. Recorded February 2021.
Speakers: Angela Brinskele, Frances Kaplan, Sean Dickerson, Tamara Martin, Xaviera Flores
The Electoral College: What Were the Founders Thinking?
The Electoral College is an original American model, never duplicated outside of the country. Created after lively debate in the last days of the five-month long Constitutional Convention of 1787, it set forth that presidents would be selected — not by popular vote — but by electors in each state. What is its legacy today, in a more populous and mature America? Recorded January 2021.
Speakers: Sonja Diaz, Karthick Ramakrishnan, Mindy Romero, Dan Schnur
California on the Ballot: What’s the Deal with Direct Democracy?
From the legality of prize fighting (1914) to the definition of marriage (2000), Californians have approved 132 ballot measures, with profound and long-lasting consequences for the state. Recorded October 2020.
Speakers: Jason Cohn, Rachael Myrow, Joe Mathews, Raphael Sonenshein
California on the Ballot: Highlights from Season One
Our theme for California on the Ballot: Season One (October 2020-April 2021) is barriers to voting – what obstacles have defined the voter experience in California history? How has California worked to increase voter access? What work is left to do? We’ll talk with groups whose relationship to the ballot has a complicated history, including DACA recipients, incarcerated citizens, and Indigenous communities across California.
Zócalo in Bakersfield: How Much For That Presidency In the Window?
Money has been a hot topic in the 2012 election—from how the campaigns are being financed post-Citizens United to the 99 percent and the national debt and Mitt Romney’s offshore […]
Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder-in-Residence of PolicyLink
“We are living in the nation’s future … in California, people of color are deciding the fate of the nation.”
Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Poet, Dancer, Playwright
“What are the things that lead us to aspire to something greater?”
Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Chief Justice of California
“What humanities teaches you is that we are all of the human collective and that we all have a story.”
George Takei, Actor, Author, Director, Activist
“Part of resilience is finding joy, finding beauty, finding love.”
Governor Jerry Brown
“The humanities are ways or windows into what it is to be human.”
