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Civil War Consortium Annual Summer Conference

The Civil War Consortium at Sam Houston State University aims to promote research and academic community engagement related to the U.S. Civil War and its era. The conference is open to anyone in the interested public—from students to life-long learners, from those with a strong background in Civil War history to those who are merely novices.

Friday, June 12, 2026

Time Friday, June 12 Events
8:45 am

Welcome and Overview
Brian Matthew Jordan, Co-Director, Civil War Consortium at Sam Houston State University

9:00 am “Our Fathers Brought Forth”: Lincoln’s Gratitude in the Gettysburg Address
Andrew F. Lang, Mississippi State University
10:15 am Break
10:30 am Symbols of Freedom: Slave Resistance, Black Soldiers, & the Revolutionary Legacy
Matthew J. Clavin, University of Houston
11:45 am Lunch
1:00 pm Landscapes of Freedom: Emancipation and Citizenship in Yorktown, Virginia
Rebecca Capobianco Toy, Author and Historian
1:30 pm Break
1:45 pm The American Revolution at Gettysburg
Wayne Motts, National Civil War Museum
3:00 pm Break
3:15 pm Celebrating the Fourth of July in the Civil War Era
Evan C. Rothera, Sam Houston State University
4:30 pm Break/Dinner (on your own)
6:00 pm Faculty Book Signing
7:00 pm Reflections on Frederick Douglass’s ‘What to the Slave Is The Fourth of July?’
David W. Blight, Yale University

Saturday, June 13, 2026

Time Saturday, June 13 Events
8:30 am

Welcome/Announcements

8:45 am Confederate Nationalism in the Age of Revolutions
Ann Tucker, University of North Georgia
10:00 am Break
10:15 am The Second American Revolution? The Struggle for Confederate Liberty
Adrian Brettle, Sam Houston State University
11:45 am Lunch
1:30 pm What Does George Washington Have to Do with the Civil War?
Anne Sarah Rubin, University of Maryland-Baltimore County
2:45 pm Break
3:00 pm Contesting the Centennial: Remembering the Revolution Amid Reconstruction
Krista Kinslow, University of Indianapolis
4:15 pm Break
4:30 pm Book Signing/Farewell