3/29/02

Jay Lamar, 334/844-4946

'IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE' PROGRAM AT AU'S PEBBLE HILL APRIL 5

AUBURN -- A public humanities program at Auburn University on Friday, April 5, will debate the qualities of leadership and vision they will seek in their elected officials in election 2002.

"In the Name of the People: Alabama Governors and the Role of Political Leadership," will look at leadership issues and styles for governors from the Territorial period to present day. It will begin at 4 p.m. at AU's Center for the Arts & Humanities at Pebble Hill.

The program will feature short presentations by Margaret Armbrester and Sam Webb, professors of history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and editors of Alabama Governors: A Political History of the State, published last year by the University of Alabama Press.

The editors will be joined by contributors Glenn Eskew, author of But for Birmingham: The Local and National Movements of the Civil Rights Struggle and professor of history at Georgia State University; Gordon Harvey of the University of Louisiana-Monroe; and Jeff Frederickson of AU.

Among the governors to be discussed are George and Lurleen Wallace, Don Siegelman and Albert Brewer. There will be opportunity for questions and discussion.

As Armbrester and Webb point out, the state's political history has "been bizarre, occasionally wonderful, and never dull."

Its governors have guided the state through national events -- the Civil War and World War II -- to name two, and made day-to-day decisions that sometimes profoundly influenced the lives of citizens for generations.

The program is free and open to everyone interested. Copies of Alabama Governors will be available for purchase and signing, and a reception will follow the discussion.

mar02: AU-people

CONTACT: Jay Lamar, Arts & Humanities, 334-844-4946.