PKU Global Fellowship Lecture Series
The Political Legacies of the Nineteenth Century United States
Speaker: Eric Foner
(Prominent historian, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University)
Lecture 1: “Slavery, Antislavery, and American Politics”
Time: March 6, Monday, 19:00-21:00
Venue: Peking University, Second Gymnasium Room B101 北京大学二体地下B101
Welcome remarks by Zhang Fan, Dean of History Department and Professor of Chinese History, Peking University
Introduction by Wang Xi, Professor of American History, Peking University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Abstract: This lecture will begin with the central contradiction of American history -- the creation of a nation dedicated to liberty as a universal right, yet whose economy depended in large measure on slavery. It will explore how this contradiction was built into the Constitution and laws of the early republic, and how the expansion of slavery helped to generate an increasingly racial definition of American identity. It will also examine how slavery became an issue in American politics, culminating in the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. [Foner books relevant to this lecture: Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War (1970); and Who Owns History: Rethinking the Past in a Changing World (2002)]
Lecture 2: “Fugitive Slaves, The Underground Railroad, and the Coming of the Civil War”
Time: March 9, Thursday, 19:00-21:00
Venue: Peking University, Second Gymnasium Room B101北京大学二体地下B101
Introduction by Wang Hui, Professor of Chinese and Director of Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tsinghua University
Abstract: If the first lecture dealt with slavery and politics, the second examines the contribution to the sectional crisis of the abolitionists, and of slave resistance. It will focus on fugitive slaves -- those who escaped from slavery and sought freedom in the North and Canada -- and the abolitionist networks that assisted them, known as the Underground Railroad. The fugitive issue raised important Constitutional questions, as the right of southerners to retrieve escaped slaves was in that document, only to be thwarted by many northerners. The actions of fugitives and those who assisted them helped bring the nation to the brink of Civil War. [Foner books relevant to this lecture: Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad (2015)]
Lecture 3: “Abraham Lincoln and the End of American Slavery”
Time: March 13, Monday, 19:00-21:00
Venue: Peking University, Second Gymnasium Room B101北京大学二体地下B101
Introduction by Qian Chengdan, Dean of Institute for World History Study and Professor of British History, Peking University
Abstract: The Civil War began as a struggle to keep the Union intact, and eventually became a war to end slavery. Focusing on the evolution of the ideas and policies of President Lincoln, this lecture charts the course to emancipation, first by presidential proclamation and then by Constitutional amendment. It will end by considering how the abolition of slavery placed on the national agenda the question of what rights would be enjoyed by the four million former slaves. [Foner Books relevant to this lecture: The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (2010)]
Lecture 4: “Reconstruction and its Long-Term Significance for American History”
Time: March 16, Thursday, 19:00-21:00
Venue: Peking University, Second Gymnasium Room B101北京大学二体地下B101
Introduction by Wang Lixin, Professor of American History and Vice-President of the Association History Research Association of China, Peking University
Abstract: Reconstruction, the period after the Civil War, is one of the most misunderstood eras in American history. This lecture will examine how during Reconstruction the Constitution was revised to grant black Americans equality in civil and political rights -- something they had never before enjoyed. A remarkable experiment in interracial democracy followed, with black men voting and holding office for the first time in American history. But these gains produced a violent backlash that eventually undermined Reconstruction. Yet the issues central to Reconstruction -- citizenship, citizens' rights, terrorism, the connection between political and economic equality, relations between the federal government and the states, continued to agitate American life long after Reconstruction ended. Indeed, they remain central to our politics today. [Foner books relevant to this lecture: Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 (1988); Freedom's Lawmakers: A Dictionary of Black Officeholders during Reconstruction (1993)]
Profile of speaker
Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History, specializes in the Civil War and Reconstruction, slavery, and 19th-century America. He is one of only two persons to serve as President of the Organization of American Historians, American Historical Association, and Society of American Historians. He has also been the curator of several museum exhibitions, including the prize-winning "A House Divided: America in the Age of Lincoln," at the Chicago Historical Society. His book, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery won the Pulitzer, Bancroft, and Lincoln prizes for 2011. His latest book is Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad.
Eric Foner has been awarded as Fellow of Peking University Global Fellowship Program (PKUGlobal) of 2017.
About PKUGlobal
Peking University Global Fellowship Program (PKUGlobal) was founded in 2012. PKUGlobal presents a great opportunity for leading scholars worldwide to exchange their research and thought at Peking University. The program pays tribute to the great minds in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences which inspiringly challenge the conventional understanding of human society and the world. Since its launch in 2012, PKUGlobal has hosted over 30 fellows from various academic institutions around the world. The accomplished scholars draw on their distinguished research careers to offer lecture series and seminars, lead workshops, communicate and cooperate with scholars in and beyond Peking University. PKUGlobal is made possible with the generous support from Kwang Hua Foundation.
