A conference: Lincoln and the Civil War in Contemporary America

Image by HalseyImage by 20090206-lincoln.jpg

The two-day conference dubbed "Lincoln and the Civil War in Contemporary America" aims to examine Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War as continuing presences in contemporary American culture.

Here's a rundown of the event from the city:
The first presentation focuses on “Obama, Lincoln, and 2008.” Other talks will consider the observance of Juneteenth, recent southern fiction about the Civil War, Lincoln and the Civil War in contemporary photography, tourism at battlefield parks, and the hobby of Civil War re-enactment. The College of Charleston’s Halsey Institute has invited a number of visual artists to participate in sessions with the public audience, and to propose works for a forthcoming exhibition, Present Tense: Vestiges of the Civil War, scheduled for opening in April 2011, on the 150th anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter. McKinley Washington Auditorium of the Avery Research Center for African-American History and Culture, 125 Bull St.

Session 1: Feb. 6, 5:30p.m.-7:00p.m., Wyatt Evans, Drew University- Obama, Lincoln, and 2008, Mitch Kachun, Western Michigan University-Celebrating Freedom: Juneteenth and the Emancipation Festival

Tradition, Moderator- Bernard Powers, College of Charleston
Session 2: Feb 7, 9:00a.m.-10:30a.m., Robert Brinkmeyer, University of South Carolina- The Civil War in Contemporary Southern Fiction, Elizabeth Young, Mount Holyoke College- Lincoln and the Civil War in Twenty-First-Century Photography, Moderator-Kirk Savage, University of Pittsburgh

Session 3: Feb. 7, 10:45p.m.-12:15p.m., Cathy Stanton, Tufts University-The Oracle at Gettysburg: Professional Interpreters at Civil War Battlefields from Veterans to Cultural Resource Managers, Gordon Jones, Atlanta History Center-The Social Fabric of Civil War Re-enacting, Moderator-W. Fitzhugh Brundage, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Free. For more info., visit www.cas.sc.edu/hist/Lincoln/main.html

The event will also be used as a kicking off point for several visual artists. The Halsey adds:
As part of the conference, the College of Charleston's Halsey Institute has invited a number of visual artists to participate in sessions with the public audience, and to propose works for a forthcoming exhibition, Present Tense: Vestiges of the Civil War, scheduled for opening in April 2011, on the 150th anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter.

The event is on Friday and Saturday, February 6-7, at 125 Bull Street, Charleston.

It's free and no advance registration is required. (803) 777-2341.

Oh, and the full name of the location is: The McKinley Washington Auditorium of the Avery Research Center for African-American History and Culture.

The event is a production of The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art and the University of South Carolina.