Roger Williams to Host Lincoln Bicentennial Seminar for Rhode Island Teachers
BRISTOL, R.I., June 2008 – On February 12, 2009, the nation will celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s bicentennial, the 200th anniversary of our 16th president’s birthday. As a part of a yearlong celebration, the Rhode Island Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission will hold a four-day seminar at Roger Williams University about Lincoln’s life and public career.
The Lincoln seminar—to be held Monday, June 30, to Thursday, July 3—is open to all Rhode Island K-12 teachers. The goal of this seminar is to enable Rhode Island teachers, at any grade level, to bring to their classrooms a new knowledge about Lincoln.
Topics covered will include: (1) Lincoln and the Birth of American Democracy; (2) Lincoln, Politics and the Coming of the Civil War; (3) Lincoln, Race and Emancipation; (4) Lincoln, the Rule of Law and Reunion.
Seminar leaders include Michael Vorenberg, associate professor of history at Brown University, and James Tackach, professor of English at Roger Williams University. Dr. Vorenberg teaches courses on the American Civil War and legal history and has authored “Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery and the Thirteenth Amendment.” Dr. Tackach teaches courses in American literature and has authored “Lincoln’s Moral Vision: The Second Inaugural Address” and, for young readers, “The Emancipation Proclamation: Abolishing Slavery in the South.”
The seminar will be held in the Main Library’s board room on Roger Williams University’s Bristol campus located at One Old Ferry Road. It will run daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a one-hour lunch.
The four-day seminar costs $50—payable at the time of registration—and covers all costs, except the textbook, including daily lunch at the University’s Dining Commons. There will be no on-site registration.
For questions or to register, visit www.rilincoln200.org/registration.pdf or contact James Tackach at (401) 254-3234 or jtackach@rwu.edu.