|
Enduring
Questions about an Enduring Time
When does the commemoration begin? What
are we commemorating?
I
am asked these questions often (along with "How
in the world did you learn to pronounce 'sesquicentennial'?").
While the first battles of the Civil War began in 1861,
the issues leading up to the Civil War developed long
before that and legacies of the war continue even today.
No event in this nation's history has had as much impact
as the Civil War, and the goal of Virginia's sesquicentennial
commemoration is to better understand our past by examining
multiple facets of the Civil War from multiple perspectives:
Union, Confederate and African-American; battlefront
as well as home front; and military tactics as well
as cultural and social topics. After all, we can't really
understand the magnitude of the war without understanding
why they took up arms in the first place and what effect
all the fighting had.
For those reasons, Virginia's sesquicentennial commemoration
begins in 2009 with two events that help place the coming
of the Civil War into context. First, the Commission
is proud to sponsor the first official sesquicentennial
event in the nation, a symposium on April 29 at the
University of Richmond, "America
on the Eve of the Civil War." Dr. Edward L.
Ayers will chair the conference, gathering noted scholars
from across the United States to discuss events of 1859
and how they lead to a country divided by war only two
years later. It should be an innovative program and
I hope that you will be able to join us.
We
are also planning a joint meeting in June with the West
Virginia Sesquicentennial Commission, marking the national
kickoff of the sesquicentennial. The joint-state event
is being held in conjunction with a series of events
for the 150th anniversary of John
Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry. At the time of the raid,
of course, Harper's Ferry was in Virginia. The separation
of the western counties of Virginia to form a new state,
West Virginia, is a product of the Civil War and a topic
of sustained interest that will be examined an upcoming
law symposium.
The Commission has developed a number of other plans
for the commemoration, including traveling exhibitions,
educational DVDs, annual conferences and much more.
We are joined in our planning efforts by local sesquicentennial
committees in every region of the Commonwealth, and
funded in part through the generosity of our partners
and members of the Civil
War 150 Council. Together, it is our hope that you
will travel throughout Virginia during the sesquicentennial
to experience the history firsthand - - walk along the
battlefields, see the sites, hear the stories, and understand
the emotions. We are commemorating a time that defined
a nation like none other . . . and it begins now. Come
join us.
|