Robert C. Palmer Lecture on Human Rights
The annual Robert C. Palmer Lecture on Human Rights was established by the church’s Board of Directors in 1983 to honor the legacy and service of the Rev. Robert Palmer, our first called minister. Rev. Palmer was a social activist on many fronts, including the United Nations, nuclear disarmament, and the Civil Rights Movement.
2024 Palmer Lecture
In recent years, Olivia Hill has served as a community leaders, educating the public about the difficulties faced by women and the LGBTQ+ community. She is frequently invited to speak to many of Nashville’s premier organizations and serves on the board of directors for the Tennessee Pride Chamber.
In 2019, Olivia received the Chancellor’s Heart and Soul award from Vanderbilt University. She was chosen as the LGBTQ Advocate of the Year in 2020 for her dedicated service to the community.
Olivia was elected to a four-year term on the Tennessee Metro Council in September 2023 as the first openly transgender elected official in the state of Tennessee.
2022 Palmer Lecture
Dr. Elías Ortega is an interdisciplinary scholar working at the intersection of the sociological study of religion and religious ethics. His academic and community work is shaped by the aspiration that centering the lives of those most impacted by systems of oppression is necessary for liberation. It is Dr. Ortega’s belief that lifting the Universalist heritage can inspire us to do the necessary work to realize a better tomorrow. Currently, Dr. Ortega serves as President and Professor of Religion, Ethics, and Leadership at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, IL. He also served on the UUA Commission on Institutional Change, which authored the Widening the Circle of Concern report.
2021 Palmer Lecture
Lindsey Krinks, Co-Founder and Director of Education for Open Table Nashville, was this year’s Palmer Lecturer. The virtual lecture “Housing is a Human Right” is posted below. For more information about Open Table Nashville, visit opentablenashville.org.
2020 Palmer Lecture
The Robert C. Palmer Lecture on Human Rights was virtual this year using the same technology we use for our services to broadcast the lecture to all who want to hear it and was immediately followed by a Zoom session Q&A. The lecture titled “Healing Justice” can be seen in the video above. Speaker was noted social activist Rasheedat Fetuga.
Mother, teacher, mentor, and acclaimed activist, Rasheedat Fetuga is a visionary with a revolutionary style of leadership and activism that transforms communities through self-empowerment, creativity, healing and love. A birth, adoptive, and surrogate mother of too many children to count, Rasheedat embraces her divine gift for loving and protecting children and has dedicated her life to doing just so. Rasheedat is the founder and CEO of Gideon’s Army, a grassroots army for children eliminating the root causes of the prison pipeline. With a reputation for powerful grassroots action, Gideon’s Army embodies a new way of organizing that is both fun and strategic. Using music, song, theater, and dance as a catalyst for Restorative Justice in Nashville, Gideon’s Army led the campaign for Restorative Justice in Metro Nashville Public Schools and birthed the juvenile diversion program for Davidson County Juvenile Courts. In collaboration with a host of government, community, and organization partners, Gideon’s Army is currently using Theater of the Oppressed to spearhead one of the most innovative, community-based restorative justice models in the country. Rasheedat is a prolific speaker and trainer on youth issues, education, art as activism, social justice, transformative organizing, and restorative justice. (Bio provided by her staff.)
2019 Palmer Lecture
“I Can’t Feel My Heart”: What the denial of Human Rights Really Means by the Rev. Mary Katherine Morn
The annual Robert C. Palmer Lecture on Human Rights (The Palmer Lecture) was Friday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m in the sanctuary.
Our speaker this year was the Rev. Mary Katherine Morn, a former minister of this congregation and current Director of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) whose mission is to advance human rights and social justice around the world, partnering with those who confront unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies. Their work centers on intersecting roots of injustice to defend rights at risk due to criminalization and systemic oppression of people based on their identity.
I will be sharing stories from Unitarian Universalist Social Committee (UUSC)’s work with our partners addressing migrant justice and climate justice, focusing on the real impacts among people whose lives are already at risk because of larger systems that discount, ignore, imprison, exile, displace, torture, kill, and erase them. The stories from our partners wake us to the gross injustice all around us and the courage and creativity of those most affected as they build a new way. -Mary Katherine Morn
2018 Palmer Lecture
The 2018 speaker was Bill Carey, author of Runaways, Coffles and Fancy Girls: A History of Slavery in Tennessee. Carey discussed the myths that his book begins to dispel about our history and what he thinks we need to do about it now.
He is a native of Huntsville, Alabama, who spent five years as a flight officer in the U.S. Navy. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1987. Carey worked as a reporter in Nashville through most of the 1990s.
He is the co-founder and Executive Director of Tennessee History for Kids, a non-profit that was established in 2004 to provide history and civics teaching materials in Tennessee’s public schools. Their Tennessee History for Kids booklets are the most used resource for Tennessee history and social studies across grades from one to eight and even in the state. Thousands of teachers use their booklets, website and videos.
Carey’s other six books include Fortunes Fiddles and Fried Chicken: A Nashville Business History and Chancellors, Commodores and Coeds: A History of Vanderbilt University.
2017 Palmer Lecture
The annual Palmer Lecture on Human Rights Friday, October 6, 2017 featured speaker Congressman Jim Cooper. Mr. Cooper has served as the Nashville area representative to congress since 2003. He serves on the Armed Services Committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. We thank the Congressman for speaking and answering our questions.
2016 Lecture
The Robert C. Palmer Lecture on Human Rights, Saturday, Oct. 22. 2016 featured speaker, Tim Wise – put forth by our Beloved Community Committee. Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States. He has spent the past 20 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on over 100 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the country. He is the author of seven books, including his latest, Under the Affluence: Shaming the Poor, Praising the Rich and Sacrificing the Future of America (City Lights Books). From 1999-2003, Wise was an advisor to the Fisk University Race Relations Institute, in Nashville, and in the early ‘90s he was Youth Coordinator and Associate Director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism: the largest of the many groups organized for the purpose of defeating neo-Nazi political candidate, David Duke. (bio source: speakoutnow. org/speaker/wise-tim)
