Back to Africa? Book Discussion and Author Signing February 13, 2010

Take part in a lively discussion based on author Charles Nelson’s book Back to Africa?. This book looks at the views taken by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Henry Clay, and Abraham Lincoln towards creating a colony for African Americans. This lecture will examine the American Colonization Society, the colonization movement, and why this movement failed. Nelson will also examine the relationship between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, centering on Douglass’s remarks in his 1876 speech on the dedication of the Freedmen’s Monument.

Soon after graduating from St. John’s College, Annapolis, Charles A. Nelson became director of the American Foundation for Political Education, organizing seminars in world politics and American foreign policy in co-sponsorship with the University of Chicago and, subsequently, in cooperation with universities, libraries, and foreign policy groups across the country. After leaving Chicago for New York, Nelson began a long career as a consultant to colleges, universities, and other nonprofit institutions. President Gerald R. Ford appointed him to the National Council on Educational Research. Among other trusteeships, he served as chairman of the Executive Council on Foreign Diplomats. He is the author or editor of books on foreign policy, education, management, and business ethics. In retirement, he founded a weekly newspaper in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. He and his wife, Anne, now live in Annapolis.