UIS Lincoln Legacy Lectures to examine reconstruction and the struggle for equality

The 14th annual Lincoln Legacy Lectures presented by the University of Illinois Springfield will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 20, 2016 in Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library at UIS.

This year’s topic is “Lincoln and Reconstruction: America’s Struggle for Equality.” The lectures, and a reception and book signing that will immediately follow, are free and open to the public. No reservation is required.

The Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series brings nationally known scholars to Springfield to present lectures on topics that both engaged Abraham Lincoln and the citizens of his era and are still timely today.

This year’s featured speakers are Allen C. Guelzo, the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College, and Brooks D. Simpson, Foundation Professor of History at Arizona State University. Michael Burlingame, Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at UIS, will give opening remarks on “Lincoln’s Changing Thoughts on Reconstruction,” and serve as moderator.

In the first lecture, Guelzo will describe “Reconstruction as a Bourgeois Revolution.” In the second lecture, Simpson will explore “Abraham Lincoln and Reconstruction: Did Booth’s Bullet Change History?” The speakers will discuss the contemporary implications of their lectures at the beginning of the Q & A session.

All three speakers are the authors of prize-winning books. Guelzo is the author of “Fateful Lightning, A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction” (Oxford University Press, 2012). Simpson is the author of “The Reconstruction Presidents” (University Press of Kansas, 2009). Burlingame is the author of the two-volume biography, “Abraham Lincoln: A Life” (Johns Hopkins University Press, paper, 2012).

The Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series is sponsored by the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership, in cooperation with the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies. Cosponsors of this year's event include the Abraham Lincoln Association, Brookens Library John Holtz Memorial Lecture, Engaged Citizenship Speaker Series, Gobberdiel Endowment, Illinois State Historical Society, Illinois State Library, Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition, NPR Illinois, Springfield Branch of the NAACP, UIS Colleges of Education and Human Services, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Public Affairs and Administration and the UIS Office of Advancement.

Doors will open at 6 p.m. Seating in Brookens Auditorium is limited; however overflow seating will be available in the Public Affairs Center, Level 1, Conference Rooms C/D and G, where the audience can watch a large-screen live video feed. Those unable to attend in person can watch a live webcast by going to www.uis.edu/technology/uislive.html at the time of the event.

For more information, contact the Center for State Policy and Leadership at 217/206-7094 or visit http://go.uis.edu/LincolnLegacyLecture.