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Civil War Veterans and Civil War Memory with Paul Cimbala

March 06, 2023
Submitted By: Max Strubel
Civil War Soldiers

Many Americans have seen Victor Fleming’s 1939 film Gone with the Wind, based on Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel of the Civil War. That novel and film represent the most popular, enduring version of the American Civil War era. But historians know it is nearly all wrong. Why and how did Civil War myths triumph over Civil War facts, especially when African-American veterans, Black scholars, and Civil War historians have all provided more accurate alternatives? This course explores the persistent issue of Civil War memory and history. What did Black and white Civil War veterans believe? How did veterans and their communities shape wartime memories to postwar problems? Why did aspects of the Confederate version of the war supplant the Northern version and endure for so long in the public imagination? Why does controversy infuse contemporary debates about monuments, flags, and military base names 165 years after the Confederacy was defeated?

Tuesdays, Mar. 14, 21, 28 | 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | KF Room/ Harrison Libraries | $60

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Faculty and staff are eligible to take one Presidents' College lecture for free every semester or to receive a one-session discount ($20) for a longer course. Contact Louise Melanson at melanson@hartford.edu or 860.768.4495.