PRESS RELEASE- For Release 9/9/2025
Media Contact: Natalie Oslund
natalie.oslund@archives.alabama.gov
(334) 353-1881
FOOD FOR THOUGHT LUNCHTIME LECTURE AT THE ARCHIVES
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 AT 12:00PM
RECONSTRUCTION SHOWDOWN: THE BATTLE FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA, 1869-1871
PRESENTED BY WILLIAM WARREN ROGERS, JR.
Montgomery, AL (09/09/2025) – The Alabama Department of Archives & History (ADAH) will continue its 2025 Food for Thought lunchtime lecture series on Thursday, September 18, at 12:00pm CT. Warren Rogers will present Reconstruction Showdown: The Battle for the University of Alabama, 1869-1871. The program will be held in the ADAH’s Joseph M. Farley Alabama Power Auditorium in Montgomery. It will also be livestreamed on the ADAH’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. Admission is FREE.
Rogers’ presentation will examine the tumultuous history of one of Alabama’s most valued institutions, the University of Alabama. As the Civil War came to an end, Federal troops destroyed the campus. When the university reopened in 1869, it was swept into the political upheaval of Reconstruction. The struggles and controversies that followed shaped its uncertain rebirth. Rogers’ book, The Battle for the University of Alabama: The Perilous Path of Higher Education in the Reconstruction South, further explores this historic period.
Warren Rogers is professor emeritus of history at the University of North Georgia. He is the author of numerous works on the Civil War and Reconstruction, including Reconstruction Politics in a Deep South State: Alabama, 1865–1874 and Confederate Home Front: Montgomery during the Civil War. Since retiring in 2023, Rogers has continued to research and write from his home in Auburn.
For additional information, contact Alex Colvin at alex.colvin@archives.alabama.gov or (334) 353-4689. A complete schedule of our 2025 lunchtime lecture series is available at archives.alabama.gov. Food for Thought 2025 is sponsored by the Alabama Humanities Alliance and the Friends of the Alabama Archives.
The Alabama Department of Archives and History is the state’s government-records repository, a special-collections library and research facility, and home to the Museum of Alabama, the state history museum. It is located in downtown Montgomery, directly across Washington Avenue from the State Capitol. The Museum of Alabama is open Monday through Saturday from 8:30 to 4:30. The EBSCO Research Room is open Tuesday through Saturday from 8:30 to 4:30. To learn more, visit www.archives.alabama.gov or call (334) 242-4364.
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