Great Lakes History Conference gives local and national perspectives

Air pollution, the role of women, and concerns about immigration are not only contemporary issues, but have been a part of Grand Rapids' local history for more than 100 years. They are also among the many topics for panel discussions during the upcoming Great Lakes History Conference, sponsored by Grand Valley State University, the Ryerson Foundation of the Grand Rapids Public Library, Grand Rapids Historical Commission, Grand Rapids Historical Society, and Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council.

The popular conference, now in its 32nd year, is open to the public and includes an evening keynote speaker on Friday, October 26, another keynote speaker on Saturday, along with a full day of panel discussions. The conference headquarters is at Grand Valley's Eberhard Center, 301 W. Fulton, on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus. Media are invited to attend. A fee of $20 for general public and $15 for members of sponsoring organizations includes a continental breakfast and lunch on Saturday, a reception at the end of the day, and snacks in between. Registration and the full program are available at http://www.gvsu.edu/history , or by calling (616) 331-3298.

The conference provides an opportunity for a wide range of audiences to hear about many aspects of history from local historians, area academics, and national experts. Last year each address was attended by more than 200 people, some coming from as far as Europe and Asia. This year's theme is "The History of Racism, Slavery and its Aftermath: Recognizing the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade."

"A window into the familiar," is how Matthew Daley describes history in general and the conference in particular. A member of the history faculty at Grand Valley, Daley, and independent scholar JoEllyn Clarey, have arranged special panels focusing on local history.

"History is not just about an elite group of people or famous events," said Daley, "but also the experiences of everyday citizens in both their public and private lives." He is among the large group of presenters who aim not only to share history by making it interesting and exciting to general audiences, but also to make historical records and data more accessible to teachers and the community at large.

Daley's work focuses on how people in Grand Rapids responded to events during the Jazz Age, particularly the rise of the KKK, differently than people in other parts of the country. Other presenters look at the local history of education and community reform, the architectural legacy of the Ladies Literary Club, and much more.

Another speaker, Diana Barrett from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission, was recently recognized with a prestigious award from the Historical Society of Michigan for creation of a virtual archive that locates, preserves and makes digitally available photos and documents illustrating community history. Most of the materials are scanned from the personal holdings of local families, the archives of public and private institutions, and other local sources that reveal the ways Grand Rapids people worked, traveled, educated and enjoyed themselves from the mid-19th into the 20th centuries. The photo essays, which range from fighting air pollution in Grand Rapids a hundred years ago, to a history of opera in Grand Rapids, can be viewed at http://www.historygrandrapids.org.

Daniel Garcia, from Calvin College, relates his experience with oral history as a means to encounter the African-American community in Grand Rapids. He has traced one African American neighborhood in downtown Grand Rapids that has remained particularly cohesive because many families still living there originally migrated from the same three towns in Mississippi.

Candace Chivis from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission became interested in local history during work on her family's genealogy and the discovery of ancestors who served in the first Michigan Colored Infantry during the Civil War.

Conference co-directors Jason Crouthamel and Craig Benjamin, from Grand Valley's Department of History, have included national experts on topics that will appeal to academics, public historians and independent scholars.

Keynote Speakers:

Wilma King, from the University of Missouri, will speak at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 26, in Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, 401 W. Fulton, on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus. Professor King is an award-winning historian specializing in African-American women, youth and childhood. Her writings appeal to a broad audience including her books "Stolen Childhood: Slave Youth in Nineteenth Century America" and "African-American Childhoods in Historical Perspective."  

David Blight from Yale University will provide a keynote address at noon on Saturday, October 27, in the Eberhard Center, 301 W. Fulton.  Professor Blight is one of the nation's foremost authorities on the Civil War and its legacy. He has written some of the most definitive work on the topic, including "Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory," which earned a number of awards, including the Frederick Douglass Prize, the Lincoln Prize, three awards from the Organization of American Historians, and the Bancroft Prize.

For more information contact Jason Crouthamel at (616) 331-2931, or Matthew Daley at (616) 331-8701.