Thank you. Thanklet me introduce our panels im going to do so in alphabetical order. So it probably will not relate to to what the order in which they speak. So first, jake Jake Friefeld is the new director of center for lincoln studies at the university of illinois springfield. Earlier, he was illinois and midwest studies Research Historian at the Abraham Lincoln president ial library and museum, and he is the latest addition, a contingent of of Springfield Young scholars who have begun coming to forum. And were delighted that they here and that theyre participating. His recent book is first migrants how homesteaders quest for land and freedom heralded americas great migration. Who was here for the second time is the director of research and interpretation at the abraham president ial library and museum in springfield for years he taught history. The university of arkansas. Hes the author of manual mental. Oscar dunn and his radical fight in reconstruction louisiana. And that was published. In 2021. John c is a professor of history at stonehill college. Hes the author of lincoln and reconstruction, which came out in 2013 for the cq press. Concise lincoln series, which has just won the Lincoln Forums wendy allen for its accomplishment in so many memorable brief lincoln volumes over the. Edited, i should say, just a little advertisement by johns amazing wife sylvia rodrigue. His latest book is freedoms crescent the civil war and the destruction of slavery in the Lower Mississippi valley. So now, jake bryan and john, please take away. Thank you, harold. Thank you, everybody, for being here. Its a great honor to be able to speak at this form in the organization. This panel, with my two esteemed colleagues. I will be speaking for about 5 minutes to try to give an overall sense of what im doing in this book, even though its 500 pages. So i guess thats about hundred pages per minute is i have. So ill just give you an overview and this way that will lead to a general conversation on this topic. Okay. As the subtitle suggests it indicates, its the civil war and the destruction of slavery in the Lower Mississippi valley. And so in essence, what this book is, its study of emancipation and the abolition of slavery in the mississippi valley. And what i mean by that are the four states from this area that seceded and joined the confederacy. So arkansas, tennessee, louisiana and mississippi. It does take into account the border states of missouri and kentucky as necessary in order to understand whats going on in area. But theyre not essential to the story. I should also note that im focusing on plantation and slavery areas of this region. And im taking you know, tennessee is a is a weirdly configured state. Right. But its west tennessee thats really part of the of the plantation slavery society, though. It is to look at the state level developments. Okay. And so what im trying to do in this book is to bring into a coherent narrative the military story, the Major Political developments, particularly in louisiana, tennessee and arkansas. Theres never really a Unionist Movement per say in mississippi and then also in washington, d. C. , and with the national. And then its also incorporate the great work that that has been done on basically the on the ground destruction of slavery by the slaves themselves. And which ive also contributed in part of in my own work to this, to this scholarly revolution. So its an attempt to pull all of this together into a single on this vitally important region. And i dont think this audience needs to be reminded of the importance of the mississippi river. Right. And this area to american and to the the confederacy, the outcome of the civil war. And i would suggest to the outcome of the destruction of slavery there indeed a vast literature on all aspects of this area of military wartime, the destruction of slavery. And so but this is the first book really to pull all of this together. Theres no other single book that looks at this vitally important geopolitical area as as an entity. So thats you an overall description. Now, in a way, theres two central themes in so far as my book has an argument and ill try be as brief as possible with those. Of all this area includes what i would call all five dimensions of wartime emancipation and abolition. And im going to run through them very quickly. Okay. So you dont have to necessarily try to follow, but first, firstly, we have what we would limited military emancipation before emancipation proclamation by union troops as they gained territory. So thats under the sec, the the confiscation and various other measures. And this was supposed to make, for instance, distinguish between loyal and disloyal slaveholders. Okay. Secondly, we have what we would call universal military emancipation under the emancipation proclamation. Now, when i say universal, i dont mean everywhere the United States. I mean everywhere designated areas, states and thereof. Right. But this made no distinction between loyal and disloyal slaveholders. Right. And so thats the second part or the second dimension. Thirdly, we have from the proclamation, as we know, all of tennessee is excluded the proclamation. And also louisiana, new orleans and the surrounding. And this is a concession to wartime unionists in those areas were organizing loyal governments. Fourthly we have state level abolition arkansas in early 1860 for the first state to do so. Louisiana later on in 1864. And then tennessee in early 1865. Under wartime reconstruction by unionists. Right. So we have state level abolition and fifthly, we have federal abolition under under civilian authority. And this happens under Andrew Johnsons reconstruct asian program. And then, of course, the 15th amendment, which is ratified in december of 1865. And i should that my book is basically going from lincolns election in november of 1860. So for almost exactly years later. And so it ends with ratification of the of the 13th amendment in 1865. The other second thing that im trying to do in this book is, is to something of a revision. And here have to try to be brief. And i promise ill try to offer something of a revision in on the standard story of how the war from the north becomes a war to preserve the union to, a war for freedom. Right. And we all know this, all familiar with this. And its been invoked many times in the sessions that weve had in the last of days. But let me suggest here that, you know, for all of that, theres no question that the emancipation proclamation was one of the truly transformative moments, not just in the civil war, but in all of american history. But i think historians, justifiably so focus on the emancipation proclamation, the process by which lincoln came to the proclamation, and all of the factors are involved there. But to the point where where the abolition abolition almost an afterthought, and i think some historians sometimes even use that term that almost logistics. But if you think it it took a year and a half to get to the emancipation proclamation but then it takes three years to get from the proclamation and to the final ratification of of the of the amendment. And many people said, you know, slavery is dead after the proclamation is issued, assuming northern military victory. Slavery is dead. Many people said that at the time. Many historian is. Repeat it. But what i found is that many people at the time were also vitally aware of the limitations of the proclamation. We know that thats a familiar story. Right. But heres the problem. Its how were you to get the states back in, right. With without while ensuring slavery is is going to abolished right. To ensure that the seceded states come back to the union with free state. Now, lets imagine for a moment theres no 13th amendment. Now we can do that right because that was the reality before the 13th amendment. There was no 13th amendment. But we offer we also assume that the 13th amendment was part of the plan. All even before the war. And so we draw a Straight Line from the emancipation proclamation to 13th amendment. But no, he was thinking in terms of a federal abolition, an amendment that would be imposed upon the states against their will, even abolitionists before the war. Always that slavery would be would be abolished by the states. That was that was standard 1 to 1 thinking of slavery and the union and the constitution. Were exceptions. But even radical even the the abolitionist argued that it would be the states that would have that would abolish slavery not the national government. And this mentality exists into the war. And for the first few first couple of years during the war right and the amendment is not introduced into congress until december of 1863. And then, as we know, even thats a very complicated story and many people did not believe that this was going to work out. So so that like thats the right. How do you get the seceded states into the union ensuring the abolition of slavery without amendment . Now, the amendment does eventually become part of the equation. But i was. But originally it was thought to be part of of of of a reconstruction bill, reconstruction legislation, which would spell out the mechanisms by which the seceded states would come back into the union. So im suggesting its not simply a Straight Line. Again, the emancipation proclamation, to the to the abolition of slavery and then to complicated even further in louisiana tennessee an, arkansas, you also have pro slavery unionists who are trying to organize loyal governments while preserving slavery. And so theres a contest, particularly in louisiana and tennessee, between free and proslavery unionists. Right. And so lincolns got to figure out how to work this problem out. The short is you have to read my book to see to see how this actually happens. Right. And we can talk about that a little bit more in the q a. But thats the question that im dealing with in this book. In addition, looking at the complexities of this in this particular region, its also true addressed this larger question how we get from military emancipation to constitutional abolition. One final note ill note before ending. Im not in any way trying to suggest, particularly with this crowd, that the emancipation proclamation is not important or the black contribution there. Ive been part of this this this historiographical revolution, and im the last who would make that argument . But what im trying to suggest here is maybe an a more realistic understanding of the limitations of the on the ground process of emancipation that we in a way, in order to really be complete the destruction of slavery had to be transmuted through the formal institutional of government. Right and ultimately it was that as well as the actions of the slaves is real politics and the political process and institutions that were essential to the ending of slavery. So my my story is really just kind of like it and it ends at the beginning in terms of reconstruct. Right. Because im ending with the ending of slavery 65 and then im going to pass mic over to my esteemed colleague Brian Mitchell whos going to speak a little bit more about the reconstruction period per se. Good afternoon. My name is Brian Mitchell and im the author of monumental oscar and this radical fight and reconstruct in louisiana. Im going to ask you guys to raise your hands if youve ever heard of james done. Okay. Okay. Most of you didnt raise your hands like me. Most of you grew in the shadow of the los cause im. A native of new orleans, louisiana. And being in the shadow of the lost cause means quite literally. Ive immersed in new orleans history and immersed in the past since the day i was born. You can go very few steps before you tumble into monument and most of those monuments were dedicate it to confederate or worse still, white supremacist. I saw nothing that resembled myself in the citys fabric. I saw a new monument to black. I saw a new monument to even slaves. Even though new orleans had been one of the nations largest slave markets in 1976, i returned to my place of prayer at the city that i love and began going to second grade. Every i would come home from second grade and id go to my great grandmothers house. She was born in 1895 and was the granddaughter of a white planter. My grandmother would tell me stories and these stories wrapped around reconstruction. Her husband, a man by the name of emanuel dunn, had been the nephew of oscar, the great nephew of oscar. James and and i had heard nothing of this in school at all. And in fact, in 1976, when i returned, it was the bicentennial year. Very happily i went to my second grade class and we were studying the internal workings of state government. The teacher asked, if anyone could recall the names of any governors, the Lieutenant Governors beside the governor that was sitting at the time. I proudly raised my hand shaking back and forth to second graders. Do and when i was called upon and i declared Oscar James Dunn been our nations First Lieutenant governor, our nations first black Lieutenant Governor, and our nations first black governor. The teacher, shed never heard of him. And in fact, she once i told her that he was africanamerican, that that could not have been true. I replied that by saying, no, youre wrong. In fact, there have been three of them. I was promptly sent to the principals office. I went home to my great grandmother in tears. Why did you lie to me . She. Why didnt you tell that . Dunn was all made up . And she replied, its not made up. Its just that hes forgotten. Its at that point, the historian in me was born. Its in instant. And that. That i came to be. And i searching. Monumental. Initially he was my dissertation. And i had a fantastic i had an array of fantastic professors. None more important than. A man by the name of raphael kazimir. Hes emeritus now at the of new orleans. And one of the things thats really important between about our connection, he was the very first africanamerican male that i ever had as a teacher ever in my life until my freshman year of college. He made such an impression upon me, and he was the first person that knew anything about donne. So got through high School Without ever hearing dunn, without ever hearing, without ever hearing salazar. Antoine all of that history just forgotten. And louisiana schools. When i began working on my dissertation, he discouraged me. He said, theres not a lot there, bryan. I dont know if youll be able to pull a dissertation together. There are only three existing articles on him, and i believe that the longest of which was only 20 pages. But i was dedicated this cause and i went out pursuing time, which meant that i had to look at archives and it was all primary research. But i was able to reconstruct time finding things dissolving mess and elevating, done to the place where i believe he rightfully belongs for africanamericans donne is very much like Abraham Lincoln. He starts off enslaved an, educated. He gets the opportunity through his stepfather a free black who had migrated from petersburg, virginia to the city of new orleans, working as a stage carpenter for the great impresario james henry caldwell, the man who would bring American Theater to, new orleans and through james dunn that he is elevated and becomes. He remembers and honors james harden adopting his middle and last so he had had just the name oscar when he was enslaved but he becomes Oscar James Dunn in tribute to this man who was responsible for his freedom. He rises, becomes a plaster, then becoming the grand mason. So he becomes a free mason in the city of new orleans. And he will become the appointed black official in the nation. A of people ask a lot of people who know the dissertation as why didnt you do a traditional book. Why did you do a graphic history . And this is the first reconstruction graphic history that was done. I quite late into writing my dissertation that my university has a dashboard and this computer dashboard tells you where your book is being downloaded. So theres a big map and you can actually see the download and. Theyre just dots on a map. But one day i was sitting in my office and, i received a phone call. The phone call was from a middle School Student outside of cleveland and. He was on the phone with his father and he said, id like to thank you. Id like to thank you for writing this dissertation. And im like why are you reading a dissertation in middle school . And you never believe that students are actually reading your stuff. So you quiz them. And what did you like about the book . Who were your favorite characters . Who did hate . And he sat there for an hour with, his father, and told me all about the book. I was so taken aback by this that i asked him. I said, how can i get other students your age engage aged in history . And he said, well, you know, your book is so relevant to now with the polarization that im seeing in the nation things that are going on. The threats of violence. Hes like, its really right now and its his suggestion that i do it as a graphic novel is why came out as a graphic novel. Im sure some point. Yes. So later additional will out in and it will be an full fledge book for academy. But i thought it was to write for children who are like me that didnt see themselves in the books that they were being given at school. They know the history of reconstruction they didnt know the men who were there. So. So id like with that, id like to pass on the mic to jacob friefeld. Thank john. Thank you, brian. Im going to time myself or else youll be going to dinner after im done. As harold said. My book is first migrants with the wonderful rick edwards. Our subtitle, which you tried to make longer. We werent able to. How black homesteaders quest for land and freedom. Heralded americas great migration. I think the best for me to describe the book is to sort of start at the beginning with just over 300 black kentuckians in a crowded train station in lexington. They were looking to board a train for the promise. They a lot of them holding, their children, all of their worldly possessions. Some had livestock in tow. Different Railroad Lines shouting out to them, trying to get them to ride on their line, lowering their prices after waiting for hours. Their train. Finally left. They had to switched trains. Several times along the journey, unloading goods, reloading them on to the new train at each stop