J. Barry Moss Speaker Annette Gordon-Reed Offers A Lifetime Of Perspective

On the evening of September 28, Professor Annette Gordon-Reed gave a public presentation in the Brown Auditorium, in which she spoke about her extraordinary life experiences and influential work. The next day, she spoke at an Upper School assembly and spent the day meeting with students in informal discussion groups. The students were thoroughly engaged with her as she described being the first student of color to integrate Conroe ISD in 1964 as a first grader, attending Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, and working at a large Wall Street law firm before turning to a career as a historian and professor. She also spoke at length about her ground-breaking work on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, which transformed the academic interest in their lives and the historiography of slavery. It was an extraordinary pleasure to spend time with one of the most important and influential historians working today.

We were pleased to welcome Professor Gordon-Reed to Kinkaid for the 2022-23 J. Barry Moss Speaker Series. Professor Gordon-Reed holds a unique, dual position at Harvard, teaching in the Law School and the History Department. She won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for her book, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. Her most recent New York Times bestseller, Juneteenth – a powerful combination of historical analysis and personal memoir –served as an important catalyst in the drive to create the national holiday commemorating the day and as a powerful corrective to the conventional views of Texas and U.S. history.

The J. Barry Moss Distinguished Speaker Series

The Series is named after Mr. Moss, a beloved former teacher, debate coach, Upper School principal, and Dean of Faculty, who was a prominent part of life at Kinkaid for over 40 years until his death in 2005. The focus of the Series is Civil Discourse in a Democracy, a topic that includes a number of the skills and values so important to Mr. Moss as a teacher: clear and convincing written expression, public speaking and debate, the development of analytical skills, service to others, and the commitment to excellence. The Series features a broad range of speakers, including scholars, journalists, business leaders, and those in public service.

Former Moss Speakers

2020 Jon Meacham, Presidential historian, Pulitzer Prize winning author, professor

2017 Mike Feinberg, Co-Founder of KIPP Foundation

2015 Wes Moore, youth advocate, army combat veteran and best selling author of The Other Wes Moore

2014 Larry Temkin, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University

2013 Douglas Brinkley, American author, professor of history at Rice University

2011 J. Pittman McGehee, D.D., Diplomate Jungian analyst and the Director of the Institute for the Advancement of Psychology and Spirituality

2010 Clark Kent Ervin, ’77, Director of The Aspen Institute’s Homeland Security Program

2008 Dick Brass, inventor and technology futurist

2007 Edward Hirsch, author of The New York Times best seller How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry

2006 David Finegold, Ph.D., ’81, Dean of Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations