Lessons of the Hour Conversation with Isaac Julien and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

Sir Isaac Julien and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson will discuss Julien’s film installation, Lessons of the Hour (2019), and how contemporary art intersects with history on February 4, 2026, at 6:30pm EST at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Secretary of the Smithsonian, Lonnie G. Bunch III, will moderate the conversation. Lessons of the Hour, a vivid picture of nineteenth-century activist, writer, orator, and philosopher Frederick Douglass, includes passages from his most impactful speeches. In this conversation, Isaac Julien and Justice Jackson will reflect on Douglass' legacy, what he illuminates about our shared past, and what lessons he offers as we look ahead.   

The programme is presented jointly by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.