CBH Talk | An Unfinished Revolution: Dialogues on Freedom and Democracy with Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Marking the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding, the Center for Brooklyn History invites audiences to reflect, reckon, and reimagine the ideals at the heart of the American experiment.

Across three evenings, CBH brings distinguished historians together to select short readings as starting points for guided public conversations on the promise, limits, and enduring contradictions of a revolution still unfolding.

For the first program in the series, historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad has selected "The Souls of White Folk" by W.E.B. Du Bois as the evening's shared reading and point of departure. Using the essay as a springboard, participants engage in a guided conversation exploring race, democracy, power, and the unfinished work of freedom in the United States. Audience members are invited not simply to listen, but to actively reflect, question, and contribute. The evening — and all events in the series — will be guided by Ben Tumin, creator of the podcast and Substack Skipped History.

This program takes place in CBH's Othmer Reading Room. Space is limited. Future programs in the series feature historians Elizabeth Hinton and Kellie Carter Jackson.

About An Unfinished Revolution: Dialogues on Freedom and Democracy

As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, this series invites audiences into conversation about the paradox of a nation founded on sweeping democratic ideals that have never been fully realized. Blending historical reflection with participatory dialogue, the series moves from text to conversation to collective exchange — creating space for audiences to grapple together with how the past continues to shape the present and what it might mean to carry forward the unfinished work of democracy.