The Ford Hall Forum, the nation’s oldest free public lecture series, has announced its spring 2009 speaker series.

The Forum is now housed at Suffolk University, a block away from where Ford Hall once stood on Beacon Hill. Prominent Boston businessman George W. Coleman hosted the initial lectures there in 1908.

The series will begin with Gwen Ifill, moderator and managing editor of "Washington Week," senior correspondent for "NewsHour," and author of The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Journalist Callie Crossley will serve as moderator.

Ifill will be honored with the The 2009 Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award.
6:30-8 p.m. Thursday, March 5
Old South Meeting House

The series continues with:

Richard Stallman
Copyright vs. Community

6:30-8 p.m. Thursday, March 19
C. Walsh Theatre, Suffolk University

Karl Case and William Apgar, with Lisa Lynch
Has the American Dream Reached the End (or a New Beginning)?: Credit, Debt, and the U.S. Economy

6:30-8 p.m.Thursday, March 26
C. Walsh Theatre, Suffolk University

Charles Burnett, Frank Christopher, and Kenneth S. Greenberg
Film screening and discussion of Nat Turner: Troublesome Property

6-8 Thursday, April 2
C. Walsh Theatre, Suffolk University
A special event in collaboration with the Boston Athenæum. The program is free, but reservations are needed and may be made by calling 617-720-7600.

Juan Enriquez
Financial Crises, Technology, and Why Boston Might Just Be the Center of the Universe (at least for now)

6:30-8 p.m. Thursday, April 16
Boston Public Library, Rabb Auditorium

Phillip Longman
The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do About it

6:30-8 p.m. Thursday, April 23
Old South Meeting House

Nicholas Daniloff
Of Spies and Spokesmen: A Cold War Correspondent Looks at Russia Today

6:30-8 p.m.Thursday, April 30
Boston Public Library, Rabb Auditorium

Paul Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Gould, Nick Mills, and Sima Wali, with Alan Berger
Afghanistan

6:30-8 p.m. Thursday, May 7
Boston Public Library, Rabb Auditorium