The Langum Charitable Trust Ceremony

Canisius College History Professor Bruce J. Dierenfield, Ph.D. is the recipient of the 2007 Langum Prize in American Legal History. Dierenfield was honored for his new book The Battle Over School Prayer: How Engel v. Vitale Changed America. The book chronicles the 1962 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that determined it was unconstitutional for the New York State Board of Regents to compose a non-denominational prayer and mandate that it be recited each day in public schools.

The Langum Project was founded by David J. Langum Sr. out of a conviction that far too many historians today write only for each other’s reading and not for the educated general public. This was not always true, and in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries many historians successfully wrote for the consumption of the general public.

The annual prizes are awarded in March of each year in a meeting at the Birmingham Public Library, sponsored jointly by the Friends of the Birmingham Public Library, the Birmingham Public Library, and the Langum Project.

Ceremony Details
Where: The Arrington Auditorium at the Central Library
When: Saturday, March 8
Time: 4:00 p.m.

There will be a reception following the ceremony.