In conjunction with the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, the University of Hawaii at Hilo hosts the James Oliver Horton Symposium on Abraham Lincoln on Saturday from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. in UCB Room 100. A second day of the symposium will be held at UH-Manoa on Sunday.
In conjunction with the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, the University of Hawaii at Hilo hosts the James Oliver Horton Symposium on Abraham Lincoln on Saturday from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. in UCB Room 100. A second day of the symposium will be held at UH-Manoa on Sunday.
The symposium, named after James Oliver Horton, the Benjamin Banneker Professor of American Studies and History at George Washington University and Historian Emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, features a trio of renowned and respected guest speakers.
The President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy at Albany Law School, Paul Finkelman presents “How a Railroad Lawyer Became The Great Emancipator.” Finkelman, who has lectured throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America has authored over 30 books, along with various legal opinions which have been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Orville Vernon Burton, distinguished professor of humanities, professor of history and computer science at Clemson University, and the director of the Clemson Cyber Institute, speaks on “Lincoln, Emancipation, and Education.” A prolific and acclaimed author and historian, Burton’s The Age of Lincoln (2007) won numerous awards, was nominated for a Pulitzer, and had one reviewer proclaiming that, “If the Civil War era was America’s ‘Illiad,’ then historian Orville Vernon Burton is our latest Homer.”
University of Richmond President Edward L. Ayers presents “Where Did Freedom Come From?” Awarded the National Professor of the Year from the Carnegie Foundation, his numerous awards include the Bancroft Prize for Distinguished Writing in American History and the Beveridge Prize for the Best Book in English on the history of the Americas since 1492 for In the Presence of Mine Enemies, Civil War in the Heart of America (2004). Ayers is also a co-host of Back Story with the American History Guys, a nationally syndicated radio show that ties history to the present day.
The program will be followed by a light reception from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in UCB 127 where members of the audience will have an opportunity to meet and talk with the guest speakers.
Tickets for these limited seating events, including the reception, are $8 and available online at http://lincoln.hawaii-conference.com/ or by calling the UH-Hilo Conference Center at 974-7555.
The symposium is largely underwritten by generous grants from the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, Hawaii Council for the Humanities, and the Dorrance Scholarship Programs’ Charitable Fund. Additional funding and support for the symposium comes from UH-Hilo, UH-Hilo Student Activities Council and UH-Manoa College of Education.
For more information about the symposium, visit http://lincoln.hawaii-
conference.com/.