Nationally known Civil War historian, author and educator Kevin Levin will deliver the third annual Chamberlain Legacy Lecture hosted by Pejepscot History Center. The lecture is at 7 p.m. on Sept. 8 — Joshua Chamberlain’s 195th birthday — in Brunswick’s NOMAD Gallery in Fort Andross, 14 Maine St. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with desserts and a cash bar. A book signing will follow the talk.
Kevin Levin. Courtesy of Pejepscot History Center
“We are interested in connecting Chamberlain’s multi-disciplinary and complex life to the lives of people today,” PHC Executive Director Larissa Vigue Picard said in a prepared release. “As William Faulkner famously wrote, ‘The past is not dead. It’s not even past.’ We’ve seen that in dramatic fashion in recent times regarding the controversy over Confederate monuments and statuary. Kevin is a prominent and dynamic thinker, educator and writer on the topic who will help us confront these issues in a productive way.”
A former classroom teacher, Levin has worked extensively with teachers and students across the country on how to better understand challenging subjects such as the ongoing controversy surrounding Civil War monuments.
Few people are aware of the full history surrounding the monuments, which reveals how Americans have remembered the Civil War era over time, and much about social discord in the country today. Issues of race, class, economics are bound up in the divisive opinions people hold about these prominent forms of “public art.”
Tickets for the event are $30 for the general public and $20 for PHC members. Visit pejepscothistorical.org/events/chamberlain-day or call 729-6606 for tickets and more information.
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