Just weeks before heading to New York City to perform at the legendary Carnegie Hall, the choruses of UC Davis will join the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Rosephanye Powell’s “The Cry of Jeremiah” at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts on May 31.

The American Dream as both idea and ideal, for all its complications, has had an undeniably powerful role in shaping values and aspirations in the U.S. and far beyond its borders. We spoke with faculty and students in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis who represent a wealth of knowledge and perspectives that help us think about American society’s past, present and continuing potential.