Blackburn to offer course in “History of Freedom” at UVa-Wise

Gil Blackburn, provost and senior vice chancellor at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, will explore the “History of Freedom” in a course to be offered in the spring of 2006.

The course begins Jan. 17, 2006, with the class meeting from 2-3:15 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. “I welcome members of the community who would like to join in the discussions to sign up to audit the course,” Blackburn said. “It’s really an examination of the history of the way the idea of freedom developed.”

The “History of Freedom” will begin in ancient Greece and trace the idea of freedom through modern times. “The notion of freedom as an unlimited idea applied to all races, classes and genders is a contemporary idea that developed in the United States during the Civil War,” Blackburn explained.

"While both the Union and the Confederacy were staunch advocates of freedom," Blackburn said, "the South's idea of freedom was more compatible with the Greco-Roman view that freedom applied to only certain people. Lincoln, meanwhile, needed an issue to galvanize support for the Union, and when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, he gave them a cause for which people would fight and die.

“The strategy worked and our Constitution was amended to guarantee equal rights to African-Americans and others. However, some people argue that the concept of unlimited freedom opened a Pandora's Box that provided no logical stopping place and that an ever expanding horde of peoples and groups has demanded ‘their rights.' While many people applaud these efforts, others are alarmed. The latter wonder, ‘Where will all this end?’ This course will examine
the kinds of questions that have been generated by our "history of freedom."

A former Fulbright Scholar to Germany, Blackburn is the author of “Education in the Third Reich: A Study of Race and History in Nazi Textbooks” as well as numerous scholarly articles and presentations. He graduated from Wake Forest University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history and went on to earned his doctoral degree in education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

For more information about auditing the course, contact the Office of the Registrar at 276/328-0118.