People of the Greatest Generation were born between 1900 and 1927 and lived through the First World War, enjoyed the modernity of the Roaring Twenties, witnessed the clash between traditional and modern values in the Scopes trial, and survived the poverty of the Great Depression and the Spanish flu epidemic. Sixteen million Americans fought in World War II. They were driven, patriotic, loyal team players who had a strong work ethic and lived modestly through “the most profound economic and technological transformation in human history as a once rural America metamorphosed into a largely urban and suburban culture of vast wealth and leisure.” (Victor Davis Hanson)

An overview of historical events will precede examining individuals who revolutionized the fields of science and technology, performing and literary arts, sports, and the military, including Maurice Ralph Hilleman, Alexander Rich, Richard Feynman, Philo Farnsworth, Grace Hopper, Jonas Salk, Josephine Baker, John Coltrane, Billie Holliday, Steinbeck, Salinger, Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Stowe, Orson Welles, Bella Abzug, and members of The Bloody Hundredth. Format will include lectures and discussions.

Images: "John Coltrane 1963 cropped ver2" by Gelderen, Hugo van / Anefo is marked with CC0 1.0. "Grace hopper in 1952" by miss karen is licensed under CC BY 2.0.