HAROLD HOLZER COMES TO FARMINGTON

HAROLD HOLZER, winner of The 2015 Gilder-Lehrman Lincoln Prize, is one of the country’s leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era. A prolific writer and lecturer, and frequent guest on television, Holzer served for six years (2010–2016) as Chairman of The Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation. For the previous 10 years he co-chaired the U. S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (ALBC), appointed by President Clinton. President Bush awarded Holzer the National Humanities Medal in 2008. And in 2013, Holzer wrote an essay on Lincoln for the official program at the re-inauguration of President Obama. He is now chairman of The Lincoln Forum.

In his new book Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration, Harold Holzer charts Lincoln’s political career through the lens of immigration, from his role as a member of an increasingly nativist political party to his evolution into an immigration champion, a progression that would come at the same time as he refined his views on abolition and Black citizenship. As Holzer writes, “The Civil War could not have been won without Lincoln’s leadership, but it could not have been fought without the immigrant soldiers who served and, by the tens of thousands, died that the ‘nation might live.’

During his time in Louisville, Holzer will speak to the McConnell Scholars at the University of Louisville, host a private dinner at the Frazier History Museum (Wednesday, Oct 23), and present a lecture on his new book and Lincoln’s ties to Farmington (Thursday, Oct 24)

Click here for more information on Harold Holzer

Harold Holzer’s visit to Kentucky is sponsored by Farmington, with support from the University of Louisville History Department, The McConnell Center, The Filson Historical Society, and the Frazier History Museum.