Announcing Our Spring Line-up!

I am excited to announce our line-up for the spring semester: there will be a variety of topics and formats to begin 2015, including several with connections to local history.  We are still working on a few things that may be added for the spring, and remember you can now check the schedule of events using the link at the top of the page.  We hope you will join us for these commemorative talks and events!

March 3, 1:00 pm Art Center 102.
Dr. Kathy Desmond will lead an interactive discussion "How the First World War Changed the Art World."  In many ways, World War I turned European culture, and to a lesser extent American culture, on its head, completely redefining how artists thought about the world around them.  One major shift that began in the nineteenth century but that accelerated because of the war was the turn toward modernism, which offered an entirely new set of artistic expressions and commentaries on the industrializing world. 

March 24, 7:00 pm in Towmey Auditorium.
Sarah Craig, a graduate student in the History master's program and the Program Assistant in the Office of Sponsored Programs & Research Integrity at UCM, will present "The Hun in the Heartland: Anti-German Sentiment in Missouri During World War I" based on her thesis research.  Missouri's significant German heritage survived the World Wars, despite national efforts to 'Americanize' many ethnic groups from 'belligerent' nations, so come learn how German-Americans persevered during World War I.

April 8, 12:00 pm (location will be posted closer to the event).
 Dr. Delia Gillis will present "'Close Ranks,' but 'We Return Fighting': African Americans and World War I."  Her talk will examine the debate on African American participation in the war and their experiences abroad as well as on the home front.  It will also include discussions of soldiers like Henry Johnson, Wayne Minor, Homer Roberts, and Homer "Jap" Eblon, who were key in developing the 18th and Vine district in Kansas City and were early leaders in the Civil Rights struggle in the region.