MACON – Dr. Fitzhugh Brundage, William Umstead Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will deliver three lectures on the theme “The Prisoner of War Experience and the American Civil War” for Mercer University’s 64th annual Lamar Lecture Series, the most prominent lecture series on Southern history and culture in the U.S.
The lectures, free and open to the public, are presented by Mercer’s Spencer B. King Jr. Center for Southern Studies and will be held Oct. 11-12 in the Presidents Dining Room with limited seating and social distancing guidelines. The lectures will also be made available through a public livestream at kingcenter.mercer.edu.
Dr. Brundage’s opening lecture, “The Prisoner of War Experience and the American Civil War,” will take place Oct. 11 at 10:10 a.m., followed by “Living an Enclosed Life: Prisoners of War in Place” Oct. 11 at 6 p.m. The series will conclude with “Coerced Movement: Prisoners of War in Motion” Oct. 12 at 6 p.m.
“We are grateful to bring Dr. Brundage to Mercer and Middle Georgia,” said Dr. Doug Thompson, professor of history and director of the Spencer B. King Jr. Center for Southern Studies. “He is a gifted communicator and incredible thinker regarding the complexity of the region we call the American South. Dr. Brundage opened new avenues for exploring the nature of memory in the recreating history, and we have been better as a field for that work.”
Dr. Brundage’s research focuses on American history since the Civil War, particularly in the American South. He has written on lynching, utopian socialism in the New South, white and Black historical memory in the South since the Civil War and the history of torture in the United States from the time of European contact to the 21st century.
His latest book, a study of Civil War prisoner of war camps, provides the basis for this year’s Lamar Lectures.
Dr. Brundage has taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 2002 with prior appointments at the University of Florida, Queen’s University in Canada and the University of Georgia.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Chicago and both his Master of Arts and Ph.D. in history from Harvard University.
The Lamar Lecture series, made possible through a bequest from the late Eugenia Dorothy Blount Lamar, began in 1957. The series promotes the permanent preservation of Southern culture, history and literature. Speakers have included nationally and internationally known scholars, such as Michael O’Brien, Theda Perdue, Peter H. Wood, James C. Cobb, Trudier Harris and Minrose Gwin. The University of Georgia Press publishes the lectures each year.
About the Spencer B. King Jr. Center for Southern Studies
The Spencer B. King Jr. Center for Southern Studies fosters critical discussions about the many meanings of the South. As the only center for southern studies in the United States dedicated to the education and enrichment of undergraduate students, the Center’s primary purpose is to examine the region’s complex history and culture through courses, conversations and events that are open, honest and accessible. In addition to private gifts from donors, the Center is supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant.
About the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Mercer University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences serves as the academic cornerstone of one of America’s oldest and most distinctive institutions of higher learning. The oldest and largest of Mercer’s 12 schools and colleges, it is a diverse and vibrant community, enrolling more than 1,900 students, dedicated to learning and service through the practice of intellectual curiosity, respectful dialogue and responsible citizenry. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers majors in more than 30 areas of study, including more than a dozen pre-professional academic tracks, with classes taught by an outstanding faculty of scholars. In 2015, Mercer was awarded a chapter of The Phi Beta Kappa Society, the nation’s most prestigious academic honor society that recognizes exceptional achievement in the arts and sciences. For more information, visit liberalarts.mercer.edu.
