Western Iowa Tech Community College Forum
Presented by Russ Gifford

Part 1: Thursday, April 29
7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Part 2: Friday, April 30
Noon to 1:30 p.m.

With the approach of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, there will be a re-awakened interest in this tragic era of American History. This milestone event is an opportunity to expand the awareness of Americans today to the realities of an era that is sometimes reduced to names in a history book: Gettysburg, Antietam, or Shiloh.

Part 1 of this program looks at the Civil War from a different perspective - not from the battles far from our state, but from the view of people who remained in Iowa. While we will mention the battles that pulled Iowan's into the headlines (and we will see those headlines and stories, too) we'll also look into the letters and diaries to see how this war affected the people who were "keeping the home fires burning."

Part 2 will then look through the letters and news stories of the soldiers, and we will trace the path of Iowa soldiers from enlistment to the battlefields, and see what the war looked like to them.

These programs are made possible by grants from Humanities Iowa and the Kind World Foundation.