John McKee Barr, a historian and author specializing in the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln, will deliver a lecture about the criticisms and praises of America’s 16th president on April 9 at 4:30 p.m. at University of Lynchburg.
His talk, titled “Understanding Why He Was Hated in Order to Understand Why He Was Loved: Loathing Abraham Lincoln as an American Tradition” will be held in Elliot and Rosel Schewel Hall, room 231. The lecture will focus on the staunch criticisms lodged against Lincoln by his contemporaries and by more recent Americans on the right and the left.
Barr is a professor of history at Lone Star College-Kingwood, in Houston, Texas. His book Loathing Lincoln is the winner of the Jules and Frances Landry Award for best book in southern studies. The book examines the variety of ways Lincoln has been maligned by critics, and what those criticisms reveal about rhetoric used in modern politics. Barr has spoken to audiences around the country and appeared on C-SPAN and other outlets to discuss Loathing Lincoln. He also is a recipient of the Lone Star College Faculty Excellence Award.
The Clifton and Dorothy Potter Lecture Fund is sponsoring Barr’s lecture.