Contact:
Chelsea Haddaway, Communications Manager
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
410-455-6380
chaddaway@umbc.edu
www.twitter.com/umbchumanities

On April 12, 1861, Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter, beginning a conflict that had reverberations still felt in American culture. Now, as we prepare to mark the 150th anniversary of that historic event, experts at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) are available to answer questions about the Civil War and how it is remembered in today’s world.

Anne Rubin, associate professor of history, is the author of A Shattered Nation: The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, 1861-1868, and, with Edward Ayers, the CD-ROM The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in The American Civil War Part I: The Eve of War, which won, among others, the E-Lincoln prize. She has authored articles and chapters in numerous Civil War books, magazines, and encyclopedias.

Rubin is now developing Sherman’s March and America, an interactive project that tells the story of the march through maps, photos, videos and voices, and writing a related book called Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman's March and America, which will be published by UNC Press. Rubin can discuss the historical facts of the Civil War, including Maryland’s unique place in the struggle.

Kriste Lindenmeyer, chair of the department of history, frequently works with K-12 educators in Maryland through UMBC’s Center for History Education to increase teachers’ content knowledge and develop instructional materials. She is currently working with a team of 8th grade teachers through the “History Labs” grant program to develop a historical investigation on the Civil War that will be piloted with students this spring. Lindenmeyer can discuss what K-12 students learn about the Civil War as part of their history education. Specific teachers that have worked with the Center for History Education to prepare material on the Civil War include Sue Apple ’95 M.A., historical studies, an 8th grade teacher at Glenwood Middle School in Glenwood, MD, and Laura Attridge’01 M.A., historical studies, an 8th grade teacher at Wilde Lake Middle School in Columbia, MD.

Duncan Campbell, part-time professor of American studies, is the author of English Public Opinion and the American Civil War and an editor of The American Civil War. At UMBC he has taught undergraduate classes including “America as Seen from Abroad” and “The South in American Culture.” He can talk about the international community’s reaction to the Civil War.

Student Abigail Bratcher recently received an Undergraduate Research Award (URA) to research Southern reaction to Maryland’s position as a divided state within a divided nation through popular print culture of the time: broadsides, editorials, political cartoons and other manifestations. Bratcher ’13, history and Russian will present her work at UMBC's Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) this spring. Bratcher hopes to write an article on her research for Maryland Historical Magazine.

While Elefteria (Terry) Papavasilis was a student at UMBC, she discovered a love of history that she pursued both in the classroom through her research and on the battlefield as a Civil War reenactor. Papavasilis ’04, history, used her URA to mine data at the Library of Congress and the National Archives about women fighting disguised as men during the Civil War. She presented her project, “Keystone Patriots: Women Soldiers in Pennsylvania Regiments,” at URCAD in 2004. Her report was published in the UMBC Review: Journal of Undergraduate Research in 2005. As part of her project, she created a composite character of a female Civil War soldier, and has reenacted in this character since 2003. She has worked as a park guide at Independence National Park in Pennsylvania since 2005.

Below, see Anne Rubin, associate professor of history, tell the story of Baltimore's Pratt Street Riot:

2/7/11