BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//events.la.psu.edu//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20201101T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20200308T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:16105-456c8456b9c83ccec83a117a2a80334e@events.la.psu.edu DTSTAMP:20260514T215603Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250910T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250910T131500 SUMMARY:From Unqualified Resistance to Visceral Blackmail: Southern Democrats’ E ducational Reversal, 1860–1875 DESCRIPTION:\nLunch will be provided.\n\nDrawing upon research from the new book Absence of National Feeling: Education Debates in the Reconstru ction Congress (University Press of Mississippi\, 2025)\, this talk expl ores the racial politics that shaped white Southern Democrats' post-Civi l War acceptance of public education. Before the Civil War\, most Southe rn Democrats viewed education as a private good for the aristocratic cla ss. During Reconstruction\, they resisted Radical Republican efforts to establish states' first school systems and vowed to dismantle those scho ols upon reclaiming power. Yet after a violent racial backlash swept Dem ocrats into control throughout the South\, many party leaders accepted p ublic education as a state commitment. This talk examines the roots of S outhern Democrats' educational pivot in debates over the Civil Rights Ac t of 1875. By portraying school integration as a threat to a sacred inst itution vital to sectional reconciliation\, Democratic legislators ident ified a potent strategy for resisting broader efforts to promote civil r ights. 150 years later\, this episode offers insights into the ever-shif ting relationship of public education\, civil rights\, and national iden tity in the United States.\n\nMichael J. Steudeman\, assistant professor of communication arts and sciences\, studies the rhetoric of education policy in the United States. His research considers how education discou rses reframe social problems\, cultivate feelings of national belonging\ , and adjudicate exclusions from political participation. In his book Ab sence of National Feeling: Education Debates in the Reconstruction Congr ess (University Press of Mississippi\, forthcoming)\, Steudeman analyzes these topics by exploring the role schooling played in the idealistic v isions and tragic compromises of Reconstruction Era legislators. In addi tion to studying education discourses\, Steudeman also writes about topi cs of neurodiversity\, demagoguery\, and presidential rhetoric. His rese arch has been published in the Quarterly Journal of Speech\, Rhetoric &a mp\; Public Affairs\, Rhetoric Society Quarterly\, and History of Educat ion Quarterly. He teaches courses on a range of topics\, including Landm ark Speeches\, Argumentation\, Rhetorics of Public Policy\, and Rhetoric al Criticism.\n\nFor more details: https://events.la.psu.edu/event/steud eman/ X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Lunch w ill be provided.

Drawing upon research from the new book Absence of National Feeling: Education Debates in the Reconstruction Con gress (University Press of Mississippi, 2025), this talk explores the ra cial politics that shaped white Southern Democrats' post-Civil War accep tance of public education. Before the Civil War, most Southern Democrats viewed education as a private good for the aristocratic class. During R econstruction, they resisted Radical Republican efforts to establish sta tes' first school systems and vowed to dismantle those schools upon recl aiming power. Yet after a violent racial backlash swept Democrats into c ontrol throughout the South, many party leaders accepted public educatio n as a state commitment. This talk examines the roots of Southern Democr ats' educational pivot in debates over the Civil Rights Act of 1875. By portraying school integration as a threat to a sacred institution vital to sectional reconciliation, Democratic legislators identified a potent strategy for resisting broader efforts to promote civil rights. 150 year s later, this episode offers insights into the ever-shifting relationshi p of public education, civil rights, and national identity in the United States.

Michael J. Steudeman, assistant professor of communicatio n arts and sciences, studies the rhetoric of education policy in the Uni ted States. His research considers how education discourses reframe soci al problems, cultivate feelings of national belonging, and adjudicate ex clusions from political participation. In his book Absence of National F eeling: Education Debates in the Reconstruction Congress (University Pre ss of Mississippi, forthcoming), Steudeman analyzes these topics by expl oring the role schooling played in the idealistic visions and tragic com promises of Reconstruction Era legislators. In addition to studying educ ation discourses, Steudeman also writes about topics of neurodiversity, demagoguery, and presidential rhetoric. His research has been published in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Rheto ric Society Quarterly, and History of Education Quarterly. He teaches co urses on a range of topics, including Landmark Speeches, Argumentation, Rhetorics of Public Policy, and Rhetorical Criticism.

For more det ails: https://event s.la.psu.edu/event/steudeman/

LOCATION:515 Welch Building END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR