at a time when julia ward howe is forgotten. ine showalter, one of the great literary scholars of princeton is now doing a full book on julia ward howe, solely as a poet, making the case that her poetry in general will stand up to any poet in the 19th century, one of the great poets in the english language. and there is a whitening, you can sense. this song has its roots in african american culture. it is a race that is forgotten. it is indelibly yoked to "john brown's body." that is forgotten and erased. many whites do not recognize that it has remained a powerful african-american hymn, not just in civil rights. a friend of mine, the scholar richard fox, who published a book on lincoln's assassination -- he is at university of south carolina and has family in boston. he told me a great story. he was flying nonstop from l.a. to boston. he is on the plane in l.a. with two african-american teenage girls, one 13 and one 15. they are in a row. he's in one seed, the other two in the other seats. the flight is late getting started. onc

well this version was more popular during the civil war, julia ward howe's "battle hymn of the republichad a longer impact on the american consciousness. this is part of a one hour 15 minute talk. >> for those of you who heard me speak yesterday, i focused on the transformation of culture from the civil war. it is a theme i want to continue today, but from a very different