Friends of History to host free showing, & discussion of movie "Amazing Grace" at PSU on March 7.

Jan. 30, 2008 - PRLog -- A free viewing of the 2007 movie AMAZING GRACE will be shown in Room 494 in Cramer Hall by the Friends of History at Portland State University. The screening of the highly acclaimed movie about abolitionist William Wilberforce and the successful movement to ban the slave trade in England is one of the events the FOH is sponsoring as part of the year long celebration of the upcoming bicentennial of the birthday of our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln which will take place on February 12, 2009.

AMAZING GRACE tells the inspiring story of William Wilberforce and his passion and perseverance to pass a law ending the slave trade in the late 18th century. Even though Wilberforce died in 1833, Harriet Beecher Stowe praised him in the pages of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and Frederick Douglass brought his name up in conversation. In July of 1858, Abraham Lincoln invoked the memory of Wilberforce in a speech where he reminded Americans of England's success in abolishing slavery: "School-boys know that Wilberforce and Granville Sharpe helped the cause forward; but who can now name a single man who labored to retard it?"

The Friends of History is partnering with the Oregon Lincoln Bicentennial Commission to plan and present special programs, lectures, and commemorative events spotlighting the life and accomplishments of Abraham Lincoln, and how his legacy supported Oregon when it was a newly minted state. The Civil War Round Table is an affiliate of the Friends of History at Portland State University; which provides support for the History Department and produces each school year several free presentations and special events like the annual Endowed Lecture in History.

For more information on future Friends of History events, call KC Piccard at  (503)725-5473 or check out our website at www.history,pdx,edu/foh/FOHevent.htm. The website for the Oregon Lincoln Bicentenial Commission is: http://www.ous.edu/lincoln/

Website: www.history.pdx.edu/foh