The Grand Army of the Republic: How Warrior Identity and Survivor Obligation Drove Union Veterans to

“The Grand Army of the Republic: How Warrior Identity and Survivor Obligation Drove Union Veterans to Fight Jim Crow” will be the topic of the Belfast Historical Society’s meeting at 7:00 pm, May 19, in the Abbott Room at the Belfast Free Library. Stephen A. Goldman, M.D. psychiatrist and Civil War historian, will discuss how and why Union veterans assumed critical roles as moral and political forces, particularly through the nation’s most prominent biracial postwar organization, the Grand Army of the Republic.
While avowedly apolitical, the GAR was a stalwart bloc in support of landmark Republican initiatives on behalf of African Americans after Reconstruction’s end, and beyond. As Jim Crow took hold on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line, Dr. Goldman will detail the GAR’s fight against bigotry and racism in two major areas – quality public education and social equality.

Stephen A. Goldman, M.D. is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, war historian, public health expert, and the only physician to serve on the Abraham Lincoln Institute Board of Directors. His having treated and worked with those who have been in combat, in-depth study of America’s veterans that spans 160 years, and their ramifications are all exemplified in the groundbreaking book, One More War to Fight: Union Veterans’ Battle for Equality through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Lost Cause.
Left Bank Books will have his book available for purchase, and Dr, Goldman will be happy to sign copies at the May 19 meeting.

You may also like the following events from Belfast Historical Society and Museum:

• Next month, 23rd June, 07:00 pm, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives: 200 Years of the Murch Family in Belfast in Belfast
• This July, 28th July, 07:00 pm, Belfast-Biggest Little City in Maine Before MBNA Came A' Calling in Belfast
• This August, 25th August, 07:00 pm, Belfast, When the Cows Were Still Wearing Pajamas in Belfast

Also check out other Meetups in Belfast, Health & Wellness events in Belfast, Nonprofit events in Belfast.