Renowned historian to give lecture on America following Civil War on April 20
National Teacher of the Year award-winner and Pulitzer finalist Edward Ayers will give a presentation on the Civil War and Reconstruction period from 7:30-8:30 p.m. April 20 at the Park Library Auditorium.
Ayers is an accomplished author and historian of the American South, said history faculty member Kathy Donohue. The presentation will be part of the George M. Blackburn Endowed Lecture Series.
Ayers will be speaking about his most recent book “The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America.” The book is already a winner of the Lincoln Prize.
“The book will look a lot at emancipation and race in the Reconstruction era as people try to put their lives back together,” Donohue said.
Ayers is one of the most gifted lecturers in American history, Donohue said. He has an amazing ability to reach both sides of an audience, the experts and the novices.
“(The lecture) is dealing with a contemporary issue, and that is the whole issue of race,” Donohue said. “A lot of those battles about race that we still find ourselves confronting, those were already front and center in 1865 at a time when race relations was becoming policy.”
Donohue believes students will benefit greatly from this lecture, and not only history students.
“We hope we will get lots and lots of people coming to the talk,” Donohue said.
