Brooklyn Historical Society presents Emancipation Proclamation talk with Pulitzer Prize winner
Eric Foner will speak on Dec. 4 and major exhibition to open in January
Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) is pleased to present an evening with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Eric Foner and BHS Public Historian Julie Golia in a discussion about one of the most prominent artifacts in BHS’s collection: a rare original edition of the Emancipation Proclamation. The event will take place at 6:30pm on Wednesday, Dec. 4, in the Great Hall at BHS’ newly renovated Brooklyn Heights building at 128 Pierrepont Street.
Shining a spotlight on a document that continues to resonate 150 years after its signing, the discussion will delve into the influence that the Emancipation Proclamation has had on the social and political landscape of the country and its evolving role in the collective American consciousness.
Eric Foner is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, where he earned his B.A. and Ph.D. He specializes in the Civil War and Reconstruction, slavery and 19th-century America. He is one of only two persons to serve as President of the Organization of American Historians, American Historical Association and Society of American Historians. He has also been the curator of several museum exhibitions, including the prize-winning “A House Divided: America in the Age of Lincoln,” at the Chicago History Museum. He has written numerous books, including “The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery,” which won the Pulitzer, Bancroft, and Lincoln prizes for 2011.