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Noted American Historian Speaks to Collegiate Students

3/5/2020

Edward Ayers, the Tucker-Boatwright Professor of the Humanities at the University of Richmond, where he is President Emeritus, spoke this morning to Collegiate School seniors in The River City Capstone and juniors in American History classes.

Dr. Ayers is the author and editor of 12 books, including In the Presence of Mine Enemies: Civil War in the Heart of America, winner of the Bancroft Prize and the Beveridge Prize; and The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction, a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. His new book is The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America.

Brad Cooke, who co-teaches The River City course with Rhiannon Boyd, welcomed Mr. Ayers to Collegiate.

Dr. Ayers gave students a brief overview of Richmond history, touching on its founding, the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the 1950s and now. And even though Richmond is going through a period of change currently, he said, “The history is alive with us today.”

After his talk, pairs of students in The River City course interviewed Dr. Ayers about various Richmond neighborhoods including Shockoe Bottom, Jackson Ward, Church Hill, Monument Avenue and East Broad Street. The interviews will be part of podcasts the students created for their final project for the class.

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