The Library of Congress has hosted at least eight lectures related to the National Heritage Fellowship. Leading scholars have presented on the lives and work of National Heritage Fellows. Fellowship recipients have also given lectures about their expertise or contributed to symposiums. Many of these lectures are part of the Benjamin A. Botkin Lecture Series—an initiative of the American Folklife Center to present the work of expressive culture scholars and practitioners at the Library of Congress. Explore these lectures below.
In the lecture above, Linda Goss explores the importance of the African American storytelling tradition. Goss' presentation mixes personal experience with reflections on the collective memory of African Americans, positioning African American storytelling as a powerful medium for, what Goss describes as, "the call-and-response of life." Goss is a 2019 recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship. She presented this lecture on June 29, 2006 at the Library of Congress, as part of the Benjamin A. Botkin Lecture Series.