Major funding provided by:
Media Partners:
Music by the What Cheer Brigade:
Photo by Viera Levitt
Action Speaks
looks at contemporary issues through the lens of history by using under-appreciated dates of the twentieth century that have changed America.
Join host Marc Levitt and guest panelists
for some old-fashioned community exchange in the
heart of downtown Providence’s arts and cultural district.
January 1, 2010 12:00 AM
Thanks for your support during the 2009 Spring and Fall seasons....
October 28, 2009 5:00 PM
Recorded live at AS220 on October 28th 2009 1951 - The Rise of Levittown Can the suburbs be fixed? What does sustainability look like in a land of three car garages, shopping malls, single use zoning and houses on...
October 21, 2009 5:00 PM
Recorded live at AS220 on October 21st 2009 at AS220 1972 - Nixon visits People's Republic of China What began as a Ping Pong match is now a game of 'Chicken'...the US and China; partners or enablers? The relationship...
October 14, 2009 5:00 PM
Recorded live at AS220 on October 14th 2009 at AS220 1932 -The Highlander Center opens its doors First door-to-door, now e-mail-to-email, will community organizing have the same power in a virtual community? How will we organize for change in...
October 7, 2009 5:00 PM
Recorded live at AS220 on October 7th 2009 1993 - The creation of Hillary Clinton's Taskforce on Healthcare Is the patient stable, improving, or failing? What are the chances of survival for a nation divided on health reform? As...
May 20, 2009 5:30 PM
Recorded live at AS220 on May 20th 2009 1961 - JFK Calls for the Moon! President Kennedy called for a Moon Landing. President Obama wants a 'Green' Nation. Are solar panels and wind turbines as exciting as 'One Giant...
May 13, 2009 5:30 PM
Recorded live at AS220 on May 13th 2009 1937 - The Flint, Michigan United Auto Workers Sit-In Banks, Auto and Insurance Companies bailed out, lay-offs abound and yet...Where's the anger of the past? The Auto Industry, unions and the...
May 6, 2009 5:30 PM
Recorded live at AS220 on May 6th 2009 1949 - Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman' First Produced What does it mean to 'fail' in America? Have we failed or has the 'American Dream' proven to be hollow? Is...
April 29, 2009 5:30 PM
Recorded live at AS220 on April 29th 2009 1933 - The Creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps Did building dams, planting trees and taking the boys from the city help end a depression or were we then, as now,...
November 11, 2009 5:00 PM
Another year of Action Speaks is over, but our topics live on. Health care reform is still beating, bless its heart, even as the House seemed to throw 'the women' overboard in the rough seas of negotiation. Suburban commuting seems...
November 19, 2009 5:00 PM
From London.... I've been spending some time with my wife's family in the 14th C. walled small city of Trnava in Slovakia, thirty miles outside of Bratislava. Coincidentally, it is the 20th anniversary of the 'Velvet Revolution', when forty years...
December 26, 2009 7:00 AM
Dennis Brutus was a guest of our series in its tenth anniversary year, 2005. He contributed his profound depth of insight and experience to the fourth Action Speaks panel of the season with the leaping off point: Seattle's anti-globalization march...
Dennis Brutus was a guest of our series in its tenth anniversary year, 2005. He contributed his profound depth of insight and experience to the fourth Action Speaks panel of the season with the leaping off point: Seattle's anti-globalization march...
From London.... I've been spending some time with my wife's family in the 14th C. walled small city of Trnava in Slovakia, thirty miles outside of Bratislava. Coincidentally, it is the 20th anniversary of the 'Velvet Revolution', when forty years...
Another year of Action Speaks is over, but our topics live on. Health care reform is still beating, bless its heart, even as the House seemed to throw 'the women' overboard in the rough seas of negotiation. Suburban commuting seems...
Recorded live at AS220 on October 28th 2009 1951 - The Rise of Levittown Can the suburbs be fixed? What does sustainability look like in a land of three car garages, shopping malls, single use zoning and houses on...
Recorded live at AS220 on October 21st 2009 at AS220 1972 - Nixon visits People's Republic of China What began as a Ping Pong match is now a game of 'Chicken'...the US and China; partners or enablers? The relationship...
Recorded live at AS220 on October 14th 2009 at AS220 1932 -The Highlander Center opens its doors First door-to-door, now e-mail-to-email, will community organizing have the same power in a virtual community? How will we organize for change in...
Recorded live at AS220 on October 7th 2009 1993 - The creation of Hillary Clinton's Taskforce on Healthcare Is the patient stable, improving, or failing? What are the chances of survival for a nation divided on health reform? As...
Please become a fan of the new Facebook page for Action Speaks -- another great way to stay updated!...
I'm having trouble deciding how to 'look' at the Highlander Center. This community-based adult education center in the Appalachians was also influential in the Civil Rights movement of the 40's 50's and 60's. I know that I want to connect...
I'm at a stage in my preparations for Action Speaks that I return to every year; too many ideas about where to take each discussion. Each topic stares at me like a Maurice Sendak monster, daring me to pull it...
Our Advisory Board meeting to finalize our fall '09 topics the other night was like a spicy Thai dinner, it burns your tongue, but you want it to continue. We develop our season mostly through consensus. I come up with...
Recorded live at AS220 on May 20th 2009 1961 - JFK Calls for the Moon! President Kennedy called for a Moon Landing. President Obama wants a 'Green' Nation. Are solar panels and wind turbines as exciting as 'One Giant...
Recorded live at AS220 on May 13th 2009 1937 - The Flint, Michigan United Auto Workers Sit-In Banks, Auto and Insurance Companies bailed out, lay-offs abound and yet...Where's the anger of the past? The Auto Industry, unions and the...
Recorded live at AS220 on May 6th 2009 1949 - Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman' First Produced What does it mean to 'fail' in America? Have we failed or has the 'American Dream' proven to be hollow? Is...
Recorded live at AS220 on April 29th 2009 1933 - The Creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps Did building dams, planting trees and taking the boys from the city help end a depression or were we then, as now,...
Recorded live at AS220 on October 29th 2008 2000 - U.S. Census allows individuals to identify themselves as mixed-race Tiger Woods, Barack Obama, and their American stories -- how checking multiple boxes on a survey helped redefine race in...
Recorded live at AS220 on October 15th 2008 1920 - Prolific African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux releases Within Our Gates Oscar Micheaux is considered the most prolific Black filmmaker in the history of American cinema, a title he earned by...
Recorded live at AS220 on October 22nd 2008 1957 - Dissent magazine publishes Norman Mailer's "The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster" What's Black? What's White? What's Italian? What's Jewish? Are race and ethnicity a dance anyone can...
Recorded live at AS220 on October 1st 2008 1910 - Racist biologist Charles Davenport creates the Eugenic Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory An American prelude to Hitler or to the Human Genome Project...perhaps both? Eugenics was a...
Recorded live at AS220 on October 10th 2007 1964 - Cassius Clay changes his name to Muhammad Ali After winning the heavyweight championship in 1964, Cassius Clay publicly changed his name to Muhammad Ali and revealed that he was...
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's anti-interventionist shift in Central and South America aimed to ease authoritarian relations. Today, with Latin-American leaders thumbing their noses at US aid, it's not just the US deciding who's friend or foe. *Ricardo Hausmann, Director of...
Twenty-five million people died of the Spanish flu, but few recall the details of the pandemic today. With the advent of avian flu come new fears and new preparedness efforts, but how much concern is too much-or not enough?...