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24th Annual History Lecture to Feature Larry Gara’s Personal Experience with the Freedom of Speech

Acclaimed Historian Has Lived Fascinating Life Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk Larry Gara can teach the freedoms guaranteed under the First Amendment from a variety of perspectives: as a historian, as witness to history and as a participant on the front lines. Gara, emeritus professor of history, will present the 24th annual Wilmington College/Daughters of American Colonists History Lecture Oct. 28, at 7:30 p.m., in the McCoy Room of Kelly Center. His talk is titled “The Constitution, Freedom of Speech and the Historian.” He will cover events in his life and career as they have reflected and projected upon First Amendment issues. His experiences have taken him from nonviolent demonstrations to the U.S. Supreme Court and even prison for standing up for his beliefs. Gara was a member of the history faculty at the College from 1962 until his retirement in 1992. He continued to teach on a part-time basis for another 10 years and, now in his nineties, continues to be active in the campus community. Among his numerous writings and research presentations, he is the author of Westernized Yankee, The Presidency of Franklin Pierce and The Liberty Line, the latter of which debunks myths about the Underground Railroad and gives proper credit to the African-American community for its paramount role. John F. Kennedy ordered The Liberty Line as part of the White House’s library collection. Also, Gara and his wife, Lenna Mae, edited the book, A Few Small Candles: War Resisters of World War II Tell Their Stories, and presented a symposium at WC in 1999 featuring many of the book’s numerous contributors. C-Span Network covered the event.