Lectures and Events
2023-2024
“The Foundations of Civic Virtue”
Opening Convocation Speech: “The Skills of Freedom”
Monday, August 21, 2023
The Honorable John Charles Thomas, Former Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court and Author of Poetic Justice: A Memoir
Watch the recording on YouTube
Founders Day Lecture: “How Shall We Remember?”
Thursday, November 9, 2023
Christy S. Coleman, executive director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation in Williamsburg, VA also serves as a member of the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission
Watch the recording on YouTube
Ronald L. Heinemann Lecture in the History of the American South
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Patricia A. Sullivan, William Arthur Fairey II Professor of History at the University of South Carolina draws from her recent book, “Justice Rising,” on Robert F. Kennedy and the civil rights movement. This spring marks the 60th anniversary of Kennedy’s visit to Prince Edward County and his talk at H-SC.
Watch the recording on YouTube
Society of the Cincinnati Visiting Scholar Series
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
7:30-9 PM
Crawley Forum
Professor Jack Fructman of Towson University will deliver a talk on Thomas Paine, with a reception to follow.
View Event on College Calendar
Dr. Ken Fincham lecture
March/early April, 2024
Professor Kenneth Fincham is Professor of Early Modern History at University of Kent at Canterbury. He studied History at Oxford University and completed his Ph.D at University College London.
Sponsored by the Student Museum Board and the Virginia Program at Oxford
2024-25 Lectures and Events
“Civic Virtue in Action”
Union-Philanthropic Society (UPLS) & Jongleurs Reenactment of the Trial of Algernon Sidney
September/October, 2024
Algernon Sidney was arrested in 1683 as an accomplice in an attempt to assassinate King Charles II and, after being tried and convicted, he was beheaded in 1683. At his trial, passages from the manuscript of his Discourses Concerning Government were introduced as evidence that he believed in the right of revolution. The treatise later became a key text for revolutionaries in the North American colonies.
Lecture on John Hampden and Algernon Sydney
October, 2024
and Panel Discussion: “What’s in a name: Why Hampden and Sydney?”
Founders Commemorative Lecture: “Civic Virtue in Action”
November , 2024
Founders Day
November 10, 2024
and Panel Discussion
Lecture on James Madison
February, 2025
Elected to the Hampden-Sydney Board of Trustees on November 8, 1775, James Madison, through his friendship with Samuel Stanhope Smith, influenced the ideals of the new “academy.” His fame as “The Father of the Constitution” would come years later.
and Panel Discussion
Lecture: “Ordinary People”
February/March, 2025
and Panel Discussion
Lecture on Patrick Henry
March, 2025
Elected to the Hampden-Sydney Board of Trustees on November 8, 1775, Patrick Henry helped Hampden-Sydney secure a state charter in 1783, which officially promoted the academy to a college. He also lived for a time in Prince Edward County and several of his sons attended Hampden-Sydney. Henry was famous at the time of his election to the Board. At the Virginia Convention in March of 1775, he delivered the phrase for which he is best known— “Give me liberty, or give me death!”
and Panel Discussion
Trip to St. John’s Church for Reenactment of Patrick Henry’s Speech &
Visit to Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC)
March, 2025
At the Second Virginia Convention in March of 1775, Patrick Henry delivered the phrase for which he is best known— “Give me liberty, or give me death!”
Alumni Reception
Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC)