Supporting the History Department and the Academic Enrichment Program
The first event was a success! Please read more at strengthasone.com...
The first event to be supported through thelonggrayline.org is focused on the History Department. The topics are the Civil War & Civil Rights. From 21 to 23 November 2015, cadets and faculty from the West Point Department of History will travel to Washington, D.C. to explore the history of the Nation’s Civil Rights movement. Led by COL Ty Seidule, the Department Head, and instructors MAJ Ben Brands and MAJ Shauna Hann, this trip’s purpose is to give cadets a better understanding of the history and experience of African Americans during the “Long Civil Rights Movement” from the Civil War to the 1960s and into today.
The trip is built around National Opera's performance of Appomattox, a revised version of Philip Glass's acclaimed opera at the Kennedy Center. In order to properly understand the context of the Opera, cadets will also visit several other Civil Rights related sites in the National Capitol Region. The African American Civil War Museum and the Frederick Douglass House will expose cadets to the African American fight against slavery and their participation in its final overthrow during the Civil War, providing the historical context of Act I.
The exhibit “Through the African American Lens” at the National Museum of American History and a visit to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall will provide both a longer view of the African American Experience in general as well as the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s specifically, giving cadets the historical context of Act II. The cadets will also visit the Lincoln Memorial to stand on the steps where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.
This trip will also build on the Civil Rights Writing project cadets completed as part of History 105, connecting their classroom work to the real world and providing them greater nuance and understanding of the troubled history of race in America.
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Recently, COL Seidule produced the following video to support the History Department curriculum. COL Seidule will deliver a pre-Opera lecture in the Opera Hall of the Kennedy Center before the performance at 1 PM on 22 November. The Opera begins at 2 PM and will be followed by a reception. The reception registration is hosted on strengthasone.com, the web site of the Class of '81.
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Two of the digital textbooks being used at West Point today are the West Point History of the Civil War and the West Point Guide to the Civil Rights Movement. The West Point History of the Civil War is available on iTunes.