This Thursday through Sunday (August 8-11) Bowdoin is hosting “The Afterlife of the American Civil War,” an Alumni College weekend filled with hands-on studies of culture, music, art and poetry in honor of the Civil War’s sesquicentennial anniversary.
Bowdoin has a plethora of connections to the Civil War through eminent alumni, faculty, and other historical figures associated with the college—including Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (class of 1852),Oliver Otis Howard (class of 1850), William Pitt Fessenden (class of 1823), and Harriet Beecher Stowe, who began writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin while her husband was a Bowdoin professor.
This year’s Alumni College focuses on Bowdoin’s involvement in the post-war years. The public is invited to attend the keynote lecture delivered by Nina Silber, professor of history at Boston University, who will speak about the the continued relevance of the political, social, and economic issues that tore the nation apart in 1861. The lecture starts at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, August 9, in Kresge Auditorium in the Visual Arts Center. Silber has worked as a consultant for the Gettysburg National Battlefield, the United States Constitution Museum, and the “American Experience” television series, and has written several books on the Civil War.
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