This course will examine the era of the American Civil War, with an emphasis on the war’s origins, scope, and consequences.
Lead Scholar: Gary Gallagher, University of Virginia
Master Teacher: Gena Oppenheim
Image: Civil War recruitment poster depicting a Union soldier holding a US flag with a banner declaring “Freedom to the Slave,” 1863 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC04198)
Up To 24 PD Hours
This course will examine the era of the American Civil War, with an emphasis on the war’s origins, scope, and consequences. Through lectures, class discussion, and the examination of historical texts, the instructors and participants will explore the central role of slavery, how military and civilian affairs intersected and influenced one another, the unresolved questions the war left behind, and how Americans have remembered the conflict. In many ways, the issues that divided the nation during the Civil War era continue to resonate today. This course will seek to clarify those issues while also providing a sense of the drama and tragedy of this tumultuous period.
Civil War recruitment poster depicting a Union soldier holding a US flag with a banner declaring “Freedom to the Slave,” 1863 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC04198)
You may attend Professor Gallagher’s book talk on Lens of War: Exploring Iconic Photographs of the Civil War, regardless of which symposium course you select. Symposium participants who attend the optional book talks earn additional PD credit.
Photograph of Captain George Preble by T. R. Burnham, ca. 1861–1865 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC04187.16)
Gary W. Gallagher held the John L. Nau III Professorship in the History of the American Civil War and served as the founding director of the John L. Nau III Center for Civil War History. He is the author or editor of more than forty books, including The Confederate War (1997), Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know About the Civil War (2008), The Union War (2011), and The Enduring Civil War: Reflections on the Great American Crisis (2020). He presented a 48-lecture course on the Civil War for The Teaching Company (now Wondrium) and has participated in numerous television projects in the field. He held the Cavaliers’ Distinguished Teaching Professorship in 2010–2012 (the highest teaching award conveyed by the University of Virginia) and in 2013 received the Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. Active in the field of historic preservation, he was the first president (1987–1994) of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites, the forerunner of the American Battlefield Trust.
Gena Oppenheim is a theater, film, and interdisciplinary studies teacher at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, NY. A graduate of Barnard College and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, she currently serves as the senior education fellow for the Hamilton Education Program at the Gilder Lehrman Institute.