The department of American studies has received a civic engagement grant from the Maryland Humanities Council for the project, “Looking Forward from the 45th Anniversary of the Catonsville Nine Actions.”Civic Engagement Grants support public programs that promote informed dialogue and civic engagement about critical issues identified by the grant applicant. The Catonsville Nine were nine activists who burned draft files to protest the Vietnam War. On May 17, 1968 they went to the draft board in Catonsville, Maryland, took 378 draft files, brought them to the parking lot, poured home-made napalm over them, and set them on fire. The project …