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NEWPORT NEWS

The Mariners’ Museum and Park kicks off its Spring lecture series on Thursday, Jan. 24. The series covers a variety of maritime topics including natural resources used for shipbuilding, black freedom, sea level rise, naval history and lost colonies.

All lectures begin at 7 p.m., and tickets are free for museum members and $5 for general admission. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit MarinersMuseum.org/Lectures. The series is sponsored by Virginia Health Services, WHRO Public Media and The Tom & Ann Hunnicutt Lecture Fund.

In addition, the museum and park also offer two other ongoing lecture series. Civil War Lectures take place on select Saturdays during the month. Renowned historian and author John Quarstein leads these monthly lectures and shares intriguing maritime history of the American Civil War. Maritime Connections Lectures take place on the first Saturday of the month. These lectures go behind-the-scenes of the museum while exploring the unique collection and are led by museum staff.

For more information about these and other lectures, visit MarinersMuseum.org/Lectures.

 

Tapping History: The Untold Story of Longleaf Pine

Thursday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m.

Presented by Harry Warren and Brian van Eerden

Tar, pitch, turpentine, and rosin — known collectively as naval stores — were as important in the era of wooden sailing ships as petroleum is today. The South once dominated the naval stores industry, which tapped vast longleaf forests for resin and ultimately decimated them. Uncover the history of our region’s naval stores and ghost forests with Harry Warren and Brian van Eerden. Learn the myths behind the term “Tar Heel.” Discover how conservationists are bringing back the majestic longleaf as part of Virginia’s heritage and our resilient future.

 

African Americans and the War for Democracy

Thursday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m.

Presented by Adriane Lentz-Smith

For many of the 386,000 African-Americans who served in the military during World War I, the Great War was their civil rights movement. Indeed, the generation before Martin Luther King forged its civil rights ideology by appropriating President Woodrow Wilson’s rhetoric in service to their own visions of self-determination and by protesting his Administration’s expansionist vision of Jim Crow. This talk will focus on the experience of African-American civilians and soldiers in the war years, with a particular focus on how World War I shaped the black freedom struggle.