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Georgia Historical Society Welcomes 66 Educators to Savannah During NEH Summer Programs for College Faculty

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Savannah, GA – May 25, 2010.  This summer, the Georgia Historical Society (GHS) will welcome 66 educators from across the United States to Savannah as they participate in two distinct scholarly programs that promote the study and exploration of American history in the region.  

From June 6–July 2, 2010, GHS will host a four-week National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) funded summer seminar entitled, “The American Civil War at 150: New Approaches.” Sixteen participants (14 college faculty and two graduate students) hailing from 14 states will join GHS in the in-depth, scholarly exploration of the reasons behind, the players within, and the consequences of the American Civil War. The rigorous seminar will feature lectures and discussions with leading scholars in the field, readings, directed research in primary source documents, and selected site visits that will span the causes of the war, the choosing of sides, slavery and emancipation, and the war as it is remembered in our collective history and memory.

Following the Summer Seminar, an additional 50 educators will descend upon Savannah from 23 states to participate in the NEH funded workshops for community college faculty entitled, “African-American History and Culture in the Georgia Lowcountry: Savannah and the Coastal Islands, 1750–1950.”  Two week-long workshop sessions have been planned for July 11–17, 2010 and July 18–24, 2010; each session will be attended by 25 community college faculty members currently teaching humanities courses at institutions throughout the country. Workshop participants will explore the broad themes of race and slavery in American history by focusing on site-specific experiences of communities in and around Savannah from the late eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries. The workshop will include lecture sessions by nationally recognized experts on African-American folklife, culture, and religion and slavery in the American South; guided tours of the streets, squares, and structures of Savannah’s Historic Landmark District; and site visits to Ossabaw and Sapelo Islands.