Naper Settlement’s History Speaks Lecture Series showcases a variety of prominent historical figures and topics. Lectures are held one to two times per month based on scheduling.

History Speaks lectures are currently being held virtually on Zoom until further notice. All programs are from 4-5PM unless stated otherwise. Online pre-registration is required. Registrants will receive a Zoom invitation with information on how to access the virtual lecture prior to the event. Please note: only 100 spaces are available per lecture on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets are $10 per person. 

African American Heroes and Sheroes

February 7, 2021 | Register

This program is by Linda Gorham, a storyteller. By looking at her own family’s dreams and goals, Linda Gorham shares stories of African American men and women who broke color barriers and had noteworthy accomplishments – often in spite of difficult circumstances. Gorham incorporates story, music, photographs, personal narrative, quotes, and historical facts to commemorate their achievements.

Following the Money in the Women's Suffrage Movement

March 7, 2021 | Register

Historian Joan Marie Johnson will show how the donations that some wealthy women gave funded new tactics and strategies in the women’s suffrage movement, and helped women get the right to vote in 1920.  Following the Money shows how women made change possible, despite the causes of inequality in a movement for equality.  Joan Marie Johnson has written extensively about the history of women and gender, philanthropy, feminism, race, social reform, and education, including Funding Feminism: Monied Women, Philanthropy, and the Women’s Movement, 1870-1967 (2017). She is currently writing a history of the American women’s suffrage movement for use in college classrooms. She taught women’s history at Northeastern Illinois University for 12 years, was the co-founder and co-director of the Newberry Seminar on Women and Gender at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and now is the Director for Faculty in the Office of the Provost, Northwestern University. She received her bachelor’s degree from Duke University and her doctorate in history from UCLA.

For more details and registration for the above events, please see here.