Tags: America

On “Freedom’s Eve,” or the eve of January 1, 1863, the first Watch Night services took place. On that night, enslaved and free African Americans gathered in churches and private homes all across the country awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect. At the stroke of midnight, prayers were answered as all enslaved people in Confederate States were declared legally free. Union soldiers, many of whom were black, marched onto…

In the tradition of recognizing and celebrating Americans and American history, we observe Juneteenth today. Two months after the American Civil War ended and two years after President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, U.S. Major General Gordon Granger, newly arrived with 1,800 men in Texas, ordered that “all slaves are free” in Texas and that there would be an “absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between…

With a new PBS biographical documentary (premiering tonight), a new book on his philanthropic efforts, and an upcoming Apple TV series based on his life, Benjamin Franklin is again – and still – in the spotlight.  Recognizing his skills, perseverance, wisdom and work ethic, we remember many of the reasons we revere him as an American founder as well as the namesake of one of the finest College of Arts and Science anywhere: Why has the…

The Native American leader and scholar of the Cherokee Nation, Sequoyah (ᏍᏏᏉᏯ Ssiquoya) completed his independent creation of the Cherokee syllabary in 1821, making reading and writing in Cherokee possible. His achievement was one of the few times in recorded history that a member of a pre-literate people created an original, effective writing system, and his…

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. explained it succinctly in a March 22, 1964 speech in St. Louis, that "We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools." Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We can do better, let's do better.

The University of Georgia has awarded a grant to a 22-member UGA academic team to study the history of slavery at UGA from the institution’s founding in 1785 until the end of the Civil War in 1865. The research team—which spans multiple schools, colleges and other units across the university—will conduct a multidisciplinary study of enslaved African Americans who labored on the UGA campus. In September, the team submitted a proposal, which was…

Also known as Juneteenth Independence Day or Freedom Day, the holiday commemorates the June 19, 1865, announcement of the abolition of slavery in the state of Texas, and more generally the emancipation of enslaved African Americans throughout the former confederacy. Though President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, with an…

Lamar Dodd School of Art alumna Kristine Potter, who received a BFA in Photography and an A.B. in Art History (2003), has been awarded a 2018 Guggenheim memorial Foundation Fellowship: The Foundation offers Fellowships to further the development of scholars and artists by assisting them to engage in research in any field of knowledge and creation in any of the arts, under the freest possible conditions and…

A title that would make an extraordinary single article [or film], but this triumvirate of stories in the media over the weekend featuring Franklin College faculty provides a handy illustration of the breadth of arts and science scholarship. Professor emeritus of history James Cobb in TIME magazine: During the 1950s and ‘60s, New York-based publications like TIME, Newsweekor Harper’s regularly devoted special issues or…

Three Franklin College faculty members have been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The awards, announced April 9, are among $18.6 million in NEH grants for 199 humanities projects across the country: Professor of Spanish Elizabeth Wright and associate professor of French Rachel Gabara of the Romance languages department were awarded $6,000 each for summer stipends, highly competitive grants that provide full-…

50 years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assasinated on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. His legacy continues to run deep, his shadow cast long, on American struggles with race, poverty, inequality and injustice. Distinguished Research Professor of English and African American Studies Ed Pavlic offers this meditation on The Forgotten Economic Vision of Martin Luther King: King’s position in history signals part of the…

Cellar Theatre Tickets: $16, $12 for Students

Barbara McClintock (1902-1992) was one of the foremost women scientists in 20th century America, noted for her pioneering research on transposable elements in maize. For this work she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983. She was the third woman to receive an unshared Nobel Prize in the sciences. Obviously a giant in the field of genetics, the McClintock Prize for Plant Genetics and Genome Studies was established by the…