Dr. Nicholson is an Assistant Professor of History at Lawrence University. She received her PhD in History from the University of California at Berkeley in 1994. She teaches courses in women’s history, early Colonial history as well as The American Civil War. Her lecture/discussion will focus on the events and politics leading up to the Civil War. Participants will discuss the war’s causes. Was war inevitable or could it have been avoided? Was one side or the other more responsible for the war? What were the political, economic and social forces at work prior to the war? What role did slavery play in causing the war?

On October 12, participants will view a two-part Civil War Journal video, Battle of 1st Bull Run and Pickett’s Charge. The Battle of 1st Bull Run was the first battle of the Civil War. Led by Stonewall Jackson, it was a stunning victory for the Confederacy and a humiliating loss for the Union. Its message was that the war was going to be long, costly, and bloody. Pickett’s Charge is the story of the vain Confederate general George Edward Pickett who at Gettysburg, led his troops on a slow suicidal “charge” into the center of a Union line that annihilated his division.

On October 19, participants will view a two-part Civil War Journal II video, Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain/Lincoln and Gettysburg. Joshua L. Chamberlain was a college teacher who became a Union general. He was wounded six times, awarded the Medal of Honor, and accepted the surrender of Confederate troops at Appomattox. He is featured in Michael Shaara’s Civil War novel The Killer Angels. The Union’s victory at Gettysburg came with a high price: 23,000 Union deaths and 28,000 Confederate casualties. Four months later, President Lincoln eloquently stated his grief for the fallen soldiers and the nation’s commitment to equality for all in the Gettsyburg Address.

The Civil War Journal videos are produced by A&E Home Video. Using diaries, photographs and factual re-enactments, they tell the personal stories of the Civil War. They are hosted by Danny Glover.

Dr. Kirby is an Assistant Professor in the Social Science Department of the University of Wisconsin-Stout. He received his PhD in American History from George Washington University in 1992. He teaches American Government, Modern United States History, and African American History. Dr. Kirby recently won the first ever Stout Diversity Award. He and a colleague developed a learning community called Diversity Connections which links English and American History students from Stout, Cerritos College in California, and Xavier University of Louisiana via television and the internet. Participants on October 26 will discuss the aftermath of the Civil War. What was Reconstruction? How did the end of slavery affect the politics, economy and society of the South as well as the North? Dr. Kirby will discuss how governmental policies of Reconstruction and the Gilded Age laid the foundation for the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century.

The programs will be held from 10:00am to 11:30am in the Library’s lower level meeting room. They are free and open to the general public. Participants will be encouraged to read James McPherson’s The Coming of War and