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In the early 20th century, Old South launched a program of public
discussions called the Old South Forum for the open debate of issues.
For over two decades, the forums featured a diverse range of topics and
speakers.
During the 1920’s, a national controversy over free speech rights
plunged Old South into its own debate over how far programs would go. In
Boston mayors James Michael Curley and Malcolm Nichols and an
influential group called the Watch and Ward Society acted to ban
controversial speakers, books and plays. Numerous disputes arose over
the First Amendment issues of free speech and assembly as speakers such
as Communist Anthony Bimba, birth control advocate Margaret Sanger and
supporters of convicted murderers Sacco and Vanzetti were banned from
speaking in Boston’s public buildings.
The Board of Managers of the Old South split over free speech at Old
South: some favored meetings of a purely “educational, charitable and
religious nature” while others believed that Old South’s revolutionary
history mandated a strong free-speech, anti-censorship policy.
In 1929 the issue of free speech at Old South reached a boiling point
when several board members refused to hold a forum over the banning of
Eugene O’Neill’s play Strange Interlude. Those who supported the forum
called a meeting to decide Old South’s free speech policy. Finally,
after much deliberation, The Old South Association voted to open its
doors to speakers and public discussion “without regard to the
unpopularity of any cause.” The building’s role as a public meeting
place, often for radical causes, was once again an important function
just as it had been in the colonial era. Since then, Old South has been
committed to presenting topics and speakers regardless of their
popularity or unpopularity.
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