Currents
Communities in Conversation
LEH’s popular reading and discussion series, Currents, which includes the book club programs “Who Gets to Vote? Conversations on Voting Rights in America,” and “Witness to Change: Conversations on Coastal Impacts,” expands to include a film discussion program on “Iron Sharpens Iron.”
Ten grants to screen the film are available to Louisiana public libraries and community partners. Participants will watch the film and then engage in discussions led by scholar facilitators who encourage critical thinking about the subjects discussed.
Learn more below.
Iron Sharpens Iron, a new documentary directed by John Richie and produced by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, captures a community’s fight against the development of the Plaquemines Liquids Terminal (PLT) atop land that includes the community’s ancestral burial grounds. Viewing and discussion sessions are intended to spark dialogue around issues and themes supported by the film, including but not limited to:
- Environmental racism
- Racial segregation
- Economic injustice
- Industrial encroachment
- Extreme weather
Eligibility
Humanities-based nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status, public-facing organizations operating with accredited institutions of higher learning, state and local government agencies, state and federally recognized Native American tribal governments in Louisiana are eligible to apply.
Site Selection and Program Details
The LEH’s Division of Public Programs staff will choose ten geographically diverse sites to participate in the program. Each site will host a screening of Iron Sharpens Iron followed by a discussion program. A $600 subaward from the LEH will cover:
- site coordination
- facilitator honoraria
- A/V needs
- program publicity
Using a viewing and discussion guide developed by humanities scholars in coordination with the LEH and targeting up to 20 participants per session, communities will engage in thoughtful dialogue around the film’s themes and consider the intersections between history and the present. All sessions will be facilitated by humanities scholars.
Applications are now closed. Programs will take place June through October and must be completed by November 1, 2023.
Additional resources
An award agreement will be available for review at a later date.
Contact LEH Public Programs Coordinator Clare Shelburne at shelburne@leh.org or 504-356-0509 for more information.
Currents is a program of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and is made possible by the State of Louisiana.
Additional Currents Programs
“Who Gets to Vote? Conversations on Voting Rights in America” is intended to engage members of the general public in conversations on the history of voting—and efforts to suppress the vote—in the United States. Sessions are intended to spark dialogue around issues and themes supported by the texts, including but not limited to:
- the expansion of voting rights since the country’s founding
- the electoral process
- the women’s suffrage movement
- historic and contemporary voter suppression practices
- the Voting Rights Act of 1965
- the 2013 Supreme Court decision that invalidated key portions of the Voting Rights Act
- the disenfranchisement of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated Americans.
Books included in “Who Gets to Vote” are (sites select four of the six titles available):
- Allan J. Lichtman, The Embattled Vote in America: From the Founding to the Present. Harvard University Press, 2018.
- Elaine Weiss, The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote. Viking, 2018.
- Martha S. Jones, Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All. Basic Books, 2020.
- Gary May, Bending Toward Justice: The Voting Rights Act and the Transformation of American Democracy. Basic Books, 2013.
- Carol Anderson, One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy. Bloomsbury, 2018.
- Desmond Meade, Let My People Vote: My Battle to Restore the Civil Rights of Returning Citizens. Beacon Press, 2020.
Download the Who Gets to Vote? Program Overview
Download the Who Gets to Vote? Book Summaries and Author Bios
“Witness to Change: Conversations on Coastal Impacts” incorporates history, memoir, and fiction and is intended to engage members of the general public in conversations on the beauty of and challenges faced by coastal communities. Sessions are intended to spark dialogue around issues and themes supported by the texts, including but not limited to:
- what makes a place a home
- experiences of flooding
- hurricanes
- family roots and connection to place
- land loss and dislocation
- scarcity and adaptation
- risk and relocation
Books included in “Witness to Change” are:
- Elizabeth Rush, Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore. Milkweed Editions, 2018.
- Paolo Bacigalupi, The Water Knife. Penguin Random House, 2015.
- Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones. Bloomsbury, 2011.
- Mike Tidwell, Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana’s Cajun Coast. Vintage Books, 2010.
Download the Witness to Change Program Overview
Download the Witness to Change Book Summaries and Author Bios
Site Selection and Program Details
The LEH’s Division of Public Programs staff choose geographically diverse sites to participate in the program. Each site will choose four books in the series and host four discussion programs. Grants from the LEH cover site coordination, facilitator honoraria, book purchases, and program publicity.
Using reading and discussion guides developed by humanities scholars and targeting up to 20 participants per session, communities engage in thoughtful dialogue around book themes and consider the intersections between history and the present. All sessions are facilitated by humanities scholars.
Contact LEH Public Programs Coordinator Clare Shelburne at shelburne@leh.org or 504-356-0509 for more information.