Van Jones, General Assembly Ware Lecturer 2008
History of the Ware Lecture
In 1920, Harriet E. Ware of Milton, Massachusetts, bequeathed $5,000 to the American Unitarian Association for its unrestricted use. Two years later, on the evening of May 24, 1922, the first Ware lecture was given by the Rev. Frederick W. Norwood, pastor of the City Temple in London, England. The Lecture had been "established in honor of the distinguished services of three generations of the Ware family to the cause of Pure Christianity."
The lecture has been given every year at the former May Meetings of the AUA and since 1961 at the General Assembly. No lecture was scheduled for 1945 due to World War II, although Morris S. Lazaron delivered an address on May 23, 1945, in All Souls Church in Washington, DC, which is referred to as a Ware lecture. There was no lecture in 1950 when the Unitarians celebrated their 125th anniversary.
Previous Ware Lecturers
2008 Van Jones
2007 Rashid Khalidi
2006 Mary Oliver
2005 Dr. Elaine Pagels
2004 Holly Near
2003 Julian Bond
2002 Stephen Lewis
2001 Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes
2000 Morris Dees
1999 Mary Pipher
1998 Amitai Etzioni
1997 Rev. Joan Brown Campbell
1996 Sylvia Ann Hewlett
1995 Norman Lear
1994 Dr. Holland Hendrix
1993 Marion Wright Edelman
1992 Mel Hurtig
1991 Elizabeth Dodson Gray
1990 Schuyler Chapin
1989 Sissela Bok
1988 Robert Coles
1987 Anthony Lewis
1986 Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
1985 Shirley Chisholm
1984 Dr. Helen Caldicott
1983 Thomas R. Berger
1982 May Sarton
1981 Vernon Jordan
1980 LaDonna Harris
1979 Jesse Jackson
1978 Jean Mayer
1977 Milton R. Konvitze
1976 Bruce Murray
1975 John Beecher
1974 Elliot Richardson
1973 John Coleman
1972 Malvina Reynolds
1971 Alvin Toffler
1970 Rollo May
1969 Martin E. Marty, Bernard Delfgaauw, R.J. Werblowsky
1968 Carl B. Stokes
1967 Saul Alinsky
1966 Martin Luther King, Jr
1965 Harry D. Gideonse
1964 Linus Pauling
1963 F.S.C. Northrop
1962 Walter Kaufmann
1961 Abram Sachar
1960 Harold Taylor
1959 George Wald
1958 Edward A. Weeks, Jr.
1957 Charles Frankel
1956 Howard Thurman
1955 Henry DeWolfe Smyth
1954 Agnes E. Meyer
1953 Howard Mumford Jones
1952 Henry Steele Commager
1951 T.V. Smith
1950 No lecture due to 125th Anniversary of Unitarians
1949 Erwin D. Canham
1948 Henry J. Cadbury
1947 Brock Chisholm
1946 George D. Stoddard
1945 No lecture due to World War II
1944 Max Lerner
1943 Walter White
1942 Alfred M. Bingham
1941 Harry D. Gideonse
1940 A.A. Berle, Jr.
1939 Eduard Lindeman
1938 John Haynes Holmes
1937 Michael Williams
1936 James G. McDonald
1935 Frederick B. Fisher
1934 Reinhold Niebuhr
1933 Jesse H. Holmes
1932 Aurelia H. Reinhardt
1931 Jane Addams
1930 William L. Sullivan
1929 Francis J. McConnell
1928 Frank Oliver Hall
1927 William Ellery Sweet
1926 James Smyth
1925 Ambrose W. Vernon
1924 John H. Finley
1923 K.H. Roessingh
1922 Rev. Frederick W. Norwood
Last updated on Sunday, June 29, 2008.
