The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 freed over four million enslaved people, but a deeper shift in American consciousness made it possible. This evening, we’ll explore how American literature, like Walt Whitman's poetry, and individuals like Laura Bridgman and Dorothea Dix, helped reshape ideas of human dignity. Their efforts laid the groundwork for later rights movements.

A Shovel of Stars Overhead: Where to? What next?” embodies the longing, questioning, and bewilderment that belong to this moment in America, while asking where, from whom, and how something greater can come to be. The program is inspired by the words and compositions of a diversity of artists who poignantly reflect the tensions of their own time.