In his latest stop on his national “Civility Tour,” National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman Jim Leach will visit Park County on Saturday, Sept. 18.Leach launched a fifty-state tour in November 2009 to call attention to the need for civility in public discourse. “Civilization requires civility. Words matter,” says Leach. “Polarizing attitudes can jeopardize social cohesion and even public safety.”

Leach will give a major address titled “Civility in a Fractured Society” at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

This event is free and open to the public.

During his visit to Park County, Leach will also visit the Heart Mountain Relocation Center, where he will receive a tour of the site from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday.

Following the tour, from 1 to 2 p.m., Leach will join former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson at Northwest College in a conversation with students and faculty on civility. The conversation will take place in Room 70 of the Fagerburg Building.

“We are all in this together in the shared space called America. We are all connected to one another, but sometimes the threads seem bitterly fragile. This is why a fresh infusion of respect in public discourse is so important,” Leach told the graduates of Miami-Dade College in May.

“Civility is an ancient virtue of civilized society. It is not simply about manners or moral judgments. Rather it is about respectful engagement with a sense of fair play, which is especially important when differences are most strenuous.”

The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent grant-making agency of the U.S. government dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. Its grants typically go to cultural institutions, including the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. The most recent grant was a $200,000 award for the Papers of William F. Cody project.