Hosted at the Newberry, in Partnership with the Chicago Botanic Garden 

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Join us for a public program marking the 250th anniversary of American independence. Exploring themes of resilience, agency, and hope, the conversation will amplify temporary exhibitions currently on view at the Newberry Library and the Chicago Botanic Garden. 

A roundtable discussion featuring artist and storyteller Camille Billie, researcher and curator Lisa Doi, and landscape architecture professor Kenneth Helphand will be moderated by DePaul University history professor Margaret Storey. The event includes an opportunity to meet the panelists and enjoy refreshments.

At the Chicago Botanic Garden, America Grows: 250 Years of Garden Stories, explores the ways in which gardens tell us about the American experience and celebrates the enduring connections people have had, and will always have, with plants. 

At the Newberry Library, Conceived in Liberty: Cartoons, Caricatures, and Illustrations in the Wartime US, 1812-1918 showcases how artists living through wartime grappled with questions about the nation's founding principal of liberty, in numerous instances reflecting debates over expansionism and land sovereignty. 

Hybrid: Ruggles Hall, Newberry Library and Zoom