How do the stories we tell shape who we are, as individuals and as a nation? Do race and memory still shape public policy? With everything going on in the world today, do these issues really matter? Come share your thoughts about the relationship between stories and history at this special town hall meeting.

This program is free and open to the public. Doors open at 5:00 PM. For more information, call 312-747-4050.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. is an acclaimed scholar, educator, and writer whose work has encouraged people from all walks of life to explore their unique personal stories and the impact of those stories on national history. He was the host of the acclaimed documentary Looking for Lincoln, author of the recent book, Lincoln on Race and Slavery, and serves as Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director at the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University.

Rick Kogan is one of Chicago's most courageous writers and interviewers. He is the host of WGN-AM's "Sunday Papers with Rick Kogan" (6:30-9 AM Sundays), and a senior writer and Sidewalks columnist for the Chicago Tribune's Sunday magazine. He is also the author or co-author of several books, including the crime novel Everybody Pays and America's Mom: The Life, Lessons and Legacy of Ann Landers.

Co-conveners of this event are the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, Chicago Bar Association, Chicago History Museum, Chicago Public Library, DuSable Museum of African American History, Facing History and Ourselves, The HistoryMakers, Illinois Humanities Council, McCormick Freedom Museum, The Newberry Library, The Richmond Group, Historian Charles Branham, Historian Adam Green, and Ms. Anne Oppenheimer.

This event is part of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission's Town Hall Series.  For more information on the series, visit http://www.abrahamlincoln200.org/.