Weil Lecture
The Institute for the Arts and Humanities has hosted UNC’s Weil Lecture on American Citizenship since 2000. Brothers Henry and Solomon Weil established the lecture in 1915 to widen the discussion of the concept in the United States.
Presidents Taft and Carter, Eleanor Roosevelt, Senators J. William Fulbright and Nancy Kassebaum, and Professor Lester Thurow are among the many distinguished Weil lecturers. Other recent speakers have been members of Congress, diplomats, political commentators and renowned scholars.
2021
Claire McCaskill, U.S. Senator 2007-2018 (rescheduled from 2020)
“Finding Common Ground: Bipartisanship Within Political Turmoil”
—
Eric Holder, US Attorney General, 2001-2009
In partnership with the UNC School of Law’s Center for Civil Rights
2020
Claire McCaskill, US Senator, 2007-2018 (Postponed due to COVID)
2017
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II
“Morality and Citizenship”
2015
Barney Frank
“Indispensability Abroad vs. Effective Democratic Governance at Home”
2012
Jon M. Huntsman
“America 2012 and Beyond: Challenges and Opportunities”
2011
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
“Unfinished Dreams: America, Religion and Citizenship”2009
2009
Senator John F. Kerry
“Global Warming and Community Action”
2007
Marcelo Suarez-Orozco
“Immigration and Education”
2005
Anna Deavere Smith
“Standing in the Shadows: Wide Awakeness Counts”
2004
Kevin Phillips
“The New Politics of Wealth and Democracy”
2000
Jonathan Kozol
“Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation”
1997
Walter Dellinger
1787 Revisited: Should we change the Constitution?
1997
Patricia Schroeder
Citizenship in America: An Evening with Pat Schroeder
1995
James G. Martin
Citizenship and the Political Contract
1993
Cornel West
Education and Citizenship
1992
Kevin Phillips
The Politics of Rich and Poor in Campaign ’92
1991
Paul Wellstone
The Challenge of Social Justice in America Today
1989
Anthony Lewis
The Press and American Citizenship
1988
Peter John Gomes
The Pursuit of Civic Virtue
1985
Nancy Landon Kassenbaum
Citizenship in the Information Age
1984
Jimmy Carter
American Citizenship
1984
Lester Thurow
The Economic Dimensions of American Citizenship
1983
Vann Woodward
America as a Figure of Speech
1981
Alexander Heard
Choosing Our President: Needs, Anomalies, and Limits
1980
Michael Walzer
Distributive Justice: The Problem of Membership
1979
Julian Bond
A View of American Citizenship
1978
Daniel Schorr
The Public’s Right to Know
1977
Juanita M. Kreps
Private Rights and Public Responsibility
1976
Eugene D. Genovese
Slavery in Modern World Politics
1975
Michael Harrington
Crisis in American Capitalism
1974
Edwin O. Reischauer
The Future of American-Japanese Foreign Policy
1972
Roy Wilkins
Citizenship Obligations in the Civil Rights Cause
1971
Kingman Brewster
The Student Vote — Challenge to Riskless Politics
1968
Vermont Royster
Liberty and Responsibility: A Delicate Balance
1966
General James M. Gavin
The American Responsibility of Citizenship
1964
Charles Malik
The Signs of the Times
1963
Mark Van Doren
The Position of Classical Education in the Development of Citizenship
1962
James Phinney Baxter III
Citizenship in the Atomic Age
1961
Christian A. Herter
The New Dimension in American Citizenship
1960
Barnaby C. Keeney
A Literal Interpretation of the Constitution
1959
Denis W. Brogan
Responsibilities of Citizenship
1958
Benjamin Fine
Education and the Citizen
1957
George E. G. Catlin
On Political Goals
1955
Carlos P. Romulo
The Meaning of Bandung
1954
Galo Plaza
Problems of Democracy in Latin America
1953
Zechariah Chafee, Jr.
Freedom in Special Situations
1952
Robert A. Taft
1951
Edwin G. Nourse
1950
Eleanor Roosevelt
1949
Robert M. MacIver
1948
Richard Henry Tawney
1947
Walton Harrison
The Return to Political Economy
1945
William Fullbright
America and World Organization
1943
Clarence Dykstra
The Dynamic Tradition in American Democracy
1942
Thomas V. Smith
Discipline for Democracy
1941
Herbert Agar
Our Duty to the War and to the Coming Peace
1939
Dorothy Thompson
A Modern Conservative View of Modern Revolutionary World
1937
Henry Agard Wallace
Technology, Corporations, and General Welfare
1936
Felix Frankfurter
The Commerce Clause Under Marshall, Taney and Waite
1935
George Soule, Jr.
Liberty in the Modern World
1934
George Norlin
Fascism and Citizenship
1933
Charles A. Beard
American Citizenship
1931
Harold Joseph Laski
Democracy in Crisis
1930
Will W. Alexander
What is the South?
1928
William H. Kilpatrick
Our Educational Task, As Illustrated in the Changing South
1926
H.N. MacCracken John the Common Weal
1925
W.A. White
Some Cycles of Cathay
1924
E.A. Ross
The Roads to Social Peace
1923
Fabian Franklin
The Rule of the People
1922
John Huston
Finely National and Planetary Consciousness
1921
W.B. Munro
The Personality in Politics
1920
Robert Goodwyn Rhett
The Progress of American Ideals
1919
Jacob Harry Hollander
American Citizenship and Economic Welfare
1917
James A. McDonald
The North American Idea
1916
George B. McClennan
American Citizenship
1915
William Howard Taft
The Presidency: Powers, Duties, Obligations and Responsibilities
Weil Family Contributions
The Weil lecture is one of many contributions to the university by the Weil family.
Brothers Henry, Solomon and Herman Weil arrived in the small eastern North Carolina town of Goldsboro from their home in Germany sometime prior to 1859, the year their names first appear in Census records. They began business as “wagon peddlers,” selling from farm to farm. On May 4, 1865, 45 days after Sherman’s army occupied Goldsboro, they opened their permanent store on Center Street. Herman, the oldest of the three brothers, was 16 when he arrived. He served in the Confederate Army before joining his brothers in opening the store.
Since their arrival in the area, the Weils have been involved in the affairs of their religion, community and nation. Each succeeding generation of Weil descendants continues a tradition of philanthropy and community involvement. Weils have been elected officials, UNC trustees and early leaders in women’s suffrage, civil rights and historic preservation. Weils have donated funds and land to create Herman Park, Mina Weil Park and Cliffs of the Neuse State Park. Family members donated a building and helped establish the Wayne County Library, the Oheb Sholom Temple for the Jewish Community and the Paramount Theater for the Performing Arts. They were involved in building the Wayne County Hospital. Five family members have served as hospital trustees. Weils have invented and patented improvements for farming operations. Weil women were instrumental in establishing the North Carolina Association of Jewish Women, the Goldsboro Women’s Club and the Junior Women’s Club.
Family members have built dormitories for their favorite colleges and universities and have supported the medical, information and library science, and business schools at UNC-Chapel Hill over the years. Weils have been and continue to serve as club and board members of a wide variety of organizations and businesses. Family members are musicians, artists, poets and writers as well as business leaders and dedicated community servants.