Ford Hall Forum

The Ford Hall Forum is the oldest free public lecture series in the United States. Founded in 1908, it continues to host open lectures and discussions in the Greater Boston area. Some of the more well-known past speakers include Maya Angelou, Isaac Asimov, Noam Chomsky, Alan Dershowitz, W. E. B. Du Bois, Al Gore, Martin Luther King Jr., Henry Kissinger, Norman Mailer, Ayn Rand, Cokie Roberts, Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert Frost, Malcolm X, Jimmy Wales, and Gwen Ifill.

The Ford Hall Forum's mission is "to promote freedom of speech and foster an informed and engaged citizenry through the free public presentation of lectures, debates, and discussions." Its events strive to illuminate key issues facing society by bringing to a public podium knowledgeable and thought-provoking speakers. These speakers are presented in person, for free, and in settings that facilitate frank and open debate. All programs provide equal time for speakers' remarks and questions from the audience.

The Forum was founded in February 1908 by George W. Coleman, a Boston businessman and then leader of the Boston Baptist Social Union. The first public lectures were held in the Union's meeting place, the Ford Building on Beacon Hill, from where the Forum's name originates.

As a free speech institution that does not endorse the view of any of its speakers, the Forum has occasionally given a stage to speakers who other institutions would, or could, not. In 1929, Margaret Sanger appeared at the Forum, visibly gagged, after Mayor James Michael Curley issued an injunction barring her from speaking about family planning. Around the same time, the Forum withstood criticism for hosting meetings with civil rights activist, W. E. B. Du Bois. Malcolm X was invited to speak in the 1960s at a time when he was widely considered too dangerous to be given a public podium in the heart of Boston. In the early 1990s, when former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke was nearly elected to a seat in the U.S. Senate, the Forum brought him to Boston to answer questions about his views and about his past.

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