Feb. 25 , 2005

Norman – The much-debated question of whether the founders of the United States could have abolished slavery will be discussed by Gary Nash, author of History On Trial: Culture Wars and the Teaching of the Past, as part of the Presidential Dream courses at the University of Oklahoma.

“The conventional wisdom is that abolishing slavery in the Revolutionary era was impossible,” said Nash. “Pushing ahead on it would have shattered the fragile new nation. I first challenged this interpretation about a decade ago. My lecture pushes harder against the conventional wisdom.”

Nash is the third featured speaker of Elyssa Faison’s class “Remembering Wartime in Japan,” a course offered through the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of History. The free, public presentation “Could the Founding Fathers Have Abolished Slavery?” is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 7, at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 2401 S. Chautauqua Ave. A reception will follow.

Controversy over history surrounds Nash. From 1992 to 1996, he was co-chair of the politically embattled National History Standards Project, and in 1994 he served as president of the Organization of American Historians when it weighed in on the controversial exhibit of the Enola Gay at the Smithsonian.

The presentation is sponsored by OU’s Office of the President as part of the Presidential Dream Courses, which allows instructors to bring renowned speakers to campus to enhance courses. For more information or accommodations on the basis of disability, contact Elyssa Faison at (405) 325-6002 or efaison@ou.edu.