Guests of Honor

Guest of Honor – Robert Woodson

Robert Woodson is a civil rights activist, social commentator and winner of a MacArthur “genius” grant. Mr. Woodson, who has done extensive work in Indianapolis through the Woodson Center (formerly Center for Neighborhood Enterprise), will explore the Founding using key Trust works as well as through the lens of the Center’s Project

1776 Unites. Mr. Woodson is based in Washington, D.C., where he has advised Presidents, Congress and the broader policymaking community on the needs and concerns of African-Americans and low-income Americans of all races.

1776 Unites is a movement to positively shape the American future by drawing on the best of its past. Radically pragmatic and unapologetically patriotic, it offers—through its essays and curricula—an inspirational and aspirational alternative to the prevailing narrative of racial grievance being perpetuated by an alarming number of businesses, schools, and government institutions.

Further, 1776 Unites is a nonpartisan and intellectually diverse alliance of writers, thinkers, and activists focused on solutions to our country’s greatest challenges in education, culture, and upward mobility.

Its leaders acknowledge that racial discrimination exists — and work towards diminishing it. But they dissent from contemporary groupthink and rhetoric about race, class, and American history that defames our national heritage, divides our people, and instills a sense of helplessness among those who already hold within themselves the

grit and resilience to better their lot in life.

Larry Reed is the President Emeritus of the Foundation for Economic Education as well as the past President of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Past Guests of Honor