The Role of the West in the Reunification of the U.S. after the Civil War *Please note: This workshop is currently full. To join a waiting list or for more information please contact Caryn Koplik (919) 406-0111, or ckoplik@nationalhumanitiescenter.org.

Date: Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010 Time: 7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m. (EST) Registration Deadline: Feb. 18, 2010

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When we teach Reconstruction, we typically focus on the struggle to reunite the North and the South. But what of the West? What role did it play in national reunification? The late nineteenth century was the zenith of westward expansion. Western images dominated American culture. What did the wide-open spaces of the West represent to the Americans who were crowding into the cities of the Northeast? What did they represent to the ex-Confederates who resented the imposition of federal power in the South? How did the West shape the nation that emerged from the Civil War? Leader: Heather Cox Richardson, Professor of History, University of Massachusetts, Amherst