The UIS History Department served as co-host, with the National Council on Public History and the National Park Service, of the keynote address for the Lincoln Home National Historic Site 50th Anniversary Symposium. Renowned public history leader Christy Coleman of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation delivered the address on October 21, 2022. The talk also served as a UIS Engaged Citizen Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series event.
With a career spanning over 35 years, Christy S. Coleman has served as the Chief Executive Officer of some of the nation’s most prominent museums. She’s a tireless advocate for the power of museums, narrative correction, diversity and inclusiveness. Ms. Coleman is an innovator and leader in the museum field having held leadership roles at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and the American Civil War Museum. She now serves as the Executive Director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.
Ms. Coleman is the recipient of numerous awards for her decades of impact, including three Honorary Doctorates. In 2018, Time Magazine named her one of the 31 People Changing the South and in 2019, Worth Magazine named her one of 29 Women Changing the World. She’s written numerous articles, is an accomplished screenwriter, public speaker and has appeared on several national news and history programs.
She served as the historical consultant for the award-winning film Harriett and Showtime’s Good Lord Bird. She’s most recently appeared in award winning documentaries, Grant, Abraham Lincoln, Black Patriots: Civil War Heroes, Neutral Ground, and When The Monuments Came Down.
UIS Associate Professor of History Devin Hunter was the convening scholar for the Lincoln Home National Historic Site Symposium, planning and hosting the program with National Council on Public History staff and Lincoln Home Historian and UIS alumnus Tim Townsend. UIS Public History MA student Marcel Tworek worked as a graduate assistant for the symposium. The symposium consisted of a two-day program with public historians, scholars, and graduate students from around the country. Hunter will serve as co-facilitator for the NCPH working group "Lincoln Reimagined" at the 2023 NCPH Conference in Atlanta.
