Lincoln Ideas Forum 2017

Join President Lincoln’s Cottage as we bring together experts, scholars, and the public in an exploration of injustice, division, fear, and hate, alongside the stories and ideas of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.

Speakers include:

Dr. Rebecca Barrett-Fox—Arkansas State University

Dr. Rebecca Barrett-Fox studies the intersections of hate, religion, sexuality, and gender in a US context. She is the author of God Hates: Westboro Baptist Church, American Nationalism, and the Religious Right (University Press of Kansas 2016), an ethnographic account of America’s most famous anti-gay church that seeks to place Westboro Baptist Church in the context of American Christianity more broadly. She is also the most recent guest editor of the Journal of Hate Studies and the co-editor of the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Hate: A Global Study of Social Emnity. Her work has appeared in Religion and Popular Culture, Radical Teacher, Religion Dispatches, and elsewhere. Dr. Barrett-Fox is an assistant professor at Arkansas State University. She blogs as AnyGoodThing.com.

Dorie Ladner—Civil Rights Activist

Dorie Ladner is a Civil Rights Activist who first became involved in the NAACP as an adolescent in Hattiesburg Mississippi’s Youth Chapter. Ladner was drawn to the Civil Rights Movement after the murder of Emmitt Till. In the early 1960s, she joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and became one of the founding members of the Council of Federated Organizations, which sponsored the Freedom Summer Project in 1964. She participated in every civil rights march from 1963 to 1968. In 1973, Ms. Ladner earned her B.A. degree from Tougaloo College and moved to Washington, D.C. where she enrolled at the Howard University School of Social Work and earned her MSW. Ms. Ladner served as a clinical social worker in Washington, D.C. for thirty years, and since retirement, she has continued her work as a social activist.

Seth Levi—Southern Poverty Law Center

Seth Levi is the Director of Marketing at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC); he has been with the SPLC since 2009. Prior to joining the SPLC, Seth was the Director of Strategic Initiatives for an at-large Philadelphia City Councilman and worked for Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell in a variety of capacities, including Deputy Campaign Manager. He holds degrees from Cornell and Columbia universities.

Alex Nowrasteh—Cato Institute

Alex Nowrasteh is an immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute. His popular publications have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Washington Post, and elsewhere. His academic publications have appeared in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, the Fletcher Security Review, and Public Choice. Alex has appeared on numerous television and radio stations across the United States and is the coauthor, with Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, of the booklet Open Immigration: Yea and Nay (Encounter Broadsides, 2014).  He is a native of Southern California and received a BA in economics from George Mason University and a Master of Science in economic history from the London School of Economics.

Dr. Laura Schiavo—The George Washington University

Dr. Laura Schiavo is the Assistant Professor of Museum Studies at the George Washington University. She received her BA from Wesleyan University and her PhD in American Studies from The George Washington University in 2003. She has taught a variety of classes in the American Studies Program as a teaching assistant, an instructor, and a Visiting Assistant Professor. Professor Schiavo has extensive experience in curatorial, collections, and exhibition practice. Her past positions include serving as the Exhibitions Curator of the City Museum, the Director of Museum Programs, Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington, and, most recently, as a Senior Curator at the National Building Museum.

The views and opinions expressed by the speakers do not necessarily reflect those of President Lincoln’s Cottage. 

This is a free public program, but space is limited to 80 attendees.

WHEN: Thursday, April 13
TIME: 1:30pm – 3:30pm

To RSVP, click here.


Can’t attend? Follow the conversation on social media: #LincolnIdeas. The Lincoln Ideas Forum will be filmed and available for viewing afterwards.

Stay tuned for updates and more details on topics and speakers!

Categories:, ,
Share this: