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The Alistair Cooke Memorial Lecture

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

A lecture celebrating the life of the legendary BBC broadcaster, with an American theme.

The Alistair Cooke Memorial Lecture: Presented by David Blight

Presented by David Blight

09/05/2015

BBC World Service - The Alistair Cooke Memorial Lecture, Presented by David Blight

Professor David Blight challenges the romanticised history of the American Civil War.

Prof David Blight challenges the romanticised history of the American Civil War, which came to an end 150 years ago and explores its legacy in terms of race relations in America.

Alistair Cooke was a British journalist and broadcaster, who presented Letter from America on BBC Radio for nearly 60 years. To commemorate his life and work, the BBC has invited historian Prof David Blight of Yale University to present the 2015 Alistair Cooke Memorial Lecture.

Prof Blight is author of the acclaimed Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory, which explores what he sees as a romanticized history of the American Civil War.

Blight says the great issues of the war were never truly resolved - especially the issue of equal rights for emancipated slaves.

At a time when the issue of race is at the forefront of debate in America, Prof Blight will explore how the role and experience of African-Americans during and after the war is often overshadowed by stories of brave men from the North and South.

Crucially, the schism over equal rights versus states' rights, which continued to divide the country after the war, has often gone ignored in favour of a more positive historical slant.

In his lecture, Professor Blight explores the politics of memory and how, 150 years on, the way the American Civil war is remembered continues to haunt American society today.

The programme is chaired by Razia Iqbal, and was recorded in front of a live audience at WABE public radio in Atlanta.

Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith

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Presented by David Blight

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