American freedom is typically associated with the fight of the oppressed for a better world. But for centuries, whenever the federal government intervened on behalf of nonwhite people, many white Americans fought back in the name of freedom - their freedom to dominate others. Renowned historian Jefferson Cowie takes the Chicago Humanities stage to discuss his latest Pulitzer Prize winning book Freedom's Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power which considers how in a country shaped by settler colonialism and chattel slavery, white people weaponized freedom to seize Native lands, champion secession, overthrow Reconstruction, question the New Deal, and fight against the civil rights movement. Join Cowie as he explores the long-running clash between white people and federal authority, and shifts our understanding of what freedom means in America.

A book signing will follow this program.

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