Profs and Pints presents: “The Women Behind George Washington,” a look at strong women in the founding era, with Denver Brunsman, associate professor of history at George Washington University and lecturer at Mount Vernon.

If it’s Presidents’ Day, it’s time for Profs and Pints audience favorite Denver Brunsman to take the stage with a talk that brings our nation’s early history to life.

Come join him for a talk on how George Washington, known as America’s Founding Father, hardly founded the country on his own, but instead got help from founding mothers, sisters, and daughters in bringing to life the United States.

Raised by a resilient single mother, Washington secured his status as an elite gentleman and political leader through his marriage to the wealthy widow Martha Dandridge Custis.

As one of America’s few early leaders without a college education, Washington also carried a lifelong intellectual insecurity that made him especially open to counsel from women and men alike. Among the women from whom he sought advice and took inspiration were Philadelphia socialite Elizabeth Willing Powel, the African American poet Phillis Wheatley, and the English historian Catharine Macaulay Graham. He credited these and other strong women as “the best patriots” who made the American founding possible.

Come learn about the crucial role that these women played in Washington’s thinking, in our nation’s attainment of independence, and in the creation of our Republic. Behind this great man were a bunch of women who deserve their time in the limelight.

In what has become a Presidents Day tradition, Professor Brunsman will combine his lecture with songs and odes to America’s first president. This is a holiday celebration not to be missed. Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah! (Advance tickets: $12. Doors: $15, save $2 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later. Please allow yourself time to place any orders and get seated and settled in.)

Time

(Monday) 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Location

Bier Baron Tavern

1523 22nd St NW Washington DC 20037

Cost

Advance tickets: $12. Door: $15, save $2 with a student ID.

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18feb4:30 pmWinter Igloos at the Watergate Hotel4:30 pm The Watergate Hotel

18feb6:00 pm8:30 pmProfs & Pints: Britain on the Brink6:00 pm - 8:30 pm Bier Baron Tavern

Event Details

Profs and Pints presents: “Britain on the Brink,” with Sam Wetherell, lecturer on British and World History at the University of York.

What on earth is happening in Britain? Since Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, “Brexit” has dominated every element of British politics and culture, shaping the course of elections, toppling Prime Ministers, and confusing the hell out of everyone.

To gain a better understanding of how Britain got into this mess, come join Sam Wetherell, an expert on British history from across the pond, for a talk that will offer you a long-term perspective. Along with taking stock of Britain’s current crisis, he’ll take a deep dive into the last two hundred years of British history, examining what led up to all of this.

Wetherell will tackle three related questions: How does the collapse of Britain’s massive, world-making Empire shape its present place in the world? How much of its current crisis can be traced to its historical status as the first country to industrialize, and the long-term effects of its extraordinary and violently disruptive period of rapid economic and population growth? Finally, why does modern British politics—with its hollering House of Commons, its geriatric House of Lords, and its dysfunctional royal family—seem so strange and backward?

You’ll end up with a better understanding of the meaning and significance of Brexit and a better sense of what the future holds for the British. (Advance tickets: $12. Doors: $15, save $2 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later. Please allow yourself time to place any orders and get seated and settled in.)

Time

(Tuesday) 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Location

Bier Baron Tavern

1523 22nd St NW Washington DC 20037

Cost

Advance ticket: $12. Door: $15, save $2 with a student ID.

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18feb7:30 pmThe Merry Wives of Windsor7:30 pm EST Folger Theatre

19feb4:30 pmWinter Igloos at the Watergate Hotel4:30 pm The Watergate Hotel

19feb6:00 pm8:30 pmProfs & Pints: Hong Kong and the Limits of Chinese Power6:00 pm - 8:30 pm Bier Baron Tavern

Event Details

Profs and Pints presents, “Hong Kong and the Limits of Chinese Power,” with Robert Daly, director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China.

While the West frets about the growth of China’s global influence, Beijing has major governance problems on its periphery, related to Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

China has had 70 years to convince Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang that it is in their interest to be united under the Chinese Communist Party, but Xi Jinping can’t make the sale: resistance is pervasive and the Chinese identity, as Beijing defines it, is increasingly rejected. More recently, the world’s attention has focused on the tense situation and political unrest in Hong Kong, where people who have spent 22 years in the embrace of the People’s Republic of China are rejecting the China model and reaffirming their desire for democracy and modernity.

This talk will examine the history and politics of China’s relations with these four distinct regions—also touching upon the Strait of Malacca and Pacific island chains. We will examine the Peoples Republic of China’s approach to governance and nationhood and discuss the implications of China’s close-in failures for its aspirations to regional and global leadership.

The speaker began work in U.S.-China relations as a cultural exchanges officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing in the late 80s and previously served as American Director of the Johns Hopkins-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies. He has testified before Congress on U.S.-China relations, lectured at hundreds of Chinese and American institutions, and lived in China for 12 years, interpreting Chinese and American leaders, including Jimmy Carter. (Advance tickets: $12. Doors: $15, save $2 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later. Please allow yourself time to place any orders and get seated and settled in.)

Time

(Wednesday) 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Location

Bier Baron Tavern

1523 22nd St NW Washington DC 20037

Cost

Advance tickets; $12. Door: $15, save $2 with a student ID

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19feb6:30 pm9:30 pmAlmost Ladies Night | Comedy Show6:30 pm - 9:30 pm DC Comedy Loft at Bier Baron Tavern

19feb7:30 pmThe Merry Wives of Windsor7:30 pm EST Folger Theatre