Noted scholar and professor of history at Yale University, David Blight, Ph.D., will bring his expertise to discuss the importance of Frederick Douglass's life and thought as part of our recognition of Black History month at the Maryland Historical Society. Blight, director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, is one of the most respected scholars of the Civil War and Reconstruction, race relations, Douglass, Du Bois, and problems in public history and American historical memory. In light of Douglass's 200th birthday, and leading to the release of Blight's upcoming full biography, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, this lecture is especially pertinent to today's discussions.

This event is made free of charge through the A. Helen Diggs Memorial Lecture Fund. However, reservations are requested to ensure your seat.

Blight, a major historian, has won major awards for his writing including the Bancroft Prize and the Frederick Douglass Prize. His books include annotated editions, with introductory essay, of Frederick Douglass's second autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom (Yale University Press, 2013), Robert Penn Warren's Who Speaks for the Negro, (Yale University Press, 2014), and the monograph, American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era(Harvard University Press, published August 2011), which received the 2012 Anisfield-Wolf Award for best book in non-fiction on racism and human diversity. His earlier books include Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (Harvard University Press, 2001), which received eight book awards, including the Bancroft Prize, the Abraham Lincoln Prize, and the Frederick Douglass Prize.