Apr 21 - 22 2016
The Reconstruction Era: History and Public Memory

The Reconstruction Era: History and Public Memory

Presented by Historic Columbia and History Center, Department of History at Columbia Museum of Art

The Reconstruction Era: History and Public Memory Keynote
Thursday, April 21st | 6:00-7:00 pm | Ladson Presbyterian Church, 1720 Sumter Street

The Significance of Reconstruction in American History:  Keynote Address by Eric Foner. A Pulitzer Prize winning historian and widely acclaimed teacher, Eric Foner has written about slavery, the Underground Railroad, Emancipation and Abraham Lincoln, as well as one of the most widely assigned textbooks on U.S. history, Give Me Liberty! Most well-known for his seminal book, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, Foner has been involved with efforts to expand public knowledge and understanding of the Reconstruction era, and has actively supported efforts to create a Reconstruction interpretive site in Beaufort, SC. Free.

 

The Reconstruction Era: History and Public Memory Keynote
Friday, April 22nd | 9:00 am-5:00 pm | Columbia Museum of Art, 1515 Main St.  

The Reconstruction period marked the transition from slavery to freedom and citizenship for nearly four million enslaved African Americans and the start of an unprecedented experiment in biracial democracy. It saw the enactment of 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, which vastly expanded constitutional protection of citizenship rights for all Americans. The achievements of Reconstruction as well as its violent demise is one of the most poorly understood episodes in American history. Yet the impact of the Reconstruction “experiment” on black Americans, race relations, and the nation at large resonates through American history, reflected in ongoing discussions about race in America, historical and contemporary debates regarding citizenship and rights, and the ways in which this history is publicly commemorated and interpreted.

South Carolina was the site of Reconstruction’s most notable achievements and also the place where its provisions were most hotly and violently challenged.  It is a place where public commemoration of this past remains contested, which makes the University of South Carolina’s History Center and Historic Columbia’s presentation of The Reconstruction Era: History and Public Memory a particularly significant event.

Join University of South Carolina’s History Center and Historic Columbia April 21-22, 2016 for the first major public symposium on Reconstruction as part of the 150th commemoration of this era. Luncheon: $30. All other programs: free. 

Admission Info

Free

Phone: 8032521700

Dates & Times

2016/04/21 - 2016/04/22

Location Info

Columbia Museum of Art

1515 Main Street, Columbia, SC 29201