Munro Seminar for Civic Education: America 250: Lessons and Legacies of the American Revolution, Keynote Address

Thursday, October 15

Taking a Stand: The Force of Revolution

5:00 p.m., Viking Union Multipurpose Room

250 years ago, Americans took a stand against tyranny. For each person involved, choosing to side with the patriots meant risking their lives, families, and livelihoods for a larger cause. In her talk, Professor Freeman will explore how, in times of crisis like the American Revolution, elite and ordinary people mobilize to protect what matters most to them, and how collectively they can make a difference. Deciding to take a stand was not an easy decision then, any more than it is today.

Joanne Freeman

Alan Boles Professor of History and American Studies, Yale University

Joanne Freeman, Alan Boles Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University and an elected member of the Society of American Historians, is a leading scholar of revolutionary and early national America history and political culture. Her first book, Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic, won the Best Book award from the Society of Historians of the Early American Republic. Her most recent book, The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War, was a finalist for the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize, a New York Times Notable Book, and a best book for Mother Jones, NPR, and Smithsonian.

Long committed to public-minded history, Freeman gives frequent public programs and teaching workshops. She is a frequent speaker in major news outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and The Atlantic, and hosts multiple podcasts on American history and current events.