The University of Mobile is preparing to welcome a nationally recognized Civil War historian to campus this week as part of a decade-old lecture series honoring Southern history scholarship.
Dr. Elizabeth Varon, a professor of American history at the University of Virginia, will speak at the History Museum of Mobile as the featured guest for the 10th anniversary of the Billy G. Hinson Lecture Series. Her talk, titled “Legacies of Appomattox: Lee’s Surrender in History and Memory,” is scheduled for Thursday evening and will include a reception and book signing following the lecture. The event is free and open to the public.
Organizers say the timing is significant, arriving during the 150th anniversary year of the Civil War’s end. Dr. Lonnie Burnett, a history professor at the University of Mobile who directs the lecture series, said Varon’s scholarship goes beyond a simple retelling of the surrender at Appomattox Court House.
“She will examine not just the closing events of the American Civil War that led to the surrender, but will also explore the meaning of the war in historical memory,” Burnett said in announcing the event.
Varon holds a doctorate from Yale University and completed her undergraduate studies at Swarthmore College. Her 2014 book on the end of the Civil War, exploring themes of victory, defeat and freedom, won a Library of Virginia literary award for nonfiction and was a finalist for two other major historical writing prizes. An earlier work profiling a Confederate-era figure was named by a national business publication as one of the top five books on the Civil War written outside the traditional battlefield narrative.
Varon is a frequent speaker at academic conferences nationwide and has appeared on C-SPAN’s public affairs programming discussing Civil War history.
The lecture series bears the name of Dr. Billy Hinson, a longtime history professor at the University of Mobile, and was created by the university’s College of Arts and Sciences to bring in scholars focused on Southern history topics. Over the past decade, the series has become a fixture for history enthusiasts across the Mobile area looking for in-depth discussion beyond the classroom.
University officials say the event is intended for anyone with an interest in Civil War history, not just students or academics, and community members are encouraged to attend even if they have no formal ties to the university.
Those with questions about the lecture or the series can contact the university’s history department directly. Additional information about the University of Mobile is available through the school’s enrollment services office.