Central Coast Conference – Seldom Heard History of the Civil War Era
Monterey History and Art at Stanton Center 5 Custom House Plaza, Monterey, CaliforniaExclusive offer for Monterey History and Art Association members!
Greetings American History enthusiasts,
Registration is now open for the 2nd annual Central Coast Conference, to be held at the Stanton Center on Custom House Plaza during the first weekend in May, 2025. Another fantastic lineup of scholars have signed on for the event, including professors from Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and Duke, and the new Attorney General of the United States Virgin Islands.
The 2025 conference will present a series of intriguing presentations under the umbrella of Seldom Heard History of the Civil War era, offering new and important perspectives on America’s great, 19th-century conflagration, the shadows of which we are still coming to terms with today. The event will kick off with a Friday evening program, followed by two full days of presentations (including a book signing Saturday afternoon, managed by Bookshop Santa Cruz).
Presenters
William B. Gould, IV, author of Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor (Stanford University Press, 2002). Professor Gould is the Charles A. Beardsley Professor of Law at Stanford University. He served as Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board during the Clinton administration, and has written extensively in labor law.
Victoria Bynum, author of The Free State of Jones: Mississippi's Longest Civil War (University of North Carolina Press, 2001), is Distinguished Professor of History Emerita, Texas State University, San Marcos. Her research focuses on Southern dissenters, including families that opposed secession and the Confederacy. The 2016 Hollywood film, "Free State of Jones," was based on her book.
Gordon Rhea, author of Stephen A. Swails: Black Freedom Fighter in the Civil War and Reconstruction (LSU Press, 2021). A distinguished attorney, Mr. Rhea served as Special Assistant to the Chief Counsel of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities, and as an Assistant United States Attorney in Washington D.C. and the United States Virgin Islands. In April 2024 he was nominated to be the Attorney General for the United States Virgin Islands.
Edda L. Fields-Black, author of Cumbee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2024). Fields-Black is associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University. Her new volume offers the fullest account to date of Tubman's Civil War service, including the untold story of the Combahee River Raid from the perspective of Tubman and the enslaved people she helped to free.
Thavolia Glymph, author of The Women's Fight: The Civil War's Battles for Home, Freedom, and Nation. Dr. Glymph is a professor of History and Law and Faculty Research Scholar at the Duke Population Research Institute (DUPRI) at Duke University where she holds the Peabody Family Distinguished Professorship in History. She is president-elect of the American Historical Association and holds the 2023-24 Rogers Distinguished Fellow in Nineteenth Century American History at the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Kevin M. Levin, author of Remembering the Battle of the Crater: War as Murder (University Press of Kentucky, 2012) and Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War's Most Persistent Myth (University of North Carolina Press, 2019) is an educator and historian based in Boston. His research focuses on the Civil War era and historical memory. You can find his online writing at Civil War Memory, which he has maintained since 2005.
As a special “early bird” offer to members of the Monterey History and Art Association (MHAA), take $25 off the regular registration of $285, for a total of $260 for all presentations during the conference (limited time). ADDITIONALLY, if you are among the first 25 people to sign up, choose one of nine titles by our authors for free (shipped directly to you after registration), to give you a head start on your reading. See THREE payment options for MHAA members here.