Words for the Nation 2020: From the Beinecke Library at Yale University



Prompts from the past for reflection in the present about 
paths for the future 
in a selection of readings from the collections. 
Selections include poems by Langston Hughes; 
passages from the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, 
and George Washington's Farewell Address; 
and excerpts from James Baldwin, Rachel Carson, Frederick Douglass, 
Abraham Lincoln, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Robert Penn Warren.

Readers include Claire Barnes, David Blight, Anna Franz, Kahlil Greene, 
Ruth Koizim, Nancy Kuhl, Willie Jennings, and Asha Rangappa.

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