Dialogues Worth Having Conference

 A "Dialogues Worth Having" Conference will take place on April 25 and April 26 to mark the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Theodor Geisel's graduation from Dartmouth  take place April 25-26. April 22nd marks the 100th anniversary of the appearance of the signature "Seuss" in an issue of the Jack O-Lantern magazine.

The two-day event will include lectures, public dialogue, and round-table discussion with students, alumni and faculty on two core questions:

"Are Dr. Seuss's Children's Books Racist?"

"Should Dr. Seuss Enterprise have Removed Dr. Seuss Books from Circulation?"

The key participants in these conversations  include Professor Philip Nel, whose publication "Is the Cat in the Hat Black?" initiated the Dr. Seuss controversy. Professor Julia L. Mickenberg who is a well-published advocate for politically progressive children's books, and Professor Jonathan Zimmerman who teaches in the Education and History departments at Penn. who engaged Philip Nel in a thoughtful debate on these questions in a Symposium held last year.

The roundtable discussion will include Dartmouth students, alumni, and faculty who engage these questions from disparate angles.

Schedule of Events: 

April 25 4:30pm Dartmouth Hall 105 - Professors Philip Nel and Jonathan Zimmerman will debate the question: "Are Dr. Seuss's children's books racist?"

April 26 10:30am Moore B03 - Professor Julia Mickenberg will explain why she included Dr. Seuss's children's books in her anthology Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children's Literature.

April 26 - 2-4pm Moore B03 - Jonathan, Julia and Philip will discuss with the audience the question "Should Dr. Seuss Enterprise Have Ceased Publishing Six Dr. Seuss Books?"

This event is jointly sponsored by the Dialogues project,

the Department of English and Creative Writing, the Leslie

Humanities Center, the MALS Program, the Ted & Helen

Geisel Chair in the Humanities, and the President's Office

contact: Donald.pease@dartmouth.edu