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W&L's Merchant Featured in New Lee Video

A new video about Robert E. Lee, which began airing in the Richmond area on the cable station of Henrico County, Channel 17, features J. Holt Merchant, professor of history at Washington and Lee.

“An Evolving Legend: The Story of Robert E. Lee” examines Lee’s life, including his five years as president of Washington College.

Holt, a 1961 graduate of W&L, provides expert commentary throughout the 38-minute video. It’s his telling of the story of Lee and Washington College that is especially interesting, even to those who’ve heard it before.

Joining Holt on the video are historian Elizabeth Brown Pryor, author of “Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee through his Private Letters,” and Paul Reber, executive director of Stratford Hall, Lee’s birthplace.

In Henrico County, the video is playing this week on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday on all the “even hours.” See the schedule here.

You can also watch the video online here. The Washington College section begins at about the 29:30 mark.

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