The Montgomery City-County Public Library will host a free five-part reading and discussion series called Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War. In commemoration of the Civil War sesquicentennial, the series encourages participants to consider the legacy of the Civil War and emancipation.
The program Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War consists of group discussion events held at the library on the following works:
The series is open to the entire community and surrounding areas (registration is required) and is led by Dr. Ben Severance, Associate Professor of History at Auburn University Montgomery and author of Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Alabama during the Civil War which is coming out later this year.
Dr. Ben Severance
Associate Professor of History, Auburn University Montgomery, and Civil War Historian has been teaching at Auburn University Montgomery since 2005. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His book entitled, Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Alabama during the Civil War is coming out later this year.
Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War series is developed by the American Library Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Local support for the series is provided by the Alabama Humanities Foundation.
Register Now.
Need Help? Contact us at tberry@mccpl.lib.al.us or (334) 240-4999.
Schedule
| Part One – Imagining War |
March 8, 2012 |
| Part Two – Choosing Sides |
March 22, 2012 |
| Part Three – Making Sense of Shiloh |
April 5, 2012 |
| Part Four – The Shape of War |
April 19, 2012 |
| Part Five – War of Freedom |
May 3, 2012 |
TIME: 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
WHERE: Auditorium in the Juliette Hampton Morgan Memorial of the Montgomery City-County Public Library.
Reading List
Part One: Imagining War
- Geraldine Brooks, March [2005]
- Readings from America‘s War[2012]
- Louisa May Alcott, “Journal kept at the hospital, Georgetown, D.C.” [1862]
Part Two: Choosing Sides
- Readings from America‘s War[2012]
- Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” [1852]
- Henry David Thoreau, “A Plea for Captain John Brown” [1859]
- Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address [March 4, 1861]
- Alexander H. Stephens, “Cornerstone” speech [March 21, 1861]
- Robert Montague, Secessionist speech at Virginia secession convention [April 1-2, 1861]
- Chapman Stuart, Unionist speech at Virginia secession convention [April 5, 1861]
- Elizabeth Brown Pryor, excerpt from Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through his Private Letters [2007]
- Mark Twain, “The Private History of a Campaign That Failed” [1885]
- Sarah Morgan, excerpt from The Diary of a Southern Woman [May 9, May 17, 1862]
Part Three: Making Sense of Shiloh
- Readings from America‘s War[2012]
- Ambrose Bierce, “What I Saw of Shiloh” [1881]
- Ulysses Grant, excerpt from the Memoirs [1885]
- Shelby Foote, excerpt from Shiloh [1952]
- Bobbie Ann Mason, “Shiloh” [1982]
- General Braxton Bragg, speech to the Army of the Mississippi [May 3, 1862]
Part Four: The Shape of War
- James M. McPherson, Crossroad of Freedom: Antietam [2002]
- Readings from America‘s War[2012]
- Drew Gilpin Faust, excerpt from This Republic of Suffering: Death and the Civil War [2008]
- Gary W. Gallagher, “The Net Result of the Campaign was in Our Favor: Confederate Reaction to 1862 Maryland Campaign” [1999]
Part Five: War and Freedom
- Readings from America‘s War[2012]
- Abraham Lincoln, address on colonization [1862]
- John M. Washington, “Memorys [sic] of the Past” [1873]
- Abraham Lincoln, Emancipation Proclamation [1863]
- Frederick Douglass, “Men of Color, To Arms!” [March 1863]
- Abraham Lincoln, letter to James C. Conkling [1863]
- Abraham Lincoln, letter to Albert G. Hodges [1864]
- Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address [1863]
- James S. Brisbin, report on U.S. Colored Cavalry in Virginia [Oct. 2, 1864]
- Colored Citizens of Nashville, Tennessee, Petition to the Union Convention of Tennessee Assembled in the Capitol at Nashville [January 9, 1865]
- Margaret Walker, excerpt from Jubilee [1966]
- Leon Litwack, excerpt from Been in the Storm So Long [1979]
- Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, 1865
Download a Registration Form.
Download an Information Packet.
Download the Essay Booklet.
It’s that time of year again. School is winding down and families are making plans for the summer ahead. Don’t forget to make Summer Reading with the Montgomery City-County Public Library a part of your summer plans. The program will take place June 18 – July 27, 2012.
