Lessons in History ~ Wide Awake: The Movement That Elected Lincoln and Ignited the Civil War
Lessons in History ~ Wide Awake: The Movement That Elected Lincoln and Ignited the Civil War
We are honored to host a Civil War Book Talk featuring Smithsonian historian, Dr. Jon Grinspan, as he discusses his book Wide Awake: The Forgotten Force That Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War. A book signing will follow his lecture. Make your plans now for Friday, November 15, 2024, at 5:30 pm to join us for this free, in-person event. About the book: Wide Awake: The Movement That Elected Lincoln and Ignited the Civil War At the start of the 1860 presidential campaign, a handful of fired-up young Northerners appeared as bodyguards to defend anti-slavery stump speakers from frequent attacks. The group called themselves the Wide Awakes. Soon, hundreds of thousands of young White and Black men, and several women, were organizing boisterous, uniformed, torch-bearing brigades of their own. These Wide Awakes--mostly working-class Americans in their twenties--became one of the largest, most spectacular, and most influential political movements in our history. To some, it demonstrated the power of a rising majority to push back against slavery. To others, it looked like a paramilitary force training to invade the South. Within a year, the nation would be at war with itself, and many on both sides would point to the […]