i'm harold holzer and i have the privilege of serving as chairman of the lincoln forum and i want toou to what we think will be a rich and stimulating discussion of the subject that is ever evolving, and sometimes fast-moving.

holzer well that keeps you in the house to have friends those are really important skills that. need to be modeled. on a. little more respect i mean because black lives matter risk because i want to make sure it's going to drive the next generation to take on that task that americans are both for except for native for what if dr michael marmot i don't want to ever tell i don't want to carve growing. what i regard know what jumped out or what the ground was shot down. to the reality of what went on with your what 3700 doesn't imply stuff and i was out and think to myself oh when it comes to relationships between the black and white community when it comes to relationships often to commend. them for. worked with their own laws old policy that they could push we also work with them to organize a march. that. they did everything from. media press relations to outreach to reached out to all the elected officials within new york city logistics to help plan a route marshalling may help each other with safe they create signs there was a lot of beautiful saying city's children did but we

i'm harold holzer and i have the privilege of serving as chairman of the lincoln forum and i want to welcome you to what we think will be a rich and stimulating discussion of the subject that is ever evolving, and sometimes fast-moving. controversial, emotional, and something we need to talk about. and from time to time when i've done this panel with friends and colleagues, i've called it on or off their pedestals. the debate over statues, , memory and meaning. and i discussed this topic maybe twice or three times with edna medford and it is evolving even between us as we proceed over a year and a half. and it's a pleasure to welcome not only edna medford, but also liz varon and gary gallagher to join the discussion. of 1728 confederate memorials in 22 states and the district of columbia, 110 have been removed in the past few years. and three new ones have been built. so it's good to have the opportunity to take a snapshot. at best, it will be a snapshot. and i think that we all have to agree that however we feel about art, iconography, memorials, icons, history, american heroes and

(applause) >> i want to thank harold holzer for this wonderful invitation, to speak here. it is a great honor. and catherine clinton, for the lovely bird that is on the cover of my book. so to both of you, thank you so much. i also have to think jean and michelle, without whom my book would not have been written or published. like so many other stories of the civil war, mine begins and ends with abraham lincoln. it begins in his office in the white house, at the outset of the war, with his unprecedented open door to all. including wives of military men seeking redress or advantage for their husbands. it concludes in the cabinet room after his assassination with the death of his hopes for a soft piece. in between those two points in american history lies my tale of four women who influence the civil war by influencing their husbands who fought it. in large part because of their opinions of abraham lincoln jesse fremont, ellen sherman, julia grant where their husband's closest confidants. no other person had as profound or persistent impact upon them as did these women, who