September 21, 2012

Pulitzer Prize-winning author to deliver Klement Lecture as part of Freedom Project

Event Information:
Date: Thursday, Sept. 27
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Place: Raynor Memorial Libraries
          Conference Center
          1355 W. Wisconsin Ave.

Dr. Steven Hahn, Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, will deliver the Frank L. Klement Lecture as part of Marquette University’s Freedom Project Thursday, Sept. 27, at 7:30 p.m. in Raynor Memorial Libraries’ Conference Center, 1355 W. Wisconsin Ave. Hahn will speak on “The Dimensions of Freedom: Slave Emancipation, Indian Peoples and the Projects of the New American State.”

Hahn, specialist in history of nineteenth-century America, African-American history, history of the American South and international history of slavery and emancipation, received his Ph.D. from Yale University and has held numerous teaching and fellowship positions in the United States and internationally. In 2004, Hahn’s book, A Nation Under our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration, received the Pulitzer Prize in History, the Bancroft Prize in American History and the Merle Curti Prize in Social History of the Organization of American Historians. Hahn also writes regular review essays for the New Republic and is currently working on two major projects. He remains involved with projects that promote the teaching of history in the public schools and that make humanities education available to diverse members of the community.

“Steve is the perfect person to kick off the Freedom Project,” said Dr. James Marten, chair and professor of history and director of the Freedom Project. “All of his work has explored in one way or another the challenges and opportunities of defining freedom in the United States.”

The Freedom Project is a year-long commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War. Public lectures, art exhibitions, theatrical performances and readings as part of the project will explore the many meanings and histories of emancipation and freedom in the United States and beyond. The Freedom Project is sponsored by the Department of History, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion in the Office of the Provost, the Raynor Memorial Libraries and the Mellon Fund in the Helen Way Klingler College of Arts and Sciences.

The Frank L. Klement Lecture commemorates Frank L. Klement by presenting the work of historians who continue the Klement tradition of offering alternative views of the Civil War era. Klement joined the Department of History at Marquette University in 1948 and retired 27 years later as Professor Emeritus. He was department chair from 1956-1958 and received the Award for Teaching Excellence in 1965. He served as president of Phi Alpha Theta and the Lincoln Fellowship of Wisconsin. Additionally, Klement was involved in the International Honor Society for History and the Civil War Round Table of Milwaukee and was appointed to numerous editorial boards and national committees.  

Media wishing to speak to Hahn should contact Brian Dorrington in the Office of Marketing and Communication at (414) 288-4719 or brian.dorrington@marquette.edu.