Wednesday, August 13, 2008
From Civil War Through Civil Rights
This Friday and Saturday, August 15th and 16th, the fourth in a series of Quest for Freedom Live & Learn Weekends (http://www.questforfreedom.org/events), sponsored by the PA Office of Tourism and local convention and visitors’ bureaus, will offer participants the chance to connect with history, meet the past and understand the present.
Campaigning at the President’s House on Friday evening at 6:00pm, provides guests an opportunity to discuss Presidential politics during a reception at Wheatland (http://www.wheatland.org), home of President James Buchanan in Lancaster Pennsylvania. What makes this reception different, however, is the presence of guests from the past courtesy of Pennsylvania’s Past Players. These ‘visitors’ from mid-19th century Pennsylvania will shed some light on elections in their day and the impact created in their lives.
The discussion will continue on Saturday at 9:30am in the theater of the Pennsylvania Dutch Visitors Center ( http://www.padutchcountry.com) on Greenfield Road in Lancaster. Dr. Louise Stevenson, professor of history and American studies at Franklin and Marshall University will lead a discussion on the book, Lincoln On Democracy. Using Lincoln’s own words from selected letters and speeches, editors Mario Cuomo and Harold Holzer, identify the President’s positions and policies; many of which impact all Americans today.
A phrase from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was the genesis of the book discussion series. In that speech he charges his listener: “It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.” Using the theme of the ‘unfinished work’ of the Civil War, a series of four book discussions called Live & Learn Weekends was established by a partnership of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, the Pennsylvania Office of Tourism and convention and visitors bureaus in Erie, Lancaster, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Between February and August 2008, participants throughout the Commonwealth have had the opportunity to discuss The Price of a Child by Lorraine Cary, The Colors of Courage by Margaret Creighton, and Forever Free by Eric Foner. The presence of Pennsylvania’s Past Players, first person interpreters of real, though historic, Pennsylvanians, ensures that the discussion is never solely academic. The focus is always on the impact of the unfinished work of America on the lives of individuals.
Coordinator of these weekends for the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau is Alice Sanders (). Alice also serves as a member of the Steering Committee for the Stevens and Smith Historic Site project.
Campaigning at the President’s House on Friday evening at 6:00pm, provides guests an opportunity to discuss Presidential politics during a reception at Wheatland (http://www.wheatland.org), home of President James Buchanan in Lancaster Pennsylvania. What makes this reception different, however, is the presence of guests from the past courtesy of Pennsylvania’s Past Players. These ‘visitors’ from mid-19th century Pennsylvania will shed some light on elections in their day and the impact created in their lives.
The discussion will continue on Saturday at 9:30am in the theater of the Pennsylvania Dutch Visitors Center ( http://www.padutchcountry.com) on Greenfield Road in Lancaster. Dr. Louise Stevenson, professor of history and American studies at Franklin and Marshall University will lead a discussion on the book, Lincoln On Democracy. Using Lincoln’s own words from selected letters and speeches, editors Mario Cuomo and Harold Holzer, identify the President’s positions and policies; many of which impact all Americans today.
A phrase from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was the genesis of the book discussion series. In that speech he charges his listener: “It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.” Using the theme of the ‘unfinished work’ of the Civil War, a series of four book discussions called Live & Learn Weekends was established by a partnership of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, the Pennsylvania Office of Tourism and convention and visitors bureaus in Erie, Lancaster, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Between February and August 2008, participants throughout the Commonwealth have had the opportunity to discuss The Price of a Child by Lorraine Cary, The Colors of Courage by Margaret Creighton, and Forever Free by Eric Foner. The presence of Pennsylvania’s Past Players, first person interpreters of real, though historic, Pennsylvanians, ensures that the discussion is never solely academic. The focus is always on the impact of the unfinished work of America on the lives of individuals.
Coordinator of these weekends for the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau is Alice Sanders (). Alice also serves as a member of the Steering Committee for the Stevens and Smith Historic Site project.
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