Civil War Expert Explains Lincoln-Douglass Unlikely Friendship

On Monday, January 13, Groton’s American history students assembled to hear John Stauffer, an award-winning historian and Harvard University professor, discuss Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and the Civil War.

Professor Stauffer, the author of Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln (2008), elucidated how Lincoln and Douglass eventually became close allies and friends despite having substantial differences on a number of issues in the years before the Civil War. He called Lincoln and Douglass the greatest Americans of the 19th century and encouraged Groton students to read their writings, which the professor considers among America’s finest prose.

With an unparalleled grasp of the topic, Professor Stauffer helped make history come alive by sharing fascinating stories of these two self-made men, including how they rose from relative obscurity and humble beginnings to become two of the most effective, respected, and beloved leaders of their era.

Earlier in the day, the speaker, a professor of English and American Literature and African American Studies at Harvard and chair of the History of American Civilization program, shared lunch with members of Groton's History and English departments and talked about the challenges and rewards of teaching American history and literature.—Tom Lamont, History Department Head

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