Christopher DeRosa, Ph.D., an associate professor of history, has been chosen by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to participate in a special American history seminar at Yale University in New Haven, CT.
DeRosa is one of 25 faculty members who were selected from a pool of 51 highly competitive nominations to participate in the “The Civil War in American Memory” seminar, which will run from June 23 to June 27.
“I’m excited to participate in a seminar led by the eminent historian David W. Blight, whose work on the Civil War in American memory I’ve assigned to Monmouth students many times,” said DeRosa “Especially in light of our own campus’ not-too-distant debate over the legacy of Woodrow Wilson, it is important to help communities distinguish between the alleged ‘erasing’ of history and valid revision of previously enshrined interpretations. I appreciate Provost [Laura] Moriarty nominating me for the opportunity.”
This seminar aims to provide a forum to comprehend and analyze why slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction Era have remained an unending dilemma in American historical awareness. The CIC believes that DeRosa will “play a strong role in the seminar.”
In announcing the selection of participants, CIC President Richard Ekman said, “Strengthening the teaching of American history at colleges and universities is of critical importance to maintaining informed citizen participation in a democracy. The Civil War has been used—and misused—to bolster
contemporary arguments about conflict resolution, race, and the role of America in the world.”
Ekman also said that the seminar will provide participating faculty members with unusual insight into the selective public memory through the years about the American Civil War. “Participants in the seminar will be better prepared to teach a new generation of students how to understand major social and political issues of today in light of history, the different perspectives in different eras, and recent debates over Civil War monuments and symbols,” he said.
Seminar participants will assess the historical memory of the most divisive event in American history, the Civil War. Participants will also consider works on Civil War memory, discuss theoretical texts on the nature and significance of collective memory across time and cultures, and dive deeply into three anniversary moments in this history: the 50th (1911–1915); the 100th (1961–1965); and the 150th (2011–2015).
During the seminar, DeRosa and other participants will also consider the recent and current crises and debates over Civil War monuments and symbols from the 2015 massacre in Charleston, SC, to the recent protests and violence in Charlottesville, VA, among others.
