January 5, 2011 Washington During Reconstruction Is Subject of Book Discussion

In “An Example for All the Land: Emancipation and the Struggle Over Equality in Washington, D.C.” (University of North Carolina Press, 2010), author Kate Masur offers the first major study in more than 50 years of the nation’s capital during Reconstruction. Masur will discuss and sign her work on Wednesday, Jan. 12, at noon in the Montpelier Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. This Books & Beyond program, sponsored by the Center for the Book, is free and open to the public; no tickets are required. The author’s panoramic account considers grassroots struggles, city politics, Congress and the presidency, revealing the District of Columbia as a unique battleground in the American struggle over equality. After slavery’s demise, the question of racial equality produced a multifaceted debate about who should have which rights and privileges, and where. Masur is assistant professor of history and African American studies at Northwestern University. Masur’s book is also the subject of a discussion on Facebook. The new Books & Beyond Book Club is available at www.facebook.com/booksandbeyond/. Here readers can discuss books, the authors of which have appeared or will appear in this series. The site also offers links to webcasts of these events and asks readers to talk about what they have seen and heard. Since its creation by Congress in 1977 to “stimulate public interest in books and reading,” the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress (www.Read.gov/cfb/) has become a major national force for reading and literacy promotion. A public-private partnership, it sponsors educational programs that reach readers of all ages, nationally and internationally. The center provides leadership for 52 affiliated state centers for the book (including the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and nonprofit reading-promotion partners and plays a key role in the Library’s annual National Book Festival. It also oversees the Library’s Read.gov website and administers the Library’s Young Readers Center.