America 250
years in the making

Deconstructing the Block: A fireside chat and exhibit featuring Norman Spencer
Fireside chat: Noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, Student Union Living Room
Exhibit: Opening reception at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21; display continues through Friday, Feb. 27, in the Olive DeLuce Art Gallery

Building on his passion for nature, identity and the hands-on, meditative process of block printing, Norman Spencer’s work explores community and belonging in neighborhoods, taking inspiration from interactions between humans and their environments. While living in Louisville, Kentucky, he began making custom block prints of the city’s contiguous collection of Victorian mansions. Spencer says he was enamored with each home’s architecture, unique details, their chromatic colors and the variety of people who lived in them. Now, after moving to St. Louis four years ago, he has finished hundreds of similar portraits of scenes throughout the region.

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Emancipation Day in Nodaway County with Dr. Elyssa Ford
4-5 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 21

Northwest Professor of History Dr. Elyssa Ford will discuss the history of Emancipation Day. The day was celebrated by African Americans across the United States to commemorate the end of slavery. These celebrations took place in Nodaway County between the 1880s and 1930s.

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Pursuit of Liberty Reading Group
Select Thursdays, Jan. 29 through April 9

All Northwest students and employees are invited to join a reading group that will discuss “The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle over Power in America,” a new book by Jeffrey Rosen, a best-selling author and president of the National Constitution Center.

Rosen’s timely book follows the clashing visions of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson in the late 18th century, Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War era, Franklin Roosevelt in the Great Depression, Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and Donald Trump today.

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