Library to Host Presentation on Lincoln and the Civil War

Tompkins County Public Library, in connection with the nationally-traveling exhibit “Lincoln:  The Constitution and the Civil War,” will host a presentation by Edward E. Baptist on Lincoln during the Civil War, October 14 at 6 p.m. in the Library’s BorgWarner Community Room.

An associate professor in Cornell University’s Department of History, Baptist is a noted scholar and speaker on the enslavement of African Americans in the southern United States.  He teaches courses on the Civil War, slavery, the American South, masculinity, modernity and modernization, the first half of the American survey, and 19th century U.S. History. His recently-released book, “The Half Has Never Been Told:  Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism,” has received critical acclaim and sparked debate over its radical interpretation of American history.”

This program is being held in conjunction with the Library’s current exhibit, “Lincoln:  The Constitution and the Civil War,” a nationally traveling exhibition exploring Abraham Lincoln’s struggle to meet the constitutional challenges of the Civil War.

This 1,000 square foot, thematic exhibit offers an intriguing perspective of the challenges America’s much-heralded 16^th president faced during the Civil War and describes his use of the Constitution as a guide for tackling the major issues of the war—secession of Southern states, slavery and wartime civil liberties.

The exhibit, which runs through October 31, and its corresponding programs are being held in conjunction with Tompkins County Public Library’s year-long Sesquicentennial Celebration, “150 Years and Counting.”

Baptist’s talk is free and open to the public.  For more information, contact Sally Grubb at (607) 272-4557 extension 232 or sgrubb@tcpl.org.

“Lincoln:  the Constitution and the Civil War,” a traveling exhibition for libraries, was organized by the National Constitution Center and the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The traveling exhibition has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.   “Lincoln:  the Constitution and the Civil War” is based on an exhibition of the same name developed by the National Constitution Center.