ECW Joins with American Civil War Museum and Civil War Monitor for Emerging Scholars Program

The American Civil War Museum in Richmond is pleased to announce the presenters for its Emerging Scholars Program. This newly developed Program is sponsored by and presented in conjunction with The Civil War Monitor and Emerging Civil War.

Emerging Scholars is an opportunity to highlight some of the most interesting work of the next generation of writers, communicators, and thinkers of Civil War era history/public history. As part of the museum’s grand opening celebration on May 4, a series of pop-up talks will be set up where each of the Emerging Scholars will deliver a short and informal talk with time for question and answer engagement with the audience.

Following a national search, eight participants were chosen for the program. Application criteria included: students in a current degree program; post-doctoral fellows; early career in history/public history field and; new authors who have published their first article or book within the last two years. Criteria for selection of finalists included diversity of historical topics, as well as strong communication skills for a non-expert audience.

The 2019 Emerging Scholars are:

Heath Anderson, graduate student, Virginia Commonwealth University—Legacy of William Mahone and the Readjuster Party

Katelyn Brown, program coordinator, Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, Virginia Tech—19th century visual culture as windows to the impacts of the Civil War

Ben Davidson, postdoctoral fellow, Smithsonian National Museum of American History—Kids who came of age during the Civil War and Emancipation, and the potential impact on them as adults

Sam Florer, military interpreter, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation—Civil War Monuments through a 1900 monument to the Catawba Indians who fought for the Confederacy

Ashleigh Lawrence-Sanders, graduate student, Rutgers University—African American Civil War Memory, 1915-1965

John Legg, graduate student, Virginia Tech—The Dakota War and its intersection with Total War

Kurt Luther, assistant professor, Virginia Tech—Website project (Civil War Photo Sleuth) to use facial recognition software to identify people in Civil War photos

Ashley Towle, lecturer, University of Southern Maine—African Americans and the creation of National Cemeteries in the South

The Emerging Scholars Program is in conjunction with the American Civil War Museum’s Grand Opening of our new facility and exhibits on May 4, 2019.  The museum will continue to promote its mission of exploring the Civil War and its legacies from multiple perspectives.