The Idea of Freedom in America

Eric Foner presents the Law and Humanities Distinguished Lecture

- By Lori Craig

Students are invited to hear Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, present the Sixth Annual Law and Humanities Distinguished Lecture, “The Idea of Freedom in America, 1776-2007.”

The lecture, sponsored by the USC Center for Law, History and Culture, will be held Thursday, Nov. 8, at 4 p.m. in Town and Gown. A reception will follow.

Eric Foner will present the Law and Humanities Distinguished Lecture on Nov. 8

Foner is one of America’s most influential historians and commentators on race, politics and society in 19th-Century United States.

His 1988 book, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1868-1877, won the Bancroft Prize, Parkman Prize, Los Angeles Times Book Award and other awards. Among his best-known books are Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and Its Legacy (Louisiana State Univ. Press 1983); The Story of American Freedom (W.W. Norton 1998); and Who Owns History? Rethinking the Past in a Changing World (Hill and Wang 2002).

Foner has taught in the history department at Columbia University since 1982. He received the university’s Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2006 and Great Teacher Award from the Society of Columbia Graduates in 1991. He also has taught at City University of New York, Cambridge University, Moscow State University and Oxford University. Foner earned a B.A. summa cum laude and a Ph.D. from Columbia. He also holds a B.A. from Oxford University.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Department of History and African American Studies program.

For more information about the Law and Humanities Distinguished Lecture, or to RSVP for the event, please contact Karen Choi at 213-821-1239 or visit the Center for Law, History and Culture web site.