The 27th meeting of the small but persistent Cotton & Rural History Conference is scheduled for Saturday, October 14, at the Audie Murphy American Cotton Museum in Greenville.
Registration begins at 9:30 with the program running from 10:00 AM until 1:30 PM. The Museum is located at 600 I-30 East, Greenville, Texas.
Keynote speaker Dr. Gregg Andrews is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Texas State University and the author of numerous scholarly publications, including Thyra J. Edwards: Black Activist in the Global Freedom Struggle. Here he will highlight the rural character of the people he writes about in his new work Shantyboats and Roustabouts: The River Poor of St. Louis, 1875–1930 (LSU Press, 2022). This exploration has earned considerable notice including the 2023 James V. Swift Medal for excellence in maritime literature and the John Lyman Book Award for best book on Maritime History by the North American Society for Oceanic History.
The meeting will begin with a public history graduate student panel from Texas A&M University-Commerce. Thereafter an historians' panel will feature Laura K. Burchnell who will present on contemporary controversies in teaching history and Dr. Rachel Gunter who will present on East Texas rural women's struggle for suffrage.
If attendees wish, they may reserve a catered barbecue lunch for $15 by calling the Museum before October 10 at: (903) 450-4502.
The event itself is free.
The Cotton & Rural History Conference is co-sponsored by Texas A&M University - Commerce and the American CottonMuseum.