American Experience Week

Monday – Friday, July 8 – 12, 2024 — 10 a.m. in Voorhies Hall

Tuesday & Thursday, July 9 & 11 — 4 – 5 p.m. in the Large Tent

All of Prof. Ferrer’s lectures are FREE Non-Ticketed Events, open to the public.

Professor Ada Ferrer presents a series of lectures exploring 500 years of relations between Cuba and the United States. A Cuban American herself, Professor Ferrer’s deeply personal account of Cuban history focuses on the experiences of the island’s inhabitants, not just the centuries of geopolitics that have shaped their fate. In the 18th and 19th centuries, these forces were rooted in sugar and slavery. In the 20th century, they were defined by Cuban efforts to shake off U.S. political domination and to claim independence—a struggle that began long before Fidel Castro’s rise to power.

Professor Ferrer has conducted research in Cuba since 1990. Her book, Cuba: An American History, won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 2022. Her essay, “My Brother’s Keeper,” published by The New Yorker, tells the story of her family’s relationship with the Cuban Revolution. Professor Ferrer is Julius Silver Professor of History and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University.

Monday – Thursday, July 8 – 11, 2024 — 9 a.m. in Loud Hall

REGISTRATION REQUIRED: $25 Members/$35 Non-members

Bay View member and Cuban refugee Armando Gonzalez-Perez will share his personal experiences in the final days of Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship in Cuba, and in the anguish, desperation, disillusionment and impotence brought about by Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution in 1959. The class will focus on Gonzalez-Perez’s book Stolen Dreams, a fictional account of a Cuban baseball player caught up in the political turmoil. Both the book and the class will explain why thousands of Cubans like Gonzalez-Perez risked their lives to pursue freedom.

Monday, July 8, 2024 — 7:30 p.m. in Loud Hall

FREE/Donation

Cuba and the Cameraman is a 2017 documentary written, directed, and co-produced by Jon Alpert. It shows life in Cuba for three struggling families over the course of 45 years, from the cautious optimism of the early 1970s, to the harrowing 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union and the 2016 death of Fidel Castro.

Wednesday, July 10, 2024 — 9 a.m. in Crist Hall

REGISTRATION REQUIRED: $55 Members/$65 Non-members

Learn how to provide a Cuban culinary experience with a classic Ropa Vieja, rice, black beans, plantains, and a virgin mojito.

Tuesdays & Fridays, June 18 – August 9, 2024 — 11:15 a.m. – 12 p.m. in Evelyn Hall

REGISTRATION REQUIRED: $50 Members/$60 Non-members

Learning a new language as an adult benefits our brain like few other activities: being bi- or multi-lingual decreases the likelihood of developing dementia, and can slow the cognitive decline common in adulthood. Join Sinde Wickersham in this 5-week course to start enjoying the benefits and fun of communicating in Spanish. Younger students can benefit from keeping their school learning fresh over the summer. No prior experience with the language is expected. ¡Hablemos!

**PLEASE NOTE: There will not be classes on July 2 or July 5.