Edward J. Cashin Memorial Woodrow Wilson Lecture and Symposium

11/3 – 11/5 at the Morris Museum of Art

In partnership with the Augusta Museum of History, the Augusta Historical Society, Historic Augusta, Inc., the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History, and the Center for the Study of Georgia History, the Morris Museum of Art presents a symposium highlighted by the following events:

November 3, 6 PM

“Georgia on My Mind,” an evening of song with former teacher and theater critic, Michael Lasser, the long-time host of the syndicated public-radio show “Fascinatin’ Rhythm” and author of books on American popular song. He’ll be speaking on songs uniquely associated with Georgia which will be performed by vocalists Jessica Ann Best and Alan Jones. Their performance will be followed by a reception to meet the artists.

November 4, 6 PM

“Dixie Bohemia,” a lecture by John Shelton Reed, sociologist and essayist, author, or editor of 23 books, most of them dealing with the American South. He was one of the founders of the Center for the Study of the American South and was a founding co-editor of the quarterly Southern Cultures. His lecture In the years concerns New Orleans’ French Quarter in the 1920s when artists and writers were attracted by its low rents, faded charm, and colorful street life and when Jackson Square became the center of a vibrant if short-lived bohemia. There a young William Faulkner resided among the “artful and crafty ones of the French Quarter,” and his circle of friends included everyone from the distinguished author and playwright Sherwood Anderson to a gender-bending Mardi Gras costume designer. This will bring to life the people and places of New Orleans in the Jazz Age. A reception follows.

November 5

9:30 AM “Ellen Axson Wilson,” a lecture by Erick Montgomery, Executive Director of Historic Augusta, Inc., on the first Mrs. Woodrow Wilson who, before becoming First Lady in 1913, had forged a successful career for herself as an artist.

10:30 AM “Writers in Augusta,” a lecture by writer and former faculty member of Augusta University’s English Department, James Garvey,. He’ll be speaking on Augusta’s successful authors in the first quarter of the twentieth century.

11:30 AM “The Culture of the Golden Blocks,” a lecture by Corey Rogers, staff historian at the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History, on the rich cultural ferment of Augusta’s Laney Walker neighborhood.