Inaugural Speaker Series

February 11, 2021 Events

The Lafayette Alliance is excited to present its inaugural speaker series! We hosted Lafayette scholars and enthusiasts throughout the year via Zoom webinars that you will want to see!

 

Richard Ingram speaking to a gathering of LaGrange College students.

View the video here!

Richard Ingram

Who is that man in the middle of LaGrange, Georgia’s square? Where did LaGrange get its name? Join us as Richard Ingram, chair of the Lafayette Alliance discusses his motivation and drive for all things Lafayette. What led him to create Lafayette Alliance? What is the mission and vision of the Alliance? Join us and find out!


Professor Paul Spalding, Professor Emeritus of Religion at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois discusses his book Lafayette: Prisoner of State.

His monograph is the first book-length study of the five-year captivity of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, by a coalition of Austrian and Prussian forces during the French Revolution, including international efforts to win his release. Paul S. Spalding constructs this original history of Lafayette’s imprisonment by drawing in part on extensive manuscript collections in America and Europe, some of which have only recently been made available to researchers.

View the video here!

Julien Icher during a visit to LaGrange, Georgia.

Julien Icher

Founder and president of the Lafayette Trail, Julien Icher, discusses where his interest in Lafayette began and what inspired him to begin the Lafayette Trail.

The missions of the Lafayette Trail are to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of France and the United States, to raise awareness about Lafayette’s critical contribution to the founding of the United States, and to document, map and mark Lafayette’s footsteps in the United States during his 1824-1825 Farewell Tour.

View the video here!

Dr. Linda McMullen, Vice President of the Lafayette Alliance, and Ely A. Callaway, Sr. Associate Professor of Management and International Business at LaGrange College was interviewed by Dr. Richard Ingram, Chair of the Lafayette Alliance.

     Lafayette was the most celebrated, the most powerful man in France. It ended Sunday, August 19, 1792. Bankrupt, separated from family, prisoner of state, and yet. He chose to persevere; despite everything, he chose hope. This is a legacy that stirs the soul, whether you have ten toes or twenty, one left foot or two. Lafayette is a language that summons us to be better, to do better. Hear Dr. McMullen explain how we can create a space for people to come and see the story.

View the video here!