Date/Time
Date(s) - 11/11/2021
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location
Reinsch Library Auditorium, Marymount University
Categories
Columnist, author, and local historian Charlie Clark will discuss his recently released book on George Washington Parke Custis. Custis was raised at Mount Vernon by George and Martha Washington. Young “Wash” appears in Edward Savage’s 1789 painting of the first presidential family, his small hand placed symbolically on a globe. He would later make his mark on the national landscape by building Arlington House on the Potomac. A poor student, he emerged as an agricultural reformer and sought-after Federalist orator. He championed the plights of Irish Americans and war veterans. An important memoirist, he wrote well-received theatrical works and produced paintings rich in historical detail.
Inheriting much of the vast Custis fortune, he also became the enslaver of more than 200 people. The slow march toward their emancipation became a central struggle of his life, particularly after his daughter’s 1831 marriage to Robert E. Lee. This first full-length biography of Custis offers a 21st century reappraisal of a life that dramatically bridged the American Revolution and the Civil War.
The book will be on sale at this event and the author will be happy to sign it for you.
This program is free and open to the public. It will take place in the Reinsch Library Auditorium on the Main Campus of Marymount University. As guests of Marymount University, this event will require attendees to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status, and to practice social distancing.
This event is part of a monthly series of public programs sponsored by the Arlington Historical Society and Marymount University’s Department of History and Politics. For more information, please email: info@arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org or visit the AHS website: https://arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org/events.
AHS plans to record the event and post it on the AHS website on its Video Webpage.