FRANKFORT - Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America and a Kentucky native, is the topic of a day-long symposium set for June 27 at the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort. This year marks the 200th anniversary of Davis' birth. Keynote speaker for "The Contested Legacy of Jefferson Davis" will be nationally known Civil War scholar and author William J. Cooper Jr. of Louisiana State University. Cooper is the author of "Jefferson Davis, American" (2000) as well as other works on slavery and the South, including "The South and the Politics of Slavery, 1828-1856" (1978), "Liberty and Slavery: Southern Politics to 1860" (1983), and (with Thomas E. Terrill) "The American South: A History" (1990).
The symposium is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with a break for lunch. Events include two topical panels followed by a roundtable discussion.
Panel 1: Jefferson Davis and the Civil War: This panel discussion features both established and emerging scholars highlighting recent work on Davis' role in the war, Confederate military and diplomatic efforts, African Americans in the Confederacy and the Confederate army, and life in the South during the war. It includes panelists Cooper, Richard J. Blackett, of Vanderbilt University; and Charles P. Roland, author and retired professor emeritus of history at the University of Kentucky. Edward M. Coffman will serve as moderator.
