The Civil War Dream Conference

Transcription

1 The Civil War Dream Conference Two Days, Two Amazing Opportunities Presenter Resume Tony Horwitz Tony is a native of Washington, D.C., and a graduate of Brown University and Columbia University s Graduate School of Journalism. He worked for many years as a newspaper reporter, first in Indiana and then during a decade overseas in Australia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, mainly covering wars and conflicts as a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. After returning to the U.S., he won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting and wrote for The New Yorker before becoming a full-time author. His books include the national and New York Times bestsellers, Confederates in the Attic, Blue Latitudes, Baghdad Without a Map and A Voyage Long and Strange. His latest book, Midnight Rising, was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2011; one of the year s ten best books by Library Journal; and won the 2012 William Henry Seward Award for Excellence in Civil War Biography. Tony has also been a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and a visiting scholar at the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. He lives with his wife, Geraldine Brooks, and their sons, Nathaniel and Bizu, on Martha s Vineyard in Massachusetts.

2 The Great Debate: Slavery, Union, States Rights Famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass, President Abraham Lincoln, and Vice President of the Confederacy Alexander Stephens face off in an historical reenactment over the very meaning of freedom. Frederick Douglass Escaped slave, black abolitionist, author, intellectual, and dazzling orator, he challenged whites by asking What to the slave is the Fourth of July? Douglass played by the renowned Michael E. Crutcher, Sr. Abraham Lincoln President of the United States, a moderate amidst radicals, a man trying to save a Union. Although he believed slavery was a moral wrong, he also recognized its constitutionality. Lincoln played by Connecticut s own Father Abraham, Howard Wright Alexander Stephens Vice President of the Confederacy, slave owner, initially opposed to secession, but ultimately embraced separation and argued that slavery was the cornerstone of the Confederacy. Stephens played by the ever-fiery Luke Boyd

3 Michael E. Crutcher, Sr. Ironically, Michael E. Crutcher, Sr., was born on September 3 the same day that Frederick Douglass escaped slavery and started a new life. A retiree from the United States Army, and former assistant professor at University of Kentucky s Lexington Community College, Crutcher began his acting career with Images Modeling and Acting Agency in Lexington, Kentucky. Since then, he has been in several television commercials and training videos. He was a stand-in actor in the movie Seabiscuit and can be seen in the movie Dreamer, with actors Dakota Fanning and Kurt Russell. Crutcher s current role was inspired after research revealed his great-great grandfather, Daniel Gilchrist, was a member of the 13th United States Colored Troops Heavy Artillery out of Camp Nelson, Kentucky. He also discovered that Daniel s father was from Virginia, where Douglass lineage was traced to before his family moved to Maryland where Daniel's mother was from. Crutcher is a devout scholar of Frederick Douglass and believes his calling is to share Douglass principle of freedom, equality, religion, and self-esteem. Crutcher has portrayed Douglass throughout the United States Howard Wright Howard Wright is a life member of the Association of Lincoln Presenters, an organization dedicated to the serious interpretation of Abraham Lincoln, and is in his ninth year performing as the 16 th president. Mr. Wright has performed Simply Lincoln for the Connecticut State Veterans Home, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Connecticut State Capitol, historical societies, living history events, and for students of all ages.

4 The purpose of Simply Lincoln is to measure Abraham Lincoln s greatness by listening to his actual words and unique use of the English language. Each program s accuracy and authenticity is dependable; all selected speeches, letters, and many of the quotes are taken from Roy P. Basler s definitive eightvolume set, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Wright is 6 3, yielding only an inch to Mr. Lincoln, and his appearance stovepipe hat, real beard, authentic period attire, Kentucky-style accent, and high tenor voice creates a memorable impression on any audience Luke Boyd Luke Boyd is a graduate of the Central Connecticut State University MA in Public History program and has served in multiple capacities in the Public History Community. Most recently he has worked with the National Parks Service as a consultant and media specialist on the Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration, helping to develop and execute programming at the Gettysburg 150 th and other sites throughout the nation. He has taken on a number of first person personas to help bring life and passion to the Civil War. For the Connecticut Civil War Commemoration Commission, Mr. Boyd has played New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley in a debate with Abraham Lincoln, and Boyd played Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles for the Commission s Mystic Seaport Civil War weekend. His Master s project presentation was a finely researched first person performance on the life of Samuel Colt. Mr. Boyd currently works as an interpreter and guide at the 9/11 Museum in New York City.

5 The Civil War Dream Conference: Two Outstanding Afternoon Sessions Lt. Col. Sherman L. Fleek, Command Historian for the United States Military Academy at West Point West Point and the Civil War: How the War Impacted the Academy and the Academy Impacted the War Learn the well-known, and lesser-known, stories of the men who shaped the nation s Civil War history. Hundreds served, many died; friendships were severed, others survived the conflict. This will be an intriguing look at America s oldest military academy anf the war that shook its very core. Lt. Col. Sherman L. Fleek (Retired) is the command historian for the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. A distinguished 25 year veteran of the Army, Fleek has served as an aviator, Special Forces officer, and enlisted armor crewman. He has commanded several units, served two joint tours, and served in combat arms units from platoon through division. Fleek is also a well-regarded historian, having served as Chief Historian of the National Guard Bureau, as historian for a Civil War preservation foundation, telling the Civil War story in the Shenandoah Valley, and appointed as the historian to record and write the Army s official history of the reconstruction efforts in Iraq. He also served as the first ever historian for Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He is the author of numerous articles and books. Lt. Col. Fleek s awards include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal and eight other decorations including the Master Aviator Badge, being qualified in several rotary and fixed-wing aircraft with over 2,000 flying hours. He also received the Army Parachutist Badge, Special Forces Tab and Air Assault Badge.

6 Lynne Z. Bassett Textile Consultant Outfitting our Gallant Men : Civil War Textiles from the Connecticut Home Front The production and supply of textiles during the Civil War speak to the period s newly discovered patriotism, to manufacturing and economic challenges, and especially to the herculean efforts of women on the homefront. Through their handmade socks, hospital shirts, flannel drawers, carpet slippers and quilts, women not only supplied their absent menfolk with necessary clothing and bedding, but with assurance that their sacrifice was honored and their presence missed. Join Lynne Zacek Bassett as she explores Connecticut s role in the Civil War through the textiles that the citizens of the state created and used, from the first call to defend the Union to the post-war ceremonies that helped veterans of both the battlefield and the homefront to make sense of their experience. Lynne Zacek Bassett is an award-winning scholar specializing in New England's historic costume and textiles. From , she served as the curator of textiles and fine arts at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA. Now an independent historian and consultant, Lynne has undertaken a number of significant projects, such as the exhibition and catalogue at the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, CT, Modesty Died When Clothes Were Born: Costume in the Life and Literature of Mark Twain, which won the Costume Society of America s Richard Martin Award for Excellence in Since 2007, Lynne has been the guest curator of textiles and costumes for the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford. In addition to her exhibition publications, Lynne has written for The Magazine Antiques; The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife; White House History; and PieceWork magazine. Her most recent publication, Massachusetts Quilts: Our Common Wealth, was published by the University Press of New England in Next year, UPNE will also publish Homefront & Battlefield: Civil War Textiles, co-authored by Lynne and Madelyn Shaw. Lynne s lectures for institutions including Colonial Williamsburg, the American Folk Art Museum, the H. F. DuPont Winterthur Museum, Historic Deerfield, the Peabody Essex Museum, and the Antiquarian and Landmarks Society of Connecticut, have covered a range of topics in the field of early costume, needlework, quilts and other bed covers.