WILLIAMSBURG — Jamestown Settlement’s Director’s Series returns for its 2024 season on Jan. 17, featuring Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee R. Guidera.
The yearlong series will showcase the work of prominent scholars, authors, and an Academy Award winner, according to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation (JYF).
The Director’s Series, now in its third year and newly sponsored by TowneBank, allows guests to join Christy S. Coleman, executive director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, as she sits down with scholars and public figures for lively and enlightening conversations surrounding our shared legacies of American history, the foundation said.
Coleman, a public historian, screenwriter and history consultant for historical films and documentary programs, was awarded the David McCullough Prize in American History in 2023.
According to JYF, special guests in the 2024 series will feature:
Jan. 17: Secretary Aimee R. Guidera
Guidera is the Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia, overseeing public education from early childhood to postsecondary learning. During her 35-year career, she has championed high expectations for every student and the changes needed to deliver on that commitment.
March 20: Joseph McGill Jr.
McGill has a 30-year career in public history. He is the founder of the Slave Dwelling Project, which allows people to sleep in extant slave dwellings to raise awareness and preservation of these often-neglected structures. His new book, “Sleeping with the Ancestors,” was released in 2023.
May 2024: Ruth E. Carter
Carter is a two-time Academy Award-winning American costume designer for film and television, best known for her collaborations with Spike Lee, Ryan Coogler and Steven Spielberg. Her visit coincides with the May 11 opening of her “Afrofuturism in Costume Design” exhibit at Jamestown Settlement. Date to be announced.
Sept. 18: Ned Blackhawk
Blackhawk, an enrolled member of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada, is the Howard R. Lamar Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University, co-director of the NYU-Yale American Indian Sovereignty Project and winner of the National Book Award for “The Rediscovery of America.”
Oct. 16: Julian Zelizer
Zelizer is the Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University, a New York Times best-selling author, CNN political analyst and a regular guest on NPR’s “Here and Now.” His latest book is “Myth America.”
Nov. 20: Edward L. Ayers
Ayers is a two-time Bancroft prize-winning historian, University of Richmond professor and president emeritus, and former University of Virginia Dean of Arts and Sciences. He has been honored as National Professor of the Year and received the National Humanities Medal in 2012. He is the author of numerous books, most recently “American Visions: The United States, 1800-1860.”
Conversations take place at 7 p.m. in Jamestown Settlement’s Robins Foundation Theater. Guests can reserve seats in person with a live audience or virtually for $10 per program or $50 to subscribe to the six-part series. Admission is limited and tickets must be purchased online in advance at jyfmuseums.org/events/directors-series.
