Posts tagged as:

David Blight

David Blight on Why the Civil War Matters

February 19, 2010

in Civil War Historians, Civil War Memory Class, Uncategorized

There is nothing too surprising about this short interview with Prof. David Blight, but I thought it would be a nice way to end the work week.  Teachers may find this useful as a way of introducing basic questions of historical memory with students.  Blight touches on how Americans remember the Civil War, race, the Civil War Centennial and Sesquicentennial, and Barack Obama’s place in this narrative.

Check out Blight’s Yale lectures on the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Civil War memory.

Tagged as:

{ 0 comments }

Post image for David Blight on the Civil War Sesquicentennial

David Blight on the Civil War Sesquicentennial

June 2, 2009

in Civil War Historians, Civil War Sesquicentennial, Lost Cause, Memory

In the following commentary published in the Chronicle of Higher Education, David Blight reflects on the first major event of the Civil War Sesquicentennial, which took place in Richmond, Virginia back in March.  Blight comments on the purpose and significance of the day-long symposium and how it reflects a fundamental change with the way the war was remembered during the Civil War Centennial (1961-65).  The final paragraph caught my eye:

Legacies can take endless forms — physical, political, literary, emotional. This time, we must commemorate our Civil War in all its meanings, but above all we must commemorate and understand emancipation as its most enduring challenge. This time, the fighting of the Civil War itself should not unite us in pathos and nostalgia alone; but maybe, just maybe, we will give ourselves the chance to find unity in a shared history of conflict, in a genuine sense of tragedy, and in a conflicted memory stared squarely in the face.

[Check out Blight's Online Civil War/Reconstruction course at Yale.]

Tagged as: , ,

{ 9 comments }

Henry Louis Gates as Filmmaker

Today I showed a segment of Henry L. Gates’s “Looking for Lincoln” to my Civil War Memory class.  They enjoyed it and it provides an excellent overview of some of the themes that will be explored in this last full week of classes before the trimester ends.  We looked specifically at the segments on emancipation [...]

View Comments

“Looking for Lincoln”

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 [...]

View Comments

Take a Course With David Blight on the Civil War and Reconstruction

David Blight’s lectures for his survey course on the Civil War and Reconstruction are now available for your viewing pleasure as part of Yale University’s “Open Courses” program. The course is divided into 27 lectures and are divided equally between the antebellum, wartime, and postwar years.

View Comments

Recent Additions to the Memory Landscape

Nice to see that Dimitri Rotov has had an opportunity to update Civil War Book News. I thought I might point out a few new titles in the area of Civil War memory that are worth examining. This particular field is in full swing since the 2001 publication of David Blight’s Race and Reunion. Blight’s [...]

View Comments