Let's Talk About It: Making Sense of the Civil War: Part Two: Choosing Sides

The Birmingham Public Library will host a free five-part reading and discussion series called Let's Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War. In commemoration of the Civil War sesquicentennial, the series encourages participants to consider the legacy of the Civil War and emancipation. The series is open to all adults in the community (registration is required) and is led by Dr. Victoria E. Ott, Associate Professor of History at Birmingham-Southern College and author of Confederate Daughters: Coming of Age during the Civil War.

Part Two: Choosing Sides
Thursday, March 29, 2012
5:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Central Library, Arrington Auditorium
Program consists of readings from America's War (2012):

• Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" [1852] *online*
• Henry David Thoreau, "A Plea for Captain John Brown" [1859] *online*
• Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address [March 4, 1861] *online*
• Alexander H. Stephens, "Cornerstone" speech [March 21, 1861] *online*
• Robert Montague, Secessionist speech at Virginia secession convention [April 1-2, 1861] *online*
• Chapman Stuart, Unionist speech at Virginia secession convention [April 5, 1861] *online*
• Elizabeth Brown Pryor, excerpt from Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through his Private Letters [2007]
• Mark Twain, "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed" [1885] *online*
• Sarah Morgan, excerpt from The Diary of a Southern Woman [May 9, May 17, 1862] *online*

List of Discussion Dates and Registration Information

Let's Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War series is developed by the American Library Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Local support for the series is provided by the Alabama Humanities Foundation and the Birmingham Public Library.