From abolition through Reconstruction, join us for a look into the causes, course, and consequences of the War as we kick-off our expansive initiative “The Civil War & Remaking America” with these spring events!
Members of the ACWM may attend these events free of
charge with promo codes sent to your emails!
One of the longest-running disputes in US History is whether the Constitution was a pro-slavery or an antislavery document. What can the debates surrounding the drafting and ratification of this founding document tell us, and when did the theory of antislavery constitutionalism fully emerge? Join us for this discussion with Dr. James Oakes, Distinguished Professor of History and Graduate School Humanities Professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Moderated by ACWM President and CEO, Dr. Rob Havers.
James Oakes is Distinguished Professor of History and Graduate School Humanities Professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He previously taught at Princeton and Northwestern. He received his Ph.D. from Berkeley. Oakes is the author of several books and articles on the subjects of slavery, antislavery, and emancipation, including The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics (2007) and Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the UnitedStates (2012), both of which won the Lincoln Prize. His most recent book is The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution.
Due to technical difficulties, this event is unavailable to stream.
$10 – Free to ACWM Members and included in museum admission.
Described by Senator Charles Sumner as “more thoroughly abominable than anything of the kind in the history of court,” the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Dred Scott v. Sanford, is one of the most controversial of all time. Discover how this famous Supreme Court decision impacted Black citizenship, energized the Republican Party, & moved the nation to Civil War.
Join us for this discussion with Dr. Martha Jones, Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, Professor of History, and a Professor at the SNF Agora Institute at The Johns Hopkins University. Moderated by ACWM President and CEO, Dr. Rob Havers.
Professor Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, Professor of History, and a Professor at the SNF Agora Institute at The Johns Hopkins University. She is a legal and cultural historian whose work examines how Black Americans have shaped the story of American democracy.
She is the author of four books, including Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America (2018), which was the winner of numerous prizes. Professor Jones is a public historian, writing for broader audiences at the New York Times, Washington Post, the Atlantic, USA Today, Public Books, Talking Points Memo, Politico, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Time. She is an expert consultant for museum, film, and video productions and serves on numbers boards and committees.
THIS EVENT WILL BE IN RICHMOND & APPOMATTOX
Although emancipation was a key outcome of the Civil War, it was devotion to the Union and the belief that the American republic was the “last best hope of earth” that sustained millions of loyal soldiers and civilians in the United States during this country’s deadliest conflict. Join us for this discussion with Dr. Gary Gallagher, John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War Emeritus, University of Virginia.