Basker is a graduate of Grants Pass High School who went on to Harvard College and then Cambridge and Oxford Universities as a Rhodes Scholar. He taught at Harvard for 7 years before going on to Barnard College where he is the Richard Gilder Professor of Literary History. For over a decade he has been at the helm of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History where he specializes in the 18th century and the history of slavery and abolition. He has authored several books, including Amazing Grace: An Anthology of Poems about Slavery 1660-1810 [(2002);and Early American abolitionists:
Professor Basker's presentation will follow a special screening of the acclaimed Michael Apted movie “Amazing Grace” (2007) starring Ioan Gruffud and Albert Finney, in a spirited retelling of the movement to abolish the slave trade in England in the early 1800s. The movie will start at 11:30 am in SMU 333 and like the lecture, is free and open to the public. The Oregon Lincoln Bicentennial Commission is a co-sponsor of this free event and will be handing out soft drinks and popcorn for the movie viewers. For more information call KC Piccard at the Friends of History at (503)725-5473 or view the FOH website at http://www.history.pdx.edu/
