The Civil War as War for the West

Ari Kelman, Penn State 
The Graduate Center, CUNY July 18, 2016

In this presentation, Ari Kelman examines the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado and the controversial opening of The Sand Creek Memorial in 2007. Kelman explores the complicated question of how politics and violence engaged on the American borderland, and the interpretation by some unionists that “civilizing Indians” was essential to preserving the Union. This talk took place on July 18, 2016, as part of ASHP’s Visual Culture of the Civil War Summer Institute, an NEH professional development program for college and university faculty.