I am pleased to see that the new PBS documentary, “Looking for Lincoln” is available for viewing on their website. I’m not sure if this is the complete broadcast, but enough is included to give you a sense of the scope as well as content. The program is divided into relatively small sections, which makes [...]
Civil War Memory Class
Today was the kind of day that I live for as a teacher. My students and I had a wonderful time on our trip to Richmond. It was a bit cold, but we managed. The highlight of the trip was the Lee statue along Monument Avenue. We spent quite a bit of time looking at [...]
I’ve been browsing Hollywood Cemetery’s website in preparation for tomorrow’s class trip and I am struck by the reconciliationist tone used to describe the various sites. Consider the following brief description of the Confederate pyramid memorial, which was designed by Charles Dimmock and dedicated in 1869: “Hollywood’s ninety foot granite pyramid, completed in 1869, is [...]
Tomorrow I am taking 32 students and three colleagues to Richmond to tour Civil War related sites. Since the courses that I am teaching this trimester are focused on memory we are going to spend time exploring various statues that offer case studies on how different groups, and at different times, chose to remember the [...]
It’s been a strange experience teaching the history and memory of Lee to my two Civil War Memory sections. We are going to spend at least 10 days with Lee in preparation for a trip to Richmond, which will take us to a number of sites, including the Lee statue on monument avenue. What I [...]
I love those little bursts of creativity that I occasionally have in the classroom. With my commemoration talk scheduled for Sunday in Fredericksburg and my Civil War Memory classes focused on the analysis of soldier monuments, their inscriptions, as well as dedication talks, I decided to place them in the position of speaker and come [...]
This week my Civil War Memory students will be analyzing early commemorations and memory of the soldiers. We will read an article on the subject by David Blight and analyze early monuments along with their inscriptions and accompanying dedication speeches. I want my students to understand the role that statues played in shaping the memory [...]
Today in the Civil War Memory course we discussed the introduction of Brown’s The Public Art of Civil War Commemoration. To start the class I shared a very recent news story out of Huntsville, Arkansas. The proprietors of the Faubus Hotel decided to raise a Confederate flag in response to Barack Obama’s recent victory. I [...]
