The 2008 MecDec Commemoration Calendar of Events

 

> “May 20th Children's Speaker Series featuring Ken Burns”
     Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
     time: 10:00 AM
     location: the McGlohon Theater

 

> “Noon Observance of the MecDec at Independence Square”
     Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
     time: 12:00 noon
     location: Independence Square

The corner of Trade & Tryon will serve as the location to this uniquely-Charlotte annual celebration.  The MecDec celebration has hosted four former Presidents (Taft, Wilson, Eisenhower and Ford), military Generals, a First Lady, and multiple dignitaries.  On the site of the declaration of freedom of May 20, 1775, we will celebrate the signing of the declaration, the spirit of our community and the unique and rebellious history that binds our community together.

Events will include, but not limited to: Military and Colonial Re-enactors, Historical Readings, horses, military parades, modern and urban Slam Poetry, and good ol’ American-styled patriotic celebration of who we are as a people.

Don’t miss out on this free event celebrating Charlotte and its people!
CLICK HERE to view the official invitation.

 

> “Evening Speaker Series, followed by the 2008 MecDec Lecture Speaker, Ken Burns”
     Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
     time: 7:00 PM
     location: the McGlohon Theater Atrium

Ken Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films known worldwide. Among his most notable productions are The Civil War (1990), Baseball (1994), Jazz (2001) and The War (2007).

Burns’s documentaries have been nominated for two Academy Awards (Brooklyn Bridge in 1982 and The Statue of Liberty in 1986) and six of his documentaries have been nominated for one or more Emmy Awards. He won three Emmy Awards for The Civil War, for Baseball and for Unforgivable Blackness.

Burns's film series The Civil War is a masterpiece. Narrated by Pulitzer Prize winning author David McCullough, Burns filled in many other roles, serving as director, producer, co-writer, chief cinematographer, music director, and executive producer of The Civil War. The series has been honored with more than 40 major film and television awards, including two Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, Producer of the Year Award from the Producers Guild of America, People's Choice Award, Peabody Award, duPont-Columbia Award, D.W. Griffith Award, and the $50,000 Lincoln Prize, among dozens of others. The nine episodes explore the Civil War through personal stories and photos that create a very different kind of experience from watching nearly any other modern movie today. During the creation of the movie Burns filmed thousands of archived photographs. This resulted in the coining of the aforementioned term the “Ken Burns Effect”. The Civil War has been viewed by more than 40 million people.

The May 20th Society is both thrilled and honored to welcome this dynamic talented filmmaker and historian as our guest and lecturer at The May 20th Society 2008 Speaker Series.