CWRTDC'S UPCOMING MEETING

co-hosted with

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S COTTAGE

IN-PERSON ONLY

"Dred Scott: Struggle for Freedom
and Continued Legacy"

by

LYNNE JACKSON

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

At President Lincoln's Cottage

140 Rock Creek Church Rd, NW 

Washington, DC  20011

Use the address above in your GPS to take you to the Eagle Guard Gate entrance, where the guard will ask for an ID.  Please let the guard know you are there for a meeting at President Lincoln's Cottage.  If driving, there is free parking to which the guard will direct you. The Visitor Center is just beyond the gate.

Agenda:

5:30 pm:  Social Period with light appetizers and refreshments at Visitor Center. 

6:15 pm:  Short walk to President Lincoln's Cottage for Program.

6:30 pm:  Presentation of the Ed Bearss Legacy Award to Loretta Neumann.

6:40 pm:  Start of Meeting with 

                Callie Hawkins, CEO of the Cottage & Eileen Bradner, VP, CWRTDC.

6:50 pm:  Presentation by Lynne Jackson.

7:15 pm:  Cottage Conversation and Q&A

8:00 pm:  Meeting Adjourned

THE PROGRAM IS OPEN TO ALL.

FREE TO MEMBERS OF THE 

CWRTDC AND PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S COTTAGE.

(NON-MEMBERS MAY PAY $10 OR BECOME MEMBERS)

PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIREDBY CLICKING HERE

(https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dred-scott-struggle-for-freedom-and-continued-legacy-tickets-1291607836809?aff=oddtdtcreator) 

Members will receive an email about how to register for free.

YOU MUST HAVE A VALID ID TO ENTER THE PREMISES.

About the Topic:

For our April 9, 2025 meeting, we are partnering with President Lincoln’s Cottage in northwest Washington, D.C., to hear from Lynne Jackson, President and Founder of the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation and the great, great granddaughter of Dred Scott. 

Ms. Jackson will give a presentation on Dred and Harriet Scott's 11-year legal battle for freedom and the work of the foundation to promote commemoration, education and reconciliation in today’s fractured environment. 

The meeting will take place in the historic house where President Lincoln and his family lived for over a quarter of his Presidency, and where President Lincoln developed the Emancipation Proclamation. 

Following Ms. Jackson’s presentation, there will be a moderated discussion and questions. The meeting will begin with a reception in the Visitor Education Center. 

About the Speaker:

Lynne Jackson is the great-great granddaughter of Dred and Harriet Scott, plaintiffs in the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision of 1857. Jackson founded the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation in 2006 with the goals of commemoration, education and reconciliation. Her primary motive is to share and continue the legacy of Dred Scott and his important role in changing the landscape of the United States through his 11-year legal battle for freedom. Her expertise is blending the personal and legal cases together and portraying a composite picture of what the Scott family’s struggle really meant.

The Foundation raised funds to commission and install the first and only statue of Dred Scott including his wife, Harriet, which stands outside the historic Old Courthouse in St. Louis, MO, where the Scotts sued for their freedom. The Foundation also erected a new memorial for Dred Scott at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.  

Jackson has created signature panels, “

Jackson is a graduate of S. Illinois University at Edwardsville and the Alleda Ward Wells Piano Studio of St. Louis. She has had a career in law and business in St. Louis.  She has received numerous honors and awards for her heritage work including the Spirit of Justice Award from the St. Louis Bar Foundation and a Proclamation from the City of St. Louis.

Through its work, the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation aims to ensure that we never forget the struggle for freedom, citizenship and equality, with an eye towards helping to heal the wounds of the past.

Sources: https://www.thedredscottfoundation.org/dshf/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=104&Itemid=86

https://thedredscottfoundation.org/dshf/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=156&Itemid=53

________________________

 CWRTDC'S PREVIOUS MEETING

 VIA ZOOM ONLY

with a presentation by

LEIGH FOUGHT

about

Women in the World of Frederick Douglass During the Civil War 

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

JOIN US VIA ZOOM

Schedule for Zoom/Remote Attendees:

6:00 pm ET: Zoom Platform Opens for Remote Social Period (Optional)

6:30 pm ET: Start of Meeting/Introductions

6:45 pm ET: Start of Mini-Presentation with John Anderson

7:00 pm ET: Start of Speaker Presentation and Q&A

8:30 pm ET: Meeting Adjourned

Any questions or problems, contact paul.mazzuca@gmail.com    

Zoom Meeting URL: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83412709960?pwd=Om8aL5ta4RZEwFgw3dgxAwXa3xSXQA.1

Or point your browser to the following link and use the Meeting ID and passcode shown below:

Zoom "Join A Meeting" Page: https://zoom.us/join

Zoom Meeting ID: 834 1270 9960

Zoom Passcode: Zoom1861

Or dial in by your location:

+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Phone Meeting ID: 834 1270 9960

Phone Passcode: 81302104

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdSroe6qvY

For a cheat sheet on how to use Zoom's control features click HERE

About the Topic:

While Frederick Douglass is famed for campaigning for Emancipation and the recruitment of Black soldiers during the Civil War, how did this self-proclaimed "woman's rights man" address women's contributions? After decades of ensuring the survival of the abolitionist movement, how did women see themselves in relation to its culmination? Where did they fit in the subsequent debates about citizenship and voting? Prof. Fought will discuss Douglass's roles in the Civil War and the ways that the women who had supported him had to carve roles for themselves during the conflict.

Dr. Fought will discuss and debate these various issues.

About the Speaker: 

Leigh Fought is a professor of U.S. and women's history at Le Moyne College in New York.  She received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Houston, a Master of Library Science from Simmons College in Boston, and many awards and honors, including:

• 2020 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Research Stipend

• 2018 Mary Kelly Book Prize, Society of Historians of the Early American Republic

• 2018 Herbert Lehman Award for Best Book in New York History, History Academy

• 2009 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Research Stipend

Dr. Fought appears regularly in the media and is the author of the book she will discuss on March 12, 2025, as well as several others, including Southern Womanhood and Slavery: A Biography of Louisa S. McCord and her latest: Sally Hemings; Given Her Time.

On LeMoyne's website, Dr. Fought writes:

The 1970s brought the American Bicentennial, the miniseries Roots, and the TV series Little House on the Prairie. My grandparents also took me to colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and more than one Civil War battlefield. This odd mix of patriotism, race, women’s history, and living history profoundly affected me as a little girl growing up in the South. I discovered that there were many different pasts and their stories conflict with and complement one another, fascinating me and dooming me from an early age to become a historian. The media of history in which I have worked has varied from documents editor, to archivist, to living history museum interpreter all in the process of finding my purpose in the academic world of teaching, research, and writing.  

Additional information about Dr. Fought is available at https://www.lemoyne.edu/academics/faculty/leigh-fought/ 

_________________________

CWRTDC'S AND LGDC'S 

PREVIOUS JOINT MEETING

IN-PERSON AT "THE SQUARE" AND VIA ZOOM

 

 The CWRTDC and LGDC are delighted to again jointly host an in-person/hybrid meeting to celebrate Lincoln's Birthday week with the following activities scheduled for a meeting to be held the evening of Tuesday, February 25, 2025: 

• An extended social period in the newly renovated "The Square;"
• A presentation by renowned historian and author Sidney Blumenthal about Lincoln;
• A celebration of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the LGDC;
• The announcement of CWRTDC's Ed Bearss Legacy Award to Loretta Neumann; Additional information about the Award is available by clicking HERE (https://cwrtdc-calendar.blogspot.com/); and
• An expanded book raffle that practically guarantees you will be a winner!

 

 A COPY OF THE PROGRAM FOR THE MEETING

WILL BE AVAILABLE BY CLICKING HERE 

(https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tGEOBNwyJhImHawu3rvvUrNzIpDsR983/view)

SIDNEY BLUMENTHAL

discusses

"The Better Angels: 

Lincoln's First Inaugural"

Tuesday, February 25, 2025

5:00 pm ET

No-Host Food Court and Bar at "The Square"

1850 K Street, N.W. Washington, D.C 20006

Program Begins at 6:30 pm ET

 About the Event:

The Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia (CWRTDC) and the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia (LGDC) are teaming up again to mark President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday with a special program on the evening of Tuesday, February 11, 2025, featuring a presentation by Lincoln biographer Sidney Blumenthal, a look back at the Lincoln Group’s 90-year history, and the announcement of CWRTDC’s annual Ed Bearss Legacy Award. 

The meeting will be held in a wonderful new, Tishman Speyer, Class A building: the Conference Center at International Square, 1850 K Street, N.W. in Washington, D.C., nicknamed “The Square” that is below a fabulously renovated gourmet food court and bar area. The Square is located at the corner of 18th and I and is easily accessible from four Metro lines (Red, Orange, Blue, and Silver) and has underground or nearby parking.  This venue will be something new for both groups’ members, and it will give everyone a chance to socialize, eat and drink what they choose, and then move to the conference center for what we know will be an enjoyable program. 

The event will start at 5 p.m., when members can gather in the food /bar area of the food court, which is in The Square’s spacious lobby atrium. We’ll then go downstairs to the conference center at around 6:15 p.m. ET for our program and discussion.  We plan to wrap up by 8:30 p.m. ET. 

Our costs involve the rental of the conference space (at a discount thanks to the CWRTDC) and the hiring of a professional videographer to help ensure the Zoom offering for members and guests around the country (and world) is flawless from our end. To recover those costs, we will be charging $20 per person to attend the program in person and $10 to watch via Zoom, including existing members of either the CWRTDC or LGDC. In-person attendees are responsible for the cost of their own food and drink. 

Information about The Square’s food court is available at https://www.dcthesquare.com/.  It offers a wide variety of delicious gourmet tastes from around the globe. 

About the Speaker:

Sidney Blumenthal is the acclaimed author (by, among others, Jon Meacham, Harold Holzer, and James McPherson) of the first three volumes of a projected five-volume biography of Lincoln.  Mr. Blumenthal's first volumes, listed below, have been resounding critical and popular successes. 

• A Self-Made Man: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln Vol. I, 1809–1849 
• Wrestling With His Angel: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln Vol. II, 1849-1856 
• All the Powers of Earth: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln Vol. III, 1856-1860 

Mr. Blumenthal is the former assistant and senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and senior adviser to Hillary Clinton. He has also been a national staff reporter for The Washington Post and Washington editor and writer for The New Yorker. His other books include the bestselling The Clinton Wars, The Rise of the Counter-Establishment, and The Permanent Campaign. 

Born and raised in Illinois, Mr. Blumenthal lives in Washington, DC. 

Sources: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Sidney-Blumenthal/453035597 and

https://www.hnn.us/article/sidney-blumenthal----yes-that-sidney-blumenthal---

 

MAKE YOUR RESERVATION NOW:

As noted above, to cover our venue and videographer costs, we must charge $20 per person to attend the program in person and $10 to watch via Zoom, even if you are an existing member to either group. We also encourage you to become a member of either our organizations, or both!

To make a reservation, please use the module available on the right of our website page at https://cwrtdc-meetings.blogspot.com/ or click HERE (https://cwrtdc-meetings.blogspot.com/p/cwrtdc-lgdc-joint-meeting-2025.html).  BUT SPACE IS LIMITED FOR BOTH IN-PERSON AND ZOOM ATTENDANCE, SO PLEASE MAKE A RESERVATION BY FEBRUARY 21 TO ENSURE WE HAVE A SPOT FOR YOU.  And please indicate your group affiliation, the full name of each in-person attendee (for the roster the security folks need to grant you access to the conference center), or the name you will use to attend via Zoom so that we can admit you to the Zoom meeting.   Because of the Security/access requirements, there can be no same-day registration.

 Also, cancellations after February 1 are non-refundable, as we must pay for the venue and videographer regardless of the actual attendance. If you cannot come after all, please consider your registration fee as a donation. Thank you.

If you have any problems making reservations online or would like to know about alternatives to making reservations or payments online, please email admin@cwrtdc.org

 

Schedule for In-Person Attendees:

5:00 pm ET: Dinner and Social Period at "The Square" (Optional)

6:30 pm ET: Celebration of LGDC's 90th Anniversary

6:45 pm ET: Announcement Regarding the CWRTDC's Ed Bearss Awards

7:00 pm ET: Start of Speaker Presentation and Q&A

Schedule for Zoom/Remote Attendees:

5:45 pm ET: Zoom Platform Opens for Remote Social Period (Optional)

6:30 pm ET: Celebration of LGDC's 90th Anniversary

6:45 pm ET: Announcement Regarding the CWRTDC's Ed Bearss Awards

7:00 pm ET: Start of Speaker Presentation and Q&A

Any questions or problems, contact paul.mazzuca@gmail.com

As noted above, to cover our costs, we must charge $10 per person to watch via Zoom. And when you register, don't forget to indicate the name you will use to attend via Zoom so that we can grant you access. 

CHANGED Zoom Meeting URL: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81260776908?pwd=hC7tZIeHPyYTz3u5HpFQ1SsWjaWxTl.1 

Or point your browser to the link below and use the Meeting ID and passcode shown:

Zoom "Join A Meeting" Page: https://zoom.us/join

CHANGED Phone Meeting ID: 812 6077 6908
CHANGED Phone Passcode: 697805

One tap mobile:

+13017158592,,81260776908#,,,,*697805# US (Washington DC)

+13052241968,,81260776908#,,,,*697805# US

Or dial in by your location:

+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcZG7EOkvV

For a cheat sheet on how to use Zoom's control features click HERE

 

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE JOINT MEETING

 LGDC's 90TH ANNIVERSARY

The Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia is turning 90 years young in 2025, quite an accomplishment for a small non-profit. To mark the anniversary, the LGDC will include vignettes from its long, notable history in its monthly programs. For more information, visit The Lincoln Group Is an Oldie but a Goodie.

ANNOUNCEMNENT OF THE EDWIN C. BEARSS LEGACY AWARD

The CWRTDC will also annouce an award to honor the extraordinary life and legacy of Civil War historian Edwin Cole Bearss. The recipients of the CWRTDC Edwin C. Bearss Legacy Award is Loretta Neumann.  For more information, visit: https://cwrtdc-calendar.blogspot.com/

For additional information about Ed and the awards, see CWRTDC's News Release which will be available HERE or visit its website at www.cwrtdc.org.  

 

SPECIAL RAFFLE/GIVEAWAY (corrected)

If you did not get that Civil War history book you wanted this holiday season, this is your chance to make up for lost time. We will be holding a raffle at the meeting for in-person attendees only (hopefully like the ones our raffle host extraordinaire Gordon Berg used to run).  A $5.00 raffle ticket may win you not just one book, but also a second book (while supplies last)!  The collection of books Gordon has brought to our past meetings has been expansive, and at this meeting we plan on bringing some Lincoln-related books that are signed by their authors. Come early to socialize and check out the selection!  The money collected supports our speaker program!

CWRTDC'S PREVIOUS MEETING

Date changed to Tuesday, January 7, 2025, 

due to speaker's unexpected conflict

 VIA ZOOM ONLY

with a presentation by

DOUGLAS R. EGERTON

about

Thomas Wentworth Higginson:

Abolitionist, Soldier, and Poet-Minister 

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

(Changed from Wed., Jan. 8 due to speaker's unexpected conflict)

JOIN US VIA ZOOM

Schedule for Zoom/Remote Attendees:

6:00 pm ET: Zoom Platform Opens for Remote Social Period (Optional)

6:30 pm ET: Start of Meeting/Introductions

6:45 pm ET: Start of Mini-Presentation with John Anderson

7:00 pm ET: Start of Speaker Presentation and Q&A

8:30 pm ET: Meeting Adjourned

Any questions or problems, contact paul.mazzuca@gmail.com    

Zoom Meeting URL: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83412709960?pwd=Om8aL5ta4RZEwFgw3dgxAwXa3xSXQA.1

Or point your browser to the following link and use the Meeting ID and passcode shown below:

Zoom "Join A Meeting" Page: https://zoom.us/join

Zoom Meeting ID: 834 1270 9960

Zoom Passcode: Zoom1861

Or dial in by your location:

+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Phone Meeting ID: 834 1270 9960

Phone Passcode: 81302104

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdSroe6qvY

For a cheat sheet on how to use Zoom's control features click HERE

About the Topic:

Few Americans covered as much ground as Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Born in 1823 to a family descended from Boston's Puritan founders, he attended Harvard, like all the men in his family, and prepared for the settled life of a minister. Instead, he rejected both privilege and convention, and embraced radical causes, attaching himself to nearly every major reform movement of the day, from women's rights to abolitionism. 

More than merely a fellow traveler, Higginson became a proponent of direct action. Wounded during an altercation with the police over an enslaved man who--in defiance of the Fugitive Slave Act--was fighting extradition to the South, Higginson wore the scar with pride. He became a member of Boston's Secret Six, supporting John Brown's raid and going to Bleeding Kansas with his rifle, prepared to put his life on the line. During the Civil War Higginson went to South Carolina and led one of the first Black regiments, the 1st Carolina Volunteers, into battle. 

Man of action though he was, "Colonel" Higginson was also a writer and journalist, friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, and one of the founding editors of the Atlantic Magazine. Emily Dickinson sought out his advice and their correspondence attests both to Dickinson's genius and Higginson's attempt to help it reach a larger audience. 

Until his death in 1911, Higginson played a role (often a leading and vocal part) in nearly every progressive movement of the 19th century, earning a place in studies of abolitionism, feminism, education, temperance, Victorian fiction, as well as films, novels, and books featuring Dickinson and Harriet Tubman (whom he met in South Carolina during the Civil War). These reveal only aspects of Higginson's storied life. 

Douglas Egerton will discuss his latest biography, to be released the day before his presentation -- Man on Fire; The Worlds of Thomas Wentworth Higginson -- which embraces all the facets of this American whirlwind, illuminating the ways in which Higginson's lifelong crusade for a more just world resonates today. 

Source: Amazon.com 

About the Speaker: 

Douglas R. Egerton became interested in history through his family and its troubled past. His paternal grandmother was born in Tennessee in 1885, the daughter of an elderly Confederate officer and slaveholder (and his second, much younger, wife). When in high school, the series “Roots” was shown on television, and his normally soft­spoken grandmother became furious about the way in which the Old South was depicted. She assured her grandson the planter class­­ “was always kind to our people,” an inadvertent admission that African American enslaved persons were indeed human property. 

Dr. Egerton says that’s when he decided to write and teach about race relations in the early American South. He moved east from Arizona and received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Georgetown University. He never lost his interest in the South, which he reports was far more complex and complicated than he ever imagined.  His work now deals with the intersections between race and politics in early America. 

Dr. Egerton's books include Thunder At the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments That Redeemed America (2016), The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America’s Most Progressive Era (2014), Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election That Brought on the Civil War (2010) and Death or Liberty: African Americans and Revolutionary America (2009). 

His first book, Charles Fenton Mercer and the Trial of National Conservatism (1989), examined the career of the founder of the American Colonization Society, a group of conservative white antislavery politicians who wished to send freed slaves to Liberia. His other books, Gabriel’s Rebellion (1993), He Shall Go Out Free: The Lives of Denmark Vesey (1999), and Rebels, Reformers and Revolutionaries (2002) explore slave rebelliousness. 

Dr. Egerton has also written numerous essays and reviews regarding race in early America; some of the latter have appeared in the Sunday Boston Globe and The Nation. He has appeared on the PBS series “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross” (2013), “Africans in America” (1998) and “This Far by Faith” (2002). 

During the 2011-­12 academic year, Dr. Egerton held the Mary Ball Washington Chair (Fulbright) at the University College Dublin. In spring 2015, he was the Merrill Family Visiting Professor of History at Cornell University. In 2017, Dr. Egerton won the Gilder-Lehrman Lincoln Prize for Thunder at the Gates.  

_________________________

 

CWRTDC'S PREVIOUS MEETING

VIA ZOOM ONLY

with an interview and conversation with

RACHEL L. SWARNS

Author of: 

The 272:  Families Who Were Enslaved and 

Sold to Build the American Catholic Church

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

JOIN US VIA ZOOM

Schedule for Zoom/Remote Attendees:

6:00 pm ET: Zoom Platform Opens for Remote Social Period (Optional)

6:30 pm ET: Start of Meeting/Introductions

6:45 pm ET: Start of Mini-Presentation with John Anderson

7:00 pm ET: Start of Speaker Presentation and Q&A

8:30 pm ET: Meeting Adjourned

Any questions or problems, contact paul.mazzuca@gmail.com    

Zoom Meeting URL: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83412709960?pwd=Om8aL5ta4RZEwFgw3dgxAwXa3xSXQA.1

Or point your browser to the following link and use the Meeting ID and passcode shown below:

Zoom "Join A Meeting" Page: https://zoom.us/join

Zoom Meeting ID: 834 1270 9960

Zoom Passcode: Zoom1861

Or dial in by your location:

+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Phone Meeting ID: 834 1270 9960

Phone Passcode: 81302104

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdSroe6qvY

For a cheat sheet on how to use Zoom's control features click HERE

About the Topic:

In 1838, a group of America’s most prominent Catholic priests sold 272 enslaved people to save their largest mission project, what is now Georgetown University. In this groundbreaking account -- The 272: The Families who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church -- journalist, author, and professor Rachel L. Swarns follows one family through nearly two centuries of indentured servitude and enslavement to uncover the harrowing origin story of the Catholic Church in the United States. Through the saga of the Mahoney family, Swarns illustrates how the Church relied on the labor and sale of enslaved persons to sustain its operations and to help finance its expansion.  

The story begins with Ann Joice, a free Black woman and the matriarch of the Mahoney family. Joice sailed to Maryland in the late 1600s as an indentured servant, but her contract was burned and her freedom stolen. Her descendants, who were enslaved by Jesuit priests, passed down the story of that broken promise for centuries. One of those descendants, Harry Mahoney, saved lives and the church’s money in the War of 1812, but his children, including Louisa and Anna, were put up for sale in 1838. One daughter managed to escape, but the other was sold and shipped to Louisiana. Their descendants would remain apart until Rachel Swarns’s reporting in The New York Times finally reunited them. They would go on to join other GU272 descendants who pressed Georgetown and the Catholic Church to make amends, prodding the institutions to break new ground in the movement for reparations and reconciliation in America. 

Rachel Swarns's articles about Georgetown University’s roots in slavery touched off a national conversation about American universities and their ties to this painful period of history. The 272 tells an even bigger story, not only demonstrating how slavery fueled the growth of the American Catholic Church, but also shining a light on the enslaved people whose forced labor helped to build the largest religious denomination in the nation. 

Her work has been recognized and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation, the Leon Levy Center for Biography, the Biographers International Organization, the MacDowell artist residency program, and others. 

About the Speaker:

Rachel L. Swarns is a journalist, author and associate professor of journalism at New York University, who writes about race and history as a contributing writer for The New York Times. Her latest book, The 272: The Families who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church, was published by Random House. Ms. Swarns was elected in 2023 to the Society of American Historians and in 2024 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

At the Times, Ms. Swarns served as a full-time reporter and correspondent for 22 years. She has reported from Russia, Cuba, Guatemala and southern Africa, where she served as the Times’ Johannesburg bureau chief. She has covered immigration, presidential politics and Michelle Obama and her role in the Obama White House. She also served as a Metro columnist in New York City. As a senior writer for the paper, she helped to lead and innovate on coverage of issues of race and ethnicity.

In 2018, Ms.Swarns joined NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, where she is a tenured professor whose research focuses on American slavery and its legacies. At the Institute, she serves as the director of a new research initiative, “Hidden Legacies: Slavery, Race and the Making of 21st Century America,’’ which seeks to deepen Americans’ understanding of the connections between slavery and contemporary institutions. 

Her latest book, The 272, emerged from her reporting at the Times and focuses on Georgetown University and the Catholic Church and their roots in slavery. It was selected as one of the notable books of 2023 by the New York Times Book Review, the New Yorker, Time magazine, The Washington Post, the Chicago Public Library, and Kirkus Reviews. The 272 won a 2024 American Book Award, which honors outstanding literary achievement from the nation’s diverse literary community, and a 2024 PROSE Award from the Association of American Publishers, which honors authors whose landmark works have made significant advances in their scholarly fields.  

Ms. Swarns is also the author of American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama, published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, which traces the journey of Mrs. Obama’s forbears from slavery to the White House in five generations. American Tapestry was ranked as one of the 100 Notable Books of 2012 by the New York Times Book Review and as one of the year’s best biographies by Booklist. 

Ms. Swarns is a co-author of Unseen: Unpublished Black History from The New York Times Photo Archives, published by Black Dog & Leventhal in 2017, which explores the history of hundreds of images that languished for decades in the New York Times archives. 

Ms. Swarns, who was born and raised in New York City, graduated from Stuyvesant High School, Howard University (B.A. in Spanish and Black Diaspora studies) and the University of Kent in Canterbury, England (M.A. in International Relations). She started her career in journalism at the St. Petersburg Times and the Miami Herald. She serves as an academic adviser to the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, D.C., which is launching an exhibit based on her book about Michelle Obama’s ancestors. 

Ms. Swarns has also appeared on national programs such as National Public Radio, PBS NewsHour, CNN and CBS This Morning, and she speaks to groups and audiences around the country.

For more information about Ms. Swarns, visit https://rachelswarns.com/

Sources: 

https://rachelswarns.com/

https://www.amazon.com/272-Families-Enslaved-American-Catholic/dp/0399590862  

________________________

CWRTDC'S PREVIOUS MEETING

AT FORT MYER AND VIA ZOOM

The Dakota Uprising of 1862: 

Civil War Connections and Consequences

by

SCOTT W. BERG

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

in the Abrams/Chaffee Room

at Patton Hall Officers' Club / Community Club at Fort Myer,

214 Buffalo Soldier Avenue

(formerly at 214 Jackson Avenue)

Arlington, VA  22211

(take the elevator to the right as you enter the building and press Floor 2 or

take the stairs to up two levels) 

(See Below for Schedule for Zoom Attendees)

5:45 pm ET: Social Period at Club for In-Person Attendees (cash bar)

6:30 pm ET: Start of Meeting/Introductions

6:45 pm ET: Start of Mini-Presentation with John Anderson

7:00 pm ET: Start of Speaker Presentation and Q&A

8:30 pm ET: Meeting Adjourned

TO MAKE AND PAY FOR RESERVATIONS,

USE THE MODULE ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THIS WEBPAGE

https://cwrtdc-meetings.blogspot.com/ 

RESERVATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED; 

CONTACT ADMIN@CWRTDC.ORG TO SEE IF WE HAVE ANY CANCELLATIONS

 

If you have any problems making reservations online or would like to know about alternatives to making reservations or payments online, please email admin@cwrtdc.org.

Non-CWRTDC members must make reservations and remit payment online

 

Unfortunately, cancellations after the due date are non-refundable, as the CWRTDC must pay for the number of dinners ordered regardless of the actual attendance)

 

Attendees will need to enter For Myer by following the instructions  available by clicking HERE

(also see directions here) or (download them in pdf here)

Interactive Public Transportation Options are HERE

OR JOIN US VIA ZOOM

Schedule for Zoom/Remote Attendees:

6:00 pm ET: Zoom Platform Opens for Remote Social Period (Optional)

6:30 pm ET: Start of Meeting/Introductions

6:45 pm ET: Start of Mini-Presentation with John Anderson

7:00 pm ET: Start of Speaker Presentation and Q&A

8:30 pm ET: Meeting Adjourned

Any questions or problems, contact paul.mazzuca@gmail.com    

Zoom Meeting URL: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83412709960?pwd=Om8aL5ta4RZEwFgw3dgxAwXa3xSXQA.1

Or point your browser to the following link and use the Meeting ID and passcode shown below:

Zoom "Join A Meeting" Page: https://zoom.us/join

Zoom Meeting ID: 834 1270 9960

Zoom Passcode: Zoom1861

Or dial in by your location:

+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Phone Meeting ID: 834 1270 9960

Phone Passcode: 81302104

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdSroe6qvY

For a cheat sheet on how to use Zoom's control features click HERE

About the Topic:

In August 1862, after suffering decades of hardship, broken treaties, and relentless encroachment on their land, the Dakota leader Little Crow reluctantly agreed that his people must go to war. After six weeks of fighting, the uprising was smashed, thousands of Indians were taken prisoner by the US army, and 303 Dakotas were sentenced to death. President Lincoln, embroiled in the most devastating period of the Civil War, personally intervened to save the lives of 265 of the condemned men, but in the end, 38 Dakota men would be hanged in the largest government-sanctioned execution in U.S. history.

Scott W. Berg will discuss his book, 38 Nooses: Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier’s End, which focuses on the events leading up to the December 1962 hanging of 38 Dakota Indians—still the largest mass execution in American history. The story of the causes, progress, and aftermath of the U.S.-Dakota War features a cast of hundreds but focuses on four people: Little Crow, the reluctant leader of the Dakotas; Henry Benjamin Whipple, Episcopal bishop of Minnesota; Sarah Wakefield, captive of the Dakota and author of Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees; and Abraham Lincoln, who signed an order that stopped 265 executions but allowed 38 to go forward. 

Professor Berg will place this true American tragedy in its Civil War context, showing how events that seemed far-flung and separate were in reality parts of one nationwide eruption of violence.  He will also cover the history of the Dakota people and the subsequent United States–Indian wars, to bring life to this overlooked but seminal moment in American history.

About the Speaker:

Scott W. Berg is a professor of English at George Mason University, where he teaches publishing, nonfiction writing and literature, and acts as publisher of Stillhouse Press.  He is the recipient of the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Nonfiction and the Midland Authors Award for History.

His other books include The Burning of the World: The Great Chicago Fire and the War for a City's Soul (2023) and Grand Avenues: The Story of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C. (2007).

Born and raised in Minnesota's Twin Cities, Scott received a BA in Architecture from the University of Minnesota, an MA in English from Miami University of Ohio, and an MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University, where he now teaches nonfiction writing and literature. Since 1999, he has also been a contributor to The Washington Post and other publications.

Scott's principal research interests include place origins, architectural history, urban history, and the intersections of lesser-known individuals with history's more famous figures. His feature writing for The Washington Post has ranged widely, covering topics as diverse as civil rights history, classical theater, the sport of cricket, the digitization of history, the role of monuments and museums in Washington, DC, and airplane restoration efforts at the Smithsonian Institution, to name just a few. He regularly speaks to media outlets and to groups large and small in the Washington metro area and around the country about his books and related topics. A list of his upcoming and previous speaking engagements can be found on the "Events & Media" link of his website, www.scottwberg.net.

Scott lives in Reston, Virginia, with his wife Cory; their two sons play collegiate soccer for the University of Mary Washington. He can be reached via his website or by using his e-mail address directly: scottwberg@scottwberg.com

Source: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001IOFAS4/about  

________________________

CWRTDC'S PREVIOUS MEETING

 A WALKING TOUR

The Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia, 

and the Nativo Coffee Shop

invite you to a

Walking Tour of the Civil War Era

White House Neighborhood

with

Ed Moser and Paul Mazzuca

November 9, 2024, from 12-3pm ET

 Meet at the Nativo Coffee Shop,

at International Square, 1825 Eye Street, N.W.      

Near the Farragut West Orange/Blue/Silver Line Metro Station (18th Street Exit) and near Farragut North Red Line Metro Station (K Street Exit)

Register to attend at https://cwrtdc-meetings.blogspot.com/

(A trivia quiz with prizes will be held after the tour)

The Tour will cover the Civil War Era-related stories in Ed Moser’s book, “The White House's Unruly Neighborhood.”  Chronicling the sometimes outlandish, often tragic history of the environs of the White House, the guides will discuss assassinations, escapes of enslaved persons, deadly duels, sex scandals, battles, brawls, and spy intrigues that took place in the presidential neighborhood, Lafayette Square. They will recount the triumphs and catastrophes of heroes and villains both famous and unsung, placing them in the context of contemporary world events of the day.  Ed’s books will be available for purchase and signing.

About the guides:  

 is a former writer for Jay Leno's "Tonight Show," an operator of a history tours group, a speechwriter for President of the United States, a former editor for , a tech/science writer/editor/manager, and a biotech writer ().  Ed MoserTime-Life Bookswww.meetup.com/Lafayette-Sq-Tours-of-Scandal-Assassination-Spies-Meetup/

 is a former Capitol Hill staffer and lobbyist. He is now a licensed professional tour guide and tour director in the DC area as well as a member of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, the Historical Society of Washington, the Guild of Professional Tour Guides of DC, the Smithsonian Associates, and the Civil War Round Table of DC ().Paul Mazzucawww.DCPermanentTourist.com

________________________

CWRTDC'S PREVIOUS MEETING

VIA ZOOM ONLY

with a presentation by

ROBERT LEE HODGE:

ALEXANDER HUNTER: 

A "HIGH PRIVATE" IN THE "HIGH TIDE" 

OF THE CONFEDERACY

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

JOIN US VIA ZOOM

(Please note that this date is on Tuesday 

rather than our usually scheduled Wednesday)

Schedule for Zoom/Remote Attendees:

6:00 pm ET: Zoom Platform Opens for Remote Social Period (Optional)

6:30 pm ET: Start of Meeting/Introductions

6:45 pm ET: Start of Mini-Presentation with John Anderson

7:00 pm ET: Start of Speaker Presentation and Q&A

8:30 pm ET: Meeting Adjourned

Any questions or problems, contact paul.mazzuca@gmail.com    

Zoom Meeting URL: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83412709960?pwd=Om8aL5ta4RZEwFgw3dgxAwXa3xSXQA.1

Or point your browser to the following link and use the Meeting ID and passcode shown below:

Zoom "Join A Meeting" Page: https://zoom.us/join

Zoom Meeting ID: 834 1270 9960

Zoom Passcode: Zoom1861

Or dial in by your location:

+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Phone Meeting ID: 834 1270 9960

Phone Passcode: 81302104

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdSroe6qvY

For a cheat sheet on how to use Zoom's control features click HERE

About the Topic:

On Robert Lee Hodge’s first tour with Ed Bearss in February 1992, he learned that the true “High Tide” of the Southern Confederacy was not Gettysburg, but the year before in the summer and fall of 1862 when more than seven Southern armies were on the move. Never before, or after, would the Rebels be so aggressive.

In 1994, Robert Lee’s mentor, Brian Pohanka, met him at Chinn Ridge at the 2nd Manassas battlefield (part of the 1862 Confederate offensive) to show him a stunning unpublished account by a Rebel soldier from Alexandria, Virginia, that Brian found while doing research on his book about his beloved 5th New York Zouaves. The soldier was Alexander Hunter, a self-proclaimed “High Private” of the 17th Virginia Infantry.

Robert Lee Hodge will share these soon-to-be published accounts of Alexander Hunter at 2nd Manassas and the recently published writings on Hunter at Sharpsburg in America’s Civil War magazine.  He will also briefly discuss his recent trip to follow Hunter’s footsteps on the anniversary at Sharpsburg, and experiences with Ed Bearss, Brian Pohanka, preservation, and memory.

About the Speaker:

Born on Stonewall Jackson’s 143rd birthday and being named after the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, it was logical for Robert Lee Hodge to have an addiction towards learning about "The War Between The States."

It wasn’t until Robert Lee was 24 that he realized he had ancestors that fought for the South when researching for the first time in the National Archives.

Mr. Hodge has always been drawn to “visual-history” – to the photos, art, and artifacts – wanting to know what the past looked like. When he received his first library card at 5, he quickly looked for books on the War; not knowing how to read yet, he memorized the Dewey decimal numbers on the spines of the books to remember for future use.

Mr. Hodge's obsession with the War led him to reenacting in 1981 – something he still does and values today. In 1985, he won a Congressional art award for a painting of Confederate soldiers, which hung in the Longworth building on Capitol Hill for a year.

In 1991, Mr. Hodge became an intern in Washington DC for the National Park Service’s Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (where he met Ed Bearss), a group chosen by Congress to investigate the preservation crisis of our Civil War battlefields. Because of that experience, Mr. Hodge has written numerous articles on Civil War battlefield preservation and has organized preservation fundraisers that have generated over $200,000 for the purchase of endangered battlefield land. In addition, Mr. Hodge has been on the Board of The Central Virginia Battlefields Trust (CVBT) for over 20 years, which has saved more than 2,000 acres in the Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania area.

Since 1985, Mr. Hodge has worked on several “Hollywood” productions related to the War. From ABC’s North and South, to TNT’s Gettysburg and Andersonville, to many episodes of Civil War Journal on The History Channel.  In 1999, Mr. Hodge started making his own films, principally about Spotsylvania Court House, Franklin (an Emmy Award winner shown on PBS) and Perryville (commissioned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky), which have received numerous awards and accolades from experts and buffs alike.

Mr. Hodge has been a professional researcher since 1991, working with the United States Army, many authors and historians, and Time-Life Books as a principal researcher for the 18-volume series “Voices of the Civil War” and “The Illustrated History of the Civil War.” Mr. Hodge has written for Civil War Times, North and South magazine, and America’s Civil War magazine.

Mr. Hodge has also been featured in (or on) The Washington Post, New York Times, The Late Late Show, NPR’s Talk of The Nation, The New Yorker, The Economist, The Huffington Post, Time magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The BBC, C-SPAN, C-SPAN 2 Book TV, National Geographic, PBS, The Australian Broadcast Company, Preservation Magazine, The Arts and Entertainment Channel, Alabama Public Television, and The History Channel.

Mr. Hodge has been transcribing Alexander Hunter’s 1866 manuscript, accounts from the 2017 Charlottesville protests, and his father’s World War Two accounts from 25-hours of recordings detailing his service with the First Cavalry Division in the Admiralty Islands and The Philippines.

________________________

CWRTDC'S PREVIOUS MEETING

AT FORT MYER AND VIA ZOOM

"THE 17th CONNECTICUT AT GETTYSBURG"

presentation by

CAROLYN IVANOFF

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

in the Abrams/Chaffee Room

at Patton Hall Officers' Club / Community Club at Fort Myer,

214 Buffalo Soldier Avenue

(formerly at 214 Jackson Avenue)

Arlington, VA  22211

(take the elevator to the right as you enter the building and press Floor 2 or

take the stairs to up two levels) 

Schedule for In-Person Meeting (See Below for Schedule for Zoom Attendees)

5:45 pm ET: Social Period at Club for In-Person Attendees (cash bar)

6:30 pm ET: Start of Meeting/Introductions

6:45 pm ET: Start of Mini-Presentation with John Anderson

7:00 pm ET: Start of Speaker Presentation and Q&A

8:30 pm ET: Meeting Adjourned

THE MODULE TO MAKE IN-PERSON DINNER RESERVATIONS HAS NOW CLOSED,

CONTACT ADMIN@CWRTDC.ORG TO SEE IF WE HAVE LATE AVAILABILITY

 

If you have any problems making reservations online or would like to know about alternatives to making reservations or payments online, please email admin@cwrtdc.org.

Non-CWRTDC members must make reservations and remit payment online

 

Unfortunately, cancellations after the due date are non-refundable, as the CWRTDC must pay for the number of dinners ordered regardless of the actual attendance)

 

Attendees will need to enter For Myer by following the instructions  available by clicking HERE

(also see directions here) or (download them in pdf here)

Interactive Public Transportation Options are HERE

OR JOIN US VIA ZOOM

Schedule for Zoom/Remote Attendees:

6:00 pm ET: Zoom Platform Opens for Remote Social Period (Optional)

6:30 pm ET: Start of Meeting/Introductions

6:45 pm ET: Start of Mini-Presentation with John Anderson

7:00 pm ET: Start of Speaker Presentation and Q&A

8:30 pm ET: Meeting Adjourned

Any questions or problems, contact paul.mazzuca@gmail.com    

Zoom Meeting URL: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83412709960?pwd=Om8aL5ta4RZEwFgw3dgxAwXa3xSXQA.1

Or point your browser to the following link and use the Meeting ID and passcode shown below:

Zoom "Join A Meeting" Page: https://zoom.us/join

Zoom Meeting ID: 834 1270 9960

Zoom Passcode: Zoom1861

Or dial in by your location:

+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Phone Meeting ID: 834 1270 9960

Phone Passcode: 81302104

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdSroe6qvY

For a cheat sheet on how to use Zoom's control features click HERE

About the Topic:

Carolyn Ivanoff will discuss her recent book, We Fought At Gettysburg, which follows the 17th Connecticut Regiment through the Gettysburg Campaign and beyond in June and July of 1863. 

Her presentation follows twelve members of the 17th Connecticut Regiment through the three-day Battle of Gettysburg and beyond in July 1863. It focuses on the stories of the wounded, the caregivers, and the honored dead.  These men fought for their lives, lost friends, and suffered themselves at Gettysburg. Their sacrifices are still with us today and from them we inherited great social and medical advances.  

Because of their sacrifices we understand the hidden costs of war, and that not all wounds are visible. The stories of these twelve citizen soldiers highlight the meaning that their lives and experiences have for our generation today:  socially, medically, and psychologically.  These are their stories.

Ms. Ivanoff has also mentioned that members may be interested in a tour based on her book. This specialty tour will be offered by the Gettysburg Tour Center on a date TBD.  Check for updates at www.gettysburgbattlefieldtours.com/c/battlefield-bus-tour/

About the Speaker:

Carolyn Ivanoff is a retired high school administrator, an educator, and an historian.  She writes and speaks frequently on American history at local, state, and national venues. In 2003, Carolyn was named Civil War Trust's  "Teacher of the Year."  In 2010 and 2011, her education programs received Awards of Merit from the Connecticut League of History Organizations (CLHO). In 2016, Carolyn was honored by the Connecticut Council of Social Studies with the Bruce Fraser Friend of the Social Studies Award. In 2018-19, Carolyn served as project coordinator for the 17th Connecticut Flagpole preservation and re-dedication ceremony on Barlow’s Knoll at Gettysburg National Military Park. This project was honored with a 2019 Award of Merit from the CHLO for preservation. 

Carolyn will have books for sale and signing at her presentation.

________________________