400. Clyde W. Ford: Who's Left Out of Black History
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Release Date: 02/09/2026
400. Clyde W. Ford: Who's Left Out of Black History
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
How much do you know about Black history? From African women’s rebellions on slave ships to a former enslaved man whose account of the first Juneteenth differs from what we hear today, to Benjamin Banneker’s life, to how Islam found its way into American popular music in multiple genres, there is a lot of information that doesn’t necessarily make it into your average curriculum. In A High Price for Freedom: Raising Hidden Voices From the African-American Past, author and historian Clyde W. Ford addresses these and other topics, seeking to illuminate and amplify little-known...
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399. Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Turning Adversaries into Tribal Allies to Save Salmon
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Our region is facing tremendous setbacks for salmon populations and Northwest tribal treaty rights. Fish runs continue to fall short while Indigenous communities bear the brunt of climate change, political polarization, and existential threats to their way of life. Tribes can’t overcome these issues alone, but it’s not just a matter of finding allies — it’s how to get them in the game. The Billy Frank Jr. Salmon Coalition, formed by Salmon Defense, has taken an innovative approach to protect salmon, restore ecosystems, and build climate resilience by uniting unexpected allies, who...
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398. Speaking of Seattle: After the Ballot
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Just weeks after Seattle’s November elections, Town Hall Seattle kicks off a timely, can’t-miss series hosted by Marcus Harrison Green. The panel features political strategist Crystal Fincher, The Stranger’s news editor Vivian McCall, and the South Seattle Emerald’s political columnist Tobias Coughlin-Bogue. Together they’ll cut through the noise to unpack what the results really mean—from who’s setting the agenda at City Hall to what’s looming in Olympia, and connect it all to the turbulent political currents in Washington, D.C. Expect an unflinching, illuminating...
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397. Advancing Climate Resilience with Connected Communities
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Town Hall Seattle, Juneau Street Resilience Pod, and the City of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and Environment hosts an evening with climate justice leaders who are reimagining our climate future in Seattle and beyond; discussing how community leaders, local government and academia can use joy and storytelling to build relationships and actualize climate resilience strategies, and sharing more about the upcoming One Seattle Climate Action Plan Update, including how you can get involved! Moderator Nancy Huizar (they/them/theirs) is an environmental justice activist, facilitator, and...
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396. In the Spirit of Right and Respectful Relations: Conversations about Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being in Nature
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
In relationship with , Braided River is celebrating the launch of their newest project, In the Spirit of Right and Respectful Relations: Conversations about Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being in Nature. As told to Kurt Russo, with a foreword by Jay Julius Xw’tot lhem, and illustrations by Fiorella De La O (Quechua), this book invites readers into a conversation rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing and being in nature. The vision of the project is to draw on ancestral knowledge to further empower and inspire Indigenous-led environmental campaigns with...
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395. Nilanjana Dasgupta with Paula Boggs: How Small Changes Can Make a Big Impact
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
How can one person fight for social justice? Can everyday people actually make changes in systemic, structural inequality? Social psychologist and author of the book Change the Wallpaper, Nilanjana Dasgupta offers science-driven answers to these questions, arguing that social shifts start with small changes to our “wallpaper,” or the things that we experience in our daily lives. In other words, we need to revise the hyperlocal cultures we live in to make broader change. Dasgupta believes that these small shifts in our cultural “wallpaper” are far more effective in producing...
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394. Shannon Watts with Brooke Baldwin: Fired Up
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
As founder of Moms Demand Action — the nation’s largest grassroots movement against gun violence — author Shannon Watts has helped thousands of women find their voice and take action. In her new book, Fired Up, Watts outlines a practical and inspiring framework for reigniting purpose, confidence, and ambition. With real-life stories from women across generations and backgrounds, Fired Up offers tools to help readers identify what sparks them and live with greater intention and impact. Watts seeks to challenge the negative narrative that many women hold, asserting that...
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393. Megan Greenwell with Jay Willis: Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Did you know that private equity firms have a hand in many U.S. industries, including hospitals, daycare centers, supermarket chains, local newspapers, and prison service providers? They also manage highways, municipal water systems, fire departments, emergency medical services, and a growing swath of real estate. In her new book, Bad Company, journalist Megan Greenwell illuminates how ingrained private equity is, and how it’s preying on the most vulnerable people in our society, controlling congress, and causing destruction in communities around the country. Private equity is a system...
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392. Anna Malaika Tubbs with Florangela Davila: What American Patriarchy Has Hidden from Us
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
One guiding principle for resisting the patriarchy in the United States is to demand equal rights for men and women. Yet, author and multidisciplinary expert Dr. Anna Malaika Tubbs argues that fighting patriarchal culture is more complicated than that. Tubbs believes that this fabricated hierarchy became so deeply ingrained over time that it now goes unnoticed. She outlines the history of patriarchy in the United States along with everything it intentionally conceals. Pulling from her latest book, Erased: What American Patriarchy Has Hidden from Us, Tubbs highlights how the United States...
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391. Building a Bikeable Seattle: A Bike Everywhere Day Bash!
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Is Seattle on the cusp of a biking Renaissance? From Beacon Hill to SODO to the Waterfront and Downtown, the next few years will bring major improvements to Seattle’s growing network of connected and separated bike lanes and bike paths. That’s good news for people who want a safer, healthier, more equitable and climate-friendly city. Join Cascade Bicycle Club on Bike Everywhere Day for a conversation with climate journalist and bike advocate Paul Tolme, Biking Uphill in the Rain author and Seattle Bike Blog founder Tom Fucoloro, and Cascade Bicycle Club Policy Manager Tyler...
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How much do you know about Black history? From African women’s rebellions on slave ships to a former enslaved man whose account of the first Juneteenth differs from what we hear today, to Benjamin Banneker’s life, to how Islam found its way into American popular music in multiple genres, there is a lot of information that doesn’t necessarily make it into your average curriculum.
In A High Price for Freedom: Raising Hidden Voices From the African-American Past, author and historian Clyde W. Ford addresses these and other topics, seeking to illuminate and amplify little-known figures from the past, from Elizabeth Key’s court case in the 1600s to the true mission of the marches in Selma to more modern accounts. The title of the book takes its name from a young man named Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was killed in 1965 by an Alabama state trooper. As he lay dying in the only hospital that would treat Black people, Jimmie Lee whispered to his nurse, a nun, “Sister, isn’t this a high price for freedom?”
Ford’s latest release includes factual accounts about people and events in the African-American past that teach things many of us never learned and may challenge the stories we thought we knew.
Clyde W. Ford is the author of fifteen works of fiction and nonfiction, and is a psychotherapist, an accomplished mythologist, and a sought-after public speaker. In 2006, Ford received the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award in African American fiction. In 2019, he was named a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Award in African American nonfiction. In 2021, Clyde received the prestigious Washington Center for the Book Award, the Nautilus Book Award in Social Justice, and was a finalist for the Goddard-Russo Prize in Social Justice for Think Black. Clyde was honored as a “Literary Lion” by the King County Library System in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2019. He was voted “Best Writer of Bellingham, Washington” in 2006 and 2007 by readers of Cascadia Weekly and received the 2007 Bellingham Mayor’s Arts Award in Literature. Ford is currently a speaker for Humanities Washington, an affiliate of the NEA, where he presents a program entitled, “Technology, Race and Social Justice,” around the state. He is also the Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library Publishing Project at HarperCollins. Clyde has participated in hundreds of media interviews and has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, New Dimensions Radio, and NPR. He lives in Bellingham, Washington, where he founded the city’s annual Martin Luther King Day commemoration in 1991, and enjoys walking the mountains and cruising the waters of the Pacific Northwest.
