UCLA history professor Joan Waugh, a leading authority on the American Civil War, will give a free lecture on the surrender at Appomattox. The lecture takes place on April 9, the 150th anniversary of the momentous event.
Over the generations, the surrender of Confederate forces at the Appomattox, Virginia, courthouse on April 9, 1865, has become a sacred symbol of a peaceful reunion after the long and bloody civil war. In reality, however, the surrender of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant did not tie up the war in a tidy bow, Waugh contends.
The transition from waging war to waging peace was not easy, bloodless or smooth, said Waugh, who will tease the reality of the surrender from myths surrounding it in "When the Legend Becomes Fact, Print the Legend: U.S. Grant and the Surrender at Appomattox." The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by UCLA’s Center for Liberal Arts and Free Institutions (CLAFI). It takes place at 7:30 at the UCLA School of Law, room 1447. No registration is required. Complimentary snacks and drinks will be provided.
The following Saturday, April 11, Waugh will participate in a free, CLAFI-sponsored seminar on the Civil War. Attendees are required to RSVP for the limited-seating event, which runs from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in room 2442 of the law school. A free pizza lunch will follow the seminar. RSVP by emailing professor Daniel Lowenstein, director of CLAFI, at lowenste@law.ucla.edu.
Find more details on these events at this CLAFI webpage. For additional information, email Lowenstein or call (818) 632-7955.
Waugh, who has been a member of UCLA’s history faculty since 1993, teaches and writes about 19th-Century America, specializing in the Civil War, Reconstruction and Gilded Age eras. Her numerous publications include the prize-winning biography, “U. S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth” (University of North Carolina Press, 2009). The book earned Waugh the Museum of the Confederacy's Jefferson Davis Award, which recognizes outstanding scholarship on the American Civil War. It was also selected among the best books of 2009 by the Washington Post.
Waugh has been honored with four teaching prizes, including UCLA’s most prestigious teaching honor, the Distinguished Teaching Award.
CLAFI is devoted to the study the great works and achievements of Western and other civilizations, with particular emphasis on the foundations of free institutions. Through undergraduate course offerings and public events, CLAFI serves UCLA students and faculty as well as the general community.
