His work has appeared in the New York Times, salon and many other publications. He is the Elizabeth Morris Political Science at Windsor College in oregon in portland, tonight he presents his new book the fire is upon us, James Baldwin, William Buckley junior and the debate over race in america. Please join me in welcoming nicholas buccola. [applause] thank you. Really appreciate that introduction. I want to start by saying how special it is to me to be with you. I live 3 blocks from here for 5 years when i was in graduate school and i would come to romans every wednesday with my mom kathy who is sitting here and my late cousin kathy martin and we would go to lemley and see a movie and it is special for me to be here tonight. Tonight i am going to talk to you about something that happened in this space, february 18, 1865. February 18, 1965, 54 years ago. This space was filled with 700 people. Every spot on the benches was taken that people sitting on the floor in deep violation of the f