Former TCNJ professor, Daniel W. Crofts came to the college on Thursday, April 21 to speak about his newest book, Lincoln and the Politics of Slavery:The Other Thirteenth Amendment and the Struggle to Save the Union. The talk was held in Loser Hall room 106.
Crofts used to be a history professor at The College of New Jersey, and he is also an author of history related books.
Crofts focused less on the details of the book, and focused more on how he went about editing. While the book is focused on the real history, student panelists, who were former students of Crofts, spoke about how they helped critique the book.
The student panel consisted of seniors, Sammi Falvey, Paul Mitchell, Sarah Drozd, Steven Rodriguez, and Stephanie Pappas. The students began by explaining how amazing Crofts was as a professor and what they took away from his classes.
Crofts feels strongly about depicting the history in the most realistic way possible. He said, “We are admirers of Lincoln”. He tries to avoid preaching the history that is taught in textbooks because he feels that it is not an accurate depiction. Senior Secondary Education and History dual Major Stephanie Pappas said, “The book is the perfect combination between the familiar and unfamiliar in history”,
The unknown history is exactly what Crofts wanted people to learn, and this is what he taught his students to question. Sarah Drozd, Senior Elementary Educaion and History Major said Crofts made them “search for a history that Americans can be proud of”.
Each of the students in Crofts Fall 2013 course, HIS 460, Reading Seminar in History (Abraham Lincoln, was asked to read the manuscript and provide feedback to Crofts on improving the book. This process was stressful for the students, but it helped them to gain a new understanding and appreciation for history.
Crofts made a point to consider each of the students suggestions on what they wanted to see in the book. Paul Mitchell spoke about his critique on providing more of a background for each character that is introduced in the book, no matter how prominent they were in history.
Crofts method of teaching students in this course proved to be very beneficial because the students took so much away from the experience. The major takeaway was the importance of questioning history and creating a new outlook for the future.
Natalie Nunez 