Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Antislavery expert's speech at Lincoln Institute is open to the public
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An expert in African-American antislavery history, Richard J.M. Blackett, will discuss Abraham Lincoln and race at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 16, in the University of Southern Indiana’s Carter Hall, located in the University Center. The lecture, part of Historic Southern Indiana’s second annual Lincoln Institute for Teachers workshop, is free and open to the public. Blackett is the Andrew Jackson professor of history at Vanderbilt University. He specializes in 19th century American history, specifically the study of African American antislavery history, as well as the history of the Caribbean. He is the author of several books about nineteenth-century history, including Thomas Morris Chester: Black Civil War Correspondent. His most recent book, Divided Hearts: Britain and the American Civil War, looks at popular reactions to the war in Britain and what impact they had on the struggle for political reform. He is currently at work on a study of the ways northern communities organized to resist the enforcement of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. Born in Trinidad and educated in England, he was professor of history and adjunct professor of Afro-American studies at Indiana University, and the editor of the Indiana Magazine of History, before accepting a position as the John and Rebecca Moores Distinguished Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. He is currently director of Graduate Studies at Vanderbilt, as well as a history professor. The Lincoln Institute for Teachers, to be held annually until the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth in 2009, attracts teachers from all grade levels and disciplines, with a different theme each year. The 2005 workshop will explore Lincoln, race, and the Underground Railroad. Teachers attending the workshop will be led on guided tours of Underground Railroad sites in Evansville. The workshop will be held June 16-17 on the USI campus. Blackett will give the keynote address, during which he will discuss teaching about race in the Ohio Valley in the 1850s. Keith Griffler, professor of African American studies at the University of Cincinnati, will discuss myths, legends, and facts about the Underground Railroad. Barbara Tagger, southeast region coordinator of the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program, will provide information on that program and its mission. Two presenters from last year’s institute will be returning: James Percoco, master teacher at West Springfield High School in Springfield, Virginia, and Martha Beckort, media specialist at Lanesville Community School Corporation. Percoco will discuss teaching about race in the classroom and Beckort will review online and print teaching resources related to the topic. For more information, go to the HSI Web site or call 812/465-7014. |
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