Dr. Carl Moneyhon, a University of Arkansas at Little Rock history professor and Civil War expert, will give a lecture on the Reconstruction Era in Arkansas Monday, July 18, in Magnolia.

The talk, “Reconstruction in Arkansas: The Failed Revolution,” will be presented to the SoWeAr Genealogical Society at 6:30 p.m. at the Columbia County Library.

“Reconstruction after the American Civil War presented a difficult problem for the national government,” Moneyhon said. “First, there was the problem of recreating a democratic government in states where the political leadership had shown a desire not to be a part of the nation. Second, national authorities were forced to cope with the reality that some 3 million people, slaves, had taken their freedom during the war.”

Arkansas was one of the first states to undergo Reconstruction. Moneyhon’s lecture covers the Reconstruction Era from the fall of Little Rock in September 1863 until spring 1867.

Moneyhon has published several books on the Reconstruction Era in Arkansas. He is working on a book on the connection of wartime experiences and the developed identity among Confederate soldiers.

Moneyhon received the Arkansas Historical Association Lifetime Achievement Award earlier this year. He joined UALR in 1973 and is a specialist in the history of the American Civil War and the South.

He also is a faculty liaison with the University History Institute, an organization that develops closer ties between the department and the community, and a fellow of the Texas Historical Association.

Moneyhon has served on the editorial boards of the Arkansas Historical Association’s journal, Arkansas Historical Quarterly, and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture.