UMSL Conference Examines Race, Gender and Sexuality in Missouri

March 24, 2011 - PRLog -- ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri–St. Louis presents “Compromising Positions: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the State of Missouri.” This two-day conference will take place Thursday, April 7, and Friday, April 8, in the J.C. Penney Conference Center on UMSL’s campus. Speakers will examine the gendered, raced, and/or sexualized positions of individuals and groups in political, legal, historical, social, educational, and creative arenas in the state of Missouri from the pre-colonial period through the 1820 Missouri Compromise to the present day.

Situated in the middle of the U.S., comprised of the old South, the frontier West, and lower Midwestern values and cultures, Missouri is an intersectional border state. Its ongoing debates on race, gender and sexuality have often led to compromised positions, negotiations and agreements that mark the sites of multiple, often muffled purposes and meanings that have had unsettling or sustaining ramifications for individuals, groups and the state. Speakers will explore and discuss these positions throughout the two-day conference.

Speakers include Dr. Robert Moore, who has worked for the National Park Service for more than 25 years and authored eight books, including “The Gateway Arch: An Architectural Dream;” Kathryn Red Corn, director of Osage Tribal Museum and Archives; Gary Fuenfhausen, curator at the Andrew County Historical Society; Ann Hazelwood, writer, historian and quilt appraiser; and Lynn Rubright, professor emerita at Webster University and recipient of the National Storytelling Network’s 2007 ORACLE Award for Lifetime Achievement. Lynne Jackson, Dred Scott’s great-great-granddaughter will also have a presentation on the first day of the conference.

Interested participants can register to attend the full two-day conference or just one day. An optional bus tour on Friday afternoon will include visits to historic homes, cemeteries and the Old Courthouse, scene of the Dred Scott Decision. For the full schedule of events or to register to attend, please visit the Conference website at http://umslce.org/index.php/compromising-positions or call (314) 516-5974.

This conference is funded with a generous grant from the Missouri Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. UMSL co-sponsors include the Gender Studies Program, Department of History, Women in the Arts, and Division of Continuing Education. 

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About UMSL CE:
The UMSL Division of Continuing Education provides programs that fulfill degree completion, professional development and personal enrichment goals for the lifelong learner. For more information, please visit http://umslce.org.