Who Needs June Cleaver?
Times have changed since fathers knew best and June Cleaver damp mopped the kitchen floor in high heels and a starched shirtwaist dress. Although those images of perfection never existed in fact, many families still aspired to those impossible standards. Constance Alexander has been writing an award-winning column since 1989, and her most popular pieces contain experiences and reflections on growing up in a small town in the 1950s and ’60s. Her writing addresses a range of topics, from the light-hearted to life-changing, each one part of a unique autobiography that begins in New Jersey and continues in Kentucky. With excerpts from her memoir, Who Needs June Cleaver, and snippets from her current columns, her presentation documents the many ways family dynamics and small towns have changed in some ways and stayed the same in others. Discussions inspired by her presentations are lively, leaving audiences to share their own experiences and insights.
Kilroy Was Here: Children on the World War II Home Front
On December 7, 1941, the United States was plunged into World War II. Life changed for everyone on the home front, regardless of age. Kilroy Was Here uses oral histories conducted with people who grew up in that turbulent era to tell the story of one Kentucky family. Artifacts from that time — including soldiers’ letters, a recipe, radio advertisements, and quotes from one of FDR’s most famous speeches — make Kilroy Was Here a history lesson and a moving family saga. Alexander’s presentation features excerpts from her book, Kilroy Was Here, and allows time for questions and discussion of oral history techniques as a way to capture family history and community stories that should not be forgotten.
The Curious Incident of Poetry at Rotary
Not old, dead, nerdy, or stuck-up, poetry is alive and well and flourishing in Kentucky. This interactive presentation features snippets of poems by contemporary Kentucky poets and provides opportunities to match titles and lines of poetry. “The Curious Incident” in the title refers to the first time this talk was presented publicly, at the January 3, 2019, meeting of Rotary in Murray. Audience consensus was that this was one of the best and most memorable presentations ever made before this decidedly un-poetic group.
Equipment needs: Microphone, podium
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Being Mercifully Just
In reacting to harm perpetrated by others, it can seem like we have but two choices: either hold the guilty accountable for what they have done or spare them deserved punishment and forgive them. In this talk, a third alternative is considered—mercy. In this down-to-Earth philosophy lecture, attendees learn the philosophical conundrum between the virtues of justice and mercy; justice seems to require exacting deserved punishment, but mercy remits deserved punishment. Far from creating another dichotomy, Dr. Anton argues that the virtues of justice and mercy are inextricably linked. Through a discussion of their common aim—moral education—it becomes clear why a relentlessly just person is truly merciless and why unrelenting mercy inevitably perpetrates further injustice.
Make Your Vices Work in Your Favor
Does a lack of confidence ever convince you to "play things safe" when you really should be brave? Are you often embarrassed to realize that you mistook a minor slight for a grave injustice...again? Do self-improvement goals like being more generous or living healthily make the New Year's resolution list every year? There's a reason we do this to ourselves, and philosophers like Aristotle have known why for centuries. In this lecture, participants learn about Aristotelian character development and moral perception. They will consider why certain dysfunctional behaviors seem like great ideas at the time and-through individualized use of Aristotle's doctrine of the mean-how ancient wisdom can point us in a better direction for success in the future.
Equipment needs: Computer with PowerPoint and projector setup
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Arches, Waterfalls, and Wildflowers of Kentucky
Did you know that Kentucky has the second highest number of arches in the United States? And more than 1,100 waterfalls have been catalogued and photographed across the state? Or 10 different kinds of orchids reside in the Bluegrass? Celebrate Kentucky’s natural beauty! This presentation can be tailored for a variety of groups (from Scouts to garden clubs); geographically for your region; or otherwise narrow its focus to fit your needs. A slideshow of photographs accompanies colorful commentary to keep the presentation lively and engaging. Valerie Askren is the author of five guidebooks on exploring Kentucky outdoors.
Wild Edibles
The practice of harvesting plants from their natural or 'wild' habitat, whether for food or medicinal purposes, is a long-held tradition. Today ‘wildcrafting’ refers more to medicinal and ‘foraging’ more for food. What are the rules for foraging on public lands? Can you forage in your own backyard? What do I do with these things once I find them?! This talk covers the answers to these questions and much more. From flowers and fruits, to mushrooms and greens, Kentucky provides a bountiful resource for adventurous eaters.
Equipment needs: Projector, screen, access to power outlet
Available as virtual program: No
The Newburgh Conspiracy: George Washington and His Speech that Saved a Nation
America might not have survived as a nation and Kentucky may never have been if not for a single speech delivered by General George Washington in the spring of 1783. In the closing days of the American Revolution there arose a mutiny among the officers of the Continental Army. Dissatisfied by a lack of pay for their services, they threatened rebellion against Congress and convened a secret organizational meeting for March 15. General Washington arrived uninvited at the meeting and delivered a compelling, history-changing speech that helped ensure civilian government in the USA. In this talk Baggett explains and then presents the text of Washington's speech while dressed in a replica Revolutionary War uniform of George Washington.
Equipment needs: Podium, microphone, and table
Revolutionary War in a Trunk
This hands-on, interactive program is fun for all ages! Baggett brings to his listeners an old wooden trunk full of interesting items and military equipment from the Revolutionary War period. His presentation utilizes reproductions of 18th century weaponry, camp tools and equipment, clothing, toys, personal hygiene items, and other everyday necessities. This trunk full of Colonial “treasures” helps bring to life the reality of living on the Virginia and Kentucky frontier in the 1770s.
Equipment needs: Display tables
The Siege of Fort Jefferson—Western Kentucky’s Forgotten Battle of the Revolution
Most Kentuckians associate the raids and combat of the Revolutionary War in their home state with the central and eastern sections of the Commonwealth. Precious few people know that there was actually a Revolutionary War battle and siege in the far western end of Kentucky. Baggett tells the story of Fort Jefferson, a short-lived frontier outpost along the Mississippi River in what is now Ballard County. The fort was established in 1780 but abandoned in 1781 after a siege by the British and their Chickasaw Nation allies. The engagement involved the only major combat between American and Chickasaw forces in the American Revolution.
Equipment needs: Video projector, screen, display table
Betsy Johnson: Girl Patriot of Bryan Station, Kentucky
In August 1782, the remote outpost at Bryan Station came under siege by a large band of Shawnee natives and British-Canadian Rangers. A group of incredibly brave women and their daughters ventured outside the walls of the station to carry water from the nearby spring back to the desperate families taking refuge inside the fort. Ten-year-old Elizabeth “Betsy” Johnson was one of those brave girls. Later that night, once the attack began in earnest, Betsy took an action that changed the course of American history. In this presentation, Geoff Baggett, author of A Bucket Full of Courage: Betsy Johnson of Bryan Station, tells the story of the Johnson family and their journey to Kentucky, their life on the frontier, and little Betsy’s amazing bravery as a Patriot of the American Revolution.
Equipment needs: Video projector, screen, display table
Available as virtual programs: No
Ekphrastic Art and Writing
Based upon her book, Painted Daydreams: Collection of Ekphrastic Poems (Accents Publishing) and her book, Dancing on the Page (Rabbit House Press), Elizabeth Beck will discuss the symbiotic process of responding to music and visual art to create poetry and stories. This discussion will provide prompts for writers beyond the discussion. Never face a blank page again once you learn how to use ekphrastic responses in your writing.
Writing to Overcome Trauma
Based upon her five collections of poetry, her debut collection of short stories, and her Summer Tour Trilogy (fiction), Elizabeth Beck will discuss her journey of healing and the tools she uses to lead a healthy, productive lifestyle. Her characters in her stories overcome trauma through connecting to music and creating a community of friends. Her poems discuss overcoming trauma of caring for ill family members and from a childhood of abuse. She stand as a survivor and hopes her books will shed hope for others.
Equipment needs: Microphone, screen, and projector
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Guarding the Kentucky Central Railroad
The Kentucky Central Railroad was part of the supply line serving Federal forces in Kentucky and as an alternant conveyer of men and supplies to Louisville and the advance on Atlanta Georgia.
A Trip by Postcard on L&N from Covington to Corbin
This presentation uses 19th century postcard views coupled with modern views of the same site. The talk is divided into two sections Covington to Winchester and Winchester to Corbin.
Equipment needs: PowerPoint projector
Available as virtual programs: Yes
World War II: The Largest Art Theft in History
Between 1940 and 1944, Hitler’s Nazi regime looted approximately 100,000 works of art from Jewish citizens in occupied France. The initial shipment of stolen artifacts from France to Germany filled thirty railcars. Between 1933 and 1945, the total number of works plundered from museums and citizens in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Yugoslavia, Greece, Germany, Russia, Norway, and the Netherlands has been estimated at between 650,000 and 1,000,000. Stealing Renoir is Brown's first novel about this event followed by Stealing Picasso and Stealing Van Gogh.
The Underground Railroad in Kentucky
In this multimedia presentation, Brown will demonstrate the influences of slavery on Abraham Lincoln’s early years in Kentucky. A National Park Service research grant made it possible for Brown to document slave-owning neighbors and Underground Railroad activity in all of Kentucky.
Let The Earth Breath
Gardening with native plants is fun and rewarding. See how one suburban Kentucky couple transformed their yard into a beautiful nature preserve for pollinators and wildlife. You too can create your own enchanting home landscapes with native plant species. Enjoy a 12-plus year journey that anyone can take. Native plants are survivors and full of wonderful surprises. It's fun to put plants in the ground!
Let the Earth Breathe is full of pictures that show how to transform any suburban yard so that every window is tuned to the nature channel. A pictorial overview, combined with pages of suggested plant lists, means this book is accessible to everyone. This is how we did it, and you can do it, too!
Equipment needs: Screen and projector
Available as virtual programs: Yes
I Got A Right to the Tree of Life: Women’s Suffrage and African American Women’s Voices
Through songs and stories this presentation will share the journey and the contributions of African American women in the struggle for the Right to Vote in the U.S. As part of the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the Woman’s Suffrage Movement, this program will highlight stories and struggles of African American women leaders, from the late 1870s up to the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and beyond.
Singing in the Spirit: The African American Sacred Music Tradition
Spirituals and gospel music are much more than pleasing songs to listen to—they are powerful representations of the triumphant spirit and faith that have defined African-American music and people. Bullock takes the audience on a musical journey from West Africa, through the middle passage, to the North American shores where the African-American culture was forged. Through songs, stories, and performance, this participatory program lets the audience experience the beauty, joy, and power of this music and culture.
Equipment needs: Piano
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Civility and Climate Change: The Ethics of Talking About a Scientific Controversy
Climate change is one of the most controversial and polarizing scientific topics in the public sphere. This lecture surveys reasons that climate change has become so controversial, and turns to humanistic ideas about civic duty, civility, and virtue to offer productive ways of talking about climate change.
Using Ancient Greek Rhetorical Theory to Understand Contemporary Controversies in Kentucky
This presentation provides a brief overview of rhetoric and the psycho-social factors that make communicating about controversial issues so challenging. After establishing that most communication problems can't be solved by simply explaining facts better or clearer or more loudly, Dr. Cagle offers a concept from rhetorical theory to help manage communication about controversies. "Stasis theory" is a way of analyzing arguments and articulating exactly what the points of disagreement in them are. Using a case study of debates about solar energy in Kentucky, I show how the humanist tradition of rhetoric allows us to better understand why reasonable people disagree.
Equipment needs: Projector
Available as virtual programs: Yes
My Academic Strangers: Simmons College of Kentucky and Rhodes College
Rhodes College, my alma mater, and Simmons College of Kentucky, my employer since 2016, reside on opposite ends of the academic economic spectrum. Both are liberal arts colleges founded in the 19th century, but Rhodes is prestigious and well-funded, sporting a $430 million endowment and slate-roofed gothic architecture. Simmons has no endowment to speak of, and part of our campus sits in the poorest zip code in Kentucky—eastern Kentucky included. This talk looks at the history of each school, as well as cultural factors, to explain this disparity. It also explains the history of HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and the unique challenges they have overcome and continue to overcome.
Teaching College Courses in Kentucky Prisons
Simmons College of Kentucky has begun a Second Chance Pell program that allows small numbers of currently incarcerated people to earn an associate degree while incarcerated. I taught a course on structural racism in two Kentucky prisons over the summer of 2024, and the talk are my reflections on the experience.
Equipment needs: The ability to present a PowerPoint presentation is preferred
Available as virtual programs: Yes
The Kentucky Derby: A Celebration of Kentucky and its Heritage
Claypool traces the origins and development of the Kentucky Derby, the world’s most famous horse race and a powerful influence on Kentucky society and culture. He will use memorabilia collected during his 40-year passion for the race.
Rascals, Heroes, and Just Plain Uncommon Folks from Kentucky
In this talk, Claypool will profile a choice selection of the many colorful Kentuckians, male and female, noted and notorious, whose stories make our history so interesting and entertaining. The format of the program contains an exciting and stimulating surprise for the audience to wield its power even today.
Songs of Kentucky's Civil War
This program offers a lively presentation with recordings of some of the most popular songs from the North and South during the American Civil War. Claypool discusses the origins, importance, and placement in historical context of each song.
Equipment needs: Microphone, small table
Available as virtual programs: No
Speaking Our Piece: Language Variation in Kentucky
Kentucky is located at a particularly interesting crossroads in the linguistic landscape of the United States. This presentation introduces the specific linguistic situation in Kentucky by examining several linguistic, sociolinguistic, and educational aspects of language in the many diverse regions of the Commonwealth. We will explore not only how language is variously produced but also how people’s impressions of the language of their fellow Kentuckians changes from place to place.
The Myths and Realities of Appalachian Englishes
Have you ever heard someone say that people from the Appalachian Mountains sound like Shakespeare? Or maybe you’ve been told that the language spoken there is frozen in time. These and other misconceptions about the linguistic varieties employed by Appalachians have hidden the vibrant and dynamic nature of their language and helped to perpetuate the idea that speakers of these dialects are old-fashioned and backwards. This presentation examines the myths and realities surrounding Appalachian Englishes by providing evidence that these varieties, like all others, are constantly changing.
Equipment needs: Projector (with connection) and ability to play sound preferred
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Sharing a Life through Memoir and Verse
Selected readings from the author's memoirs (Bad Sex in Kentucky and On Stage with Bette Davis), plays, and four volumes of poetry, with a discussion of autobiography as a bridge to shared, not exclusive, experiences. Readings can be crafted to suit an audience. Themes: Age, Loss, Prejudice, Bullying, Cancer, LGBTQ Life, Family, Love, Intimacy, and the Persistence of Memory. This presentation can be specifically tailored to LGBTQ and LGBTQ ally audiences; his LGTBQ identity is part of the author's inspiration but by no means his only interest in offering this talk.
*N.B. Bad Sex in Kentucky is about guilt, not the details of anatomical intimacy.
Equipment needs: Podium with light and microphone
Kentucky Theatre and the Great Touring Stars
Go on a visit with the great and glorious theatre stars who toured through Kentucky, starting in 1808, with a concentration on Lexington, which was the home of the first professional theatre west of the Alleghenies. With a quick-moving slide show of historic photographs and clippings, this talk was originally presented as part of the Bluegrass Trust's Hopemont Lecture Series, but its content and focus can be shifted (as far as research allows) to mirror the local history of any venue in Kentucky. This talk is based on the speaker's research for his publications: The Bard In the Bluegrass, Marie Prescott: a Star of Some Distinction, Clyde Fitch and the America Theatre, Regarding Mrs. Carter, and The Theatrical Life of Eleanor Robson Belmont, who named the Kentucky star, Man o' War.
Equipment needs: Powerpoint projector compatible with Mac laptop, projection screen, podium, and microphone
Available as virtual programs: No
Appalachian Culture, Yesterday and Today
Deaton's program offering includes a humorous and heartfelt discussion of how a young man from Long’s Creek in Breathitt County grew to become the lobbyist for all the cities in Kentucky and the Executive Director of a statewide trade association, as well as an author, filmmaker, playwright and world traveler. Deaton’s stories relate back to his experiences growing up in eastern Kentucky in the ’60s and ’70s and explain how unlikely a candidate he was to achieve the things that he did. Deaton also reads stories from his ghost story book and memoir in a fashion that takes you back to a time and place that is indeed long ago and far away. This program can be tailored specifically to the telling and reading of his ghost stories, the Breathitt feud history, Mr. Harry Caudill, as well as Kentucky history and politics.
Mountain Ghost Stories
Jerry Deaton grew up in the mountains of eastern Kentucky hearing old-time ghost stories as told by his father and grandmother. In this presentation, he reads from his book, Appalachian Ghost Stories, and talks about the odd and often eerie folk traditions that he experienced and often heard about as he grew up in Breathitt County.
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Vote for US: How to Take Back Our Elections and Change the Future of Voting
This talk is about Douglas' book on voting reforms: In contrast to the anxiety surrounding our voting system, with stories about voter suppression and manipulation, there are actually quite a few positive initiatives toward voting rights reform. Professor Joshua A. Douglas, an expert on our electoral system, examines these encouraging developments in this inspiring book about how regular Americans are working to take back their democracy, one community at a time. Told through the narratives of those working on positive voting rights reforms, Douglas includes chapters on expanding voter eligibility, easing voter registration rules, making voting more convenient, enhancing accessibility at the polls, providing voters with more choices, finding ways to comply with voter ID rules, giving redistricting back to the voters, pushing back on big money through local and state efforts, using journalism to make the system more accountable, and improving civics education. At the end, the book includes an appendix that lists organizations all over the country working on these efforts. Unusually accessible for a lay audience and thoroughly researched, this book gives anyone fed up with our current political environment the ideas and tools necessary to effect change in their own communities.
The Current State of American Democracy
In this talk, Professor Joshua A. Douglas provides an overview of current debates in voting rights, redistricting and gerrymandering, campaign finance, and other aspects of how we run our democracy. From the latest Supreme Court cases to the most recent policy initiatives, people leaving this talk will be armed with up-to-date information on some of the most contentious issues of the day.
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Kentuckians in the Supreme Court: Expanding Freedom and Equality
Kentuckians have played key roles in expanding constitutional rights and equality at the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices John Marshall Harlan and Louis Brandeis were pathbreaking jurists who broke ranks with their colleagues to argue for greater equality and personal freedom. Meanwhile, individual Kentuckians played their own key role by bringing crucial cases before the Court, helping to break down segregation and expand fundamental rights like education and marriage. Professor Dunman, a Kentucky lawyer and law professor, leads audiences on a compelling walk through the doctrine and characters behind each case.
Kentuckians in the Supreme Court: Drawing Lines Between State and Religion
The First Amendment protects religious free exercise and prohibits religious establishment. Over the past century and a half, Kentuckians have played a key role in shaping these constitutional doctrines. From intrachurch squabbles to the Ten Commandments posted in schools and courthouses, Kentuckians have helped the Supreme Court shape its complicated and contentious First Amendment doctrine. Professor Dunman, a Kentucky lawyer and law professor, leads audiences on a compelling walk through the legal questions and characters behind each case.
Equipment needs: Projector that can connect to a laptop, microphone for larger rooms
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Choosing a President: Understanding the Electoral College
Recent presidential elections have reinvigorated talk of abolishing the Electoral College, an institution that has evoked controversy since its origins at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Any useful discussion of the Electoral College must take into account both its origins and the way its operations have changed over time, but myths about this history abound. This presentation will identify and challenge the most prevalent of these myths.
Five Myths about the Civil Rights Movement
In spite of Americans’ almost universal willingness to embrace the idea of black equality and to retroactively applaud African Americans’ mid-20th century struggles to achieve it, popular depictions of the civil rights movement often reflect a shallow and even misguided understanding. This presentation will explore the misconceptions that shape our understanding of the civil rights movement, demonstrate how these faulty beliefs limit discussions of equality in the present, and offer evidence-based correctives to these myths.
Equipment needs: Projector
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Fighting For Instead Of Against
Changing the way someone thinks or believes is very difficult. It is much harder to change a mind than it is a perspective that resides within it. Communication and learning barriers have plagued social justice and civic engagements. A contributing factor is the history that has made such things necessary. Fields will share parts of history; coupling them with communication skills, and emotional/situational intelligence. The goal is to evolve how we see each other, and a citizenship worth fighting for. Pulling from his lived experiences, time spent as a life coach, chairs of multiple boards and an instructional designer—Fields will share concepts of reframing history, providing new visual memories, and delving into the power of empathy.
The Mindful Compass: Navigating Your Communication Toward Peace and Personal Harmony
We often think of physical structures or climates. Every human being is an environment created by intention or default. It is easy to get lost in our own wilderness, losing the ability to find our true north. Knowing what to say, how to feel or react requires authentic feedback loops where everyone can get better. Let’s be honest, it is hard to read the map if the terrain is in the way. We can’t talk about maximizing the benefits of community and collaboration without acknowledging one of the most powerful forces in human nature, emotion. We make decisions with logic, but only when they feel right to make. We all have immense value that can only be unlocked by mindfulness and revealed through communication. (A version of this talk is availble for students as well)
Equipment needs: Microphone and projection screen
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Shining Light on Kentucky's Everyday Heroes
Steve Flairty has traveled the state and collected stories of what it means to be a Kentuckian with a heart and soul—ordinary people who have made a positive difference, living unselfish lives and overcoming obstacles.. In his talk, Flairty shares many of these inspirational profiles, often selecting individuals from audience members' communities who have been featured in his Kentucky's Everyday Heroes book series. He can adapt his presentation to either adult or children's audiences.
Shining Light on Kentucky's Everyday Women Heroes
Steve Flairty has traveled the state and collected stories of what it means to be a Kentuckian with a heart and soul—ordinary people who have made a positive difference, living unselfish lives and overcoming obstacles. In his talk, Flairty focuses on Kentucky's women and shares many of these inspirational profiles, often selecting individuals from audience members' communities who have been featured in his Kentucky's Everyday Heroes book series.
Equipment needs: Stationary microphone
Available as virtual programs: No
The Gist Boys: Sequoyah & Gratz
Here is the true story of Sequoyah (George Gist), inventor of the Cherokee written language and his half-nephew, Henry Howard Gratz, editor of the Kentucky Gazette. Based on Foody’s book, The Cherokee and the Newsman: Kinsmen in Words, this program traces the lives of each: their famous relatives, literary achievements, political proclivities and common characteristics. Spanning three centuries and four wars, the Gist Boys were on the forefront of American history with Washington, Jackson, and Lincoln, in Kentucky, Georgia, Missouri, and Oklahoma. From articles, letters, and interviews, Foody illuminates Sequoyah and Gratz’s connection to relevant topics of the times: a free press, slavery, indigenous rights, and race relations.
Heroes in Disaster: The 1833 Cholera Epidemic in Lexington, Kentucky
Before there was Covid-19, there was Cholera! During the 19th century, cholera raged through the United States several times with high fatality rates. Drawing from her book, The Pie Seller, the Drunk and the Lady: Heroes of the 1833 Cholera Epidemic in Lexington, Kentucky, Foody poignantly describes this civic devastation and the crucial deeds of the formerly enslaved woman, the homeless workman, and the founder of the Orphan Asylum during a summer with 500 deaths. Despite great medical advances, cholera is still a worldwide killer. A former Public Health Nurse, Foody explains why by tracing repetitive patterns of epidemics from disease spread to national response, from Cholera to Covid-19, with lessons for our global health today.
A New Yorker Finds Her Old Kentucky Home
When Terry Foody moved from New York State to Kentucky, her mother revealed that her family had previously lived in Kentucky. “Find my land!”, an ancestor whispered in Foody’s soul. Armed with only a pencil-scratched deathbed-dictated list of five generations of heretofore unknown relatives, she set off on this exploratory mission to stand on their land. When the trail led to Missouri, she soon developed connections in both states, and learned to deal with murky records, thick brush and barbed wire. The discoveries made it all worthwhile: a hidden church, lost road, 1830s grave, and a special surprise in a chocolate-covered cherries box. But a mysterious portrait and whispered words still haunt and prod her. Join Foody on this search for her ancestors’ land—you might be inspired to make your own trip!
Equipment needs: Microphone and PowerPoint projector
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Moving Beyond Susan and Elizabeth: The Complicated History of Woman Suffrage in Kentucky
You have probably heard of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but what do you really know about the long fight for woman suffrage? This presentation will address misconceptions and will document Kentucky's contributions to the Nineteenth Amendment. You will learn about the Kentucky Equal Rights Association, its leaders, as well as the thousands of men and women, white and black, from all parts of the state who worked to secure "a simple justice."
Call the Midwife: Mary Breckinridge and the Frontier Nursing Service
Across America, medical doctors were becoming the standard of care and hospital deliveries were becoming the norm for pregnant mothers in the early twentieth century. Mary Breckinridge proposed an alternative system when she created the Frontier Nursing Service in Leslie County, Kentucky, in 1925. Her nurse-midwives became famously known as "Angels on Horseback." Learn more about Breckinridge's pioneering medical service, the challenges involved in bringing new lives into the world in mountain communities, and discover how she made health care more accessible and affordable, offering lessons that continue to matter today.
Equipment needs: Laptop, internet signal, projector
Travel: Regions 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Religion in Early America
Religion was essential in the development of the United States in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Dr. Goetting discusses the importance of Protestantism in the U.S. during this period, especially the significance of local congregations and laypeople.
Power of Religious Print in Early America
The beginning of the 19th century witnessed the proliferation of print, especially religious print in the United States. Dr. Goetting will discuss the advancements that made the growth of newspapers and magazines possible and the importance of these periodicals on American culture. This talk will especially focus on religious print and local newspapers.
Equipment needs: Projector and screen for PowerPoint presentation
Travel: Regions 6, 7, 8
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Sports in Film
We love our sports, and Hollywood and global filmmakers do, too. Even people who do not like sports have a favorite sports film. What's yours and what makes a great sports film? This presentation will offer a brief overview of sports films and invite discussion about the function of such films in our lives and communities.
What's Fright Got to do with it? Our Love of Horror Films
This presentation will look at classic and contemporary horror films (appropriate for ages 16+) and offers a quick overview of film techniques, as well as an explanation for our attraction to the genre from film's early days to the present day.
Equipment needs: Presentation technology
Available as virtual programs: Yes
A Great Kentucky Love Story: When Harry Met Anne
Harry Caudill was an American author, historian, lawyer, legislator, and a devoted husband to Anne. His best-known book Night Comes to the Cumberlands brought nationwide attention to the plight of Appalachia's residents. As a result, President John F. Kennedy appointed a commission to investigate conditions in the region. His successor Lyndon B. Johnson made Appalachia a keystone of his War on Poverty. But Night—and all of Harry’s other books—would never have been written without Anne. The story of their marriage proves a fascinating backdrop to one of Kentucky’s most influential books. As a team, the Caudills protested the massive environmental damage to the Appalachian region, while promoting the joy and richness of the mountain culture.
Equipment needs: Microphone, screen for PowerPoint
Who Remembers Erma Bombeck?
Enjoy a nostalgic, laughter-filled look at one of America’s funniest writers. Erma Bombeck was a household name from 1965 to 1996. Refrigerators in Kentucky and across the country often were decorated with her clipped-out newspaper column “At Wit’s End.” She wrote more than 4,500 syndicated columns looking at the humorous side of home life. Erma was a regular guest on Good Morning America for a decade and wrote 15 books with unforgettable titles like The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank. A little known fact is how her active participation in 1978 to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA—equal pay for equal work) resulted in some bookstores refusing to carry her books. Both fans and newcomers will find her stories leaving them both laughing and crying.
Equipment needs: Microphone
These Stories are Unbelievable!
From Shaker Village to snake handlers, the people of Kentucky have strong roots in their quest to worship. America's first camp meeting was in Kentucky. The national headquarters for Race Track Chaplains boasts a home here. Kentucky was the stomping grounds of preacher Mordecai Ham, the spiritual granddaddy of Billy Graham. And let's not forget the Commonwealth has both a basilica with the world's largest handmade stained-glass window and an abbey where monks live in contemplation and make fantastic fudge. This overview of the history of religion in Kentucky is told through the stories of its settlers and citizens.
Equipment needs: Microphone
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Telling Stories—Past and Present
The art of storytelling has a long, ever-evolving, tradition in Kentucky. Hamilton, author of Kentucky Folktales: Revealing Stories, Truths, and Outright Lies, explores the art of storytelling by highlighting the skills storytellers employ, providing examples of traditional and contemporary oral storytelling, and bringing attention to the role of storytelling as both a performance art and an essential component of everyday life.
Liar, Liar, Storyteller
Kentuckians have long entertained each other by stretching the truth to impossibility by telling tall tales. Perhaps you’ve heard of Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill? Those fellows have no place in Kentucky tall tale lore! Instead, we’ve got smart dogs, Daniel Boone, and telling lies for the fun of it! Using selections from her oral and written repertoire, Mary Hamilton examines both the traditional and the evolving contemporary uses of tall tale telling.
Feeding Nightmares
Dread, deception, death, and dismemberment—such are the ingredients of Kentucky tales that have fed nightmares for generations. In this talk, Mary Hamilton shares sample stories and reveals who told them, who collected them, and how she came to add them to her storytelling repertoire. You may also end up wondering why anyone told such creepy tales!
Equipment needs: Microphone on a pole stand
Available as virtual programs: No
What's the "Lock?" The "Keys" Needed for Unlocking the Model Minority Stereotype of Asian Americans
In this presentation, Dr. Hartlep, a leading authority on the model minority stereotype of Asian Americans, aims to untangle the model minority stereotype of Asian/Americans in a way that will illuminate three racist elements of the model minority myth's sophistry and discursive nature, and its reliance on dog whistle politics. This talk will draw from three of his previous books: The Model Minority Stereotype: Demystifying Asian American Success, The Model Minority Stereotype Reader: Critical and Challenging Readings for the 21st Century, and Killing the Model Minority Stereotype: Asian American Counterstories and Complicity.
The Assault on Communities of Color: Race-Based Violence in the Era of the New Jim Crow
In this talk, critical race theorist Dr. Hartlep will discuss his current work on the realities of race-based violence. This presentation will provide a critical look at issues such as racism, community segregation, whiteness, and other hegemonies and how they reproduce injustice and violence. Dr. Hartlep will also explore how space, place, and institutionalism produce and maintain white dominance and violence.
The Identity and Politics of Transracial Adoption
In this presentation, Dr. Hartlep, a leading authority on race and education, will discuss his experiences as a transracial adoptee. This talk will draw from his research on identity formation of transracial adoptees who are Asian/American.
Equipment needs: Laptop, projector, screen for PowerPoint
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Travel Kentucky: Historical Destinations and Natural Wonders
When people—particularly those who reside outside of the Bluegrass State—think of Kentucky, three things usually come to mind: bourbon, Colonel Sanders’ secret chicken recipe, and the glamourous Kentucky Derby. Add college basketball to that list, and you have yourself a superfecta. However, for author Blair Thomas Hess, a seventh generation Kentuckian, her home state is a diverse patchwork of faces and places, each as unique as the state’s geography.
Many have made the drive across the Bluegrass State, but too often we bypass all the worthwhile distractions between Paw Paw in Pike County and the Kentucky Bend of the Mississippi River in Fulton County—treasures such as Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home that rests inside a Greek-style temple and the buffalo that roam the modern-day prairies of Land Between the Lakes. Whether you're a native or long-time Kentuckian or if you're a recent transplant, there is always something new to discover exploring your own backyard. This talk travels the parkways, byways and backroads of the Bluegrass State and outlines some of Kentucky's most famous historical destinations and natural wonders as well as some of her best kept secrets. This presentation will highlight fun and educational destinations to help Kentuckians of all ages explore the amazing and irreplaceable things that make the state one of a kind.
Famous Kentucky Flavors
We can thank Kentucky for the cheeseburger, Bibb lettuce, the hot brown, fried chicken, and so many more famous culinary staples. The Bluegrass state's rich traditions in good eatin' are a reflection of the unique and diverse people and cultures that call this state home. This presentation will dish out the history of these famous flavors and discuss how their inventors and the cultures they come from are woven through Kentucky food (and libations). Join seventh generation Kentuckian Blair Thomas Hess, author of four travel books about Kentucky including one exploring its cuisine to talk about how these foods have influenced our state identity. This talk can be tailored to include bourbon or leave it out and can be customized based on region and time of year.
Equipment needs: Projector, screen
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Writing Your Memoir: Getting Started
In this generative creative writing workshop, which can be adapted to fit different lengths of time depending on need, we will examine a few brief excerpts of memoir writing and complete writing exercises to help participants start to get their memories down on the page.
Equipment needs: It would be helpful to make a few photocopies of handouts for participants
Sounds Like Titanic: Author Reading
A reading and discussion of Sounds Like Titanic: A Memoir, a National Book Critics Circle Finalist for Autobiography.
Book description: A young woman leaves Appalachia for life as a classical musician? or so she thinks. When aspiring violinist Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman lands a job with a professional ensemble in New York City, she imagines she has achieved her lifelong dream. But the ensemble proves to be a sham. When the group "performs," the microphones are never on. Instead, the music blares from a CD. The mastermind behind this scheme is a peculiar and mysterious figure known as The Composer, who is gaslighting his audiences with music that sounds suspiciously like the Titanic movie soundtrack. On tour with his chaotic ensemble, Hindman spirals into crises of identity and disillusionment as she "plays" for audiences genuinely moved by the performance, unable to differentiate real from fake. Sounds Like Titanic is a surreal, often hilarious coming-of-age story. Hindman writes with precise, candid prose and sharp insight into ambition and gender, especially when it comes to the difficulties young women face in a world that views them as silly, shallow, and stupid. As the story swells to a crescendo, it gives voice to the anxieties and illusions of a generation of women and reveals the failed promises of a nation that takes comfort in false realities.
Available as virtual programs: Yes
The Southern Culture in Kentucky’s Shaker Villages
Kentucky’s Shaker villages, South Union and Pleasant Hill, drew converts from the South. Those converts brought their own well-established manners, customs, and cultural biases into environments and systems that had been designed by Shakers rooted in the Northeast. South Union, in particular, had a difficult time adapting and, consequently, created a material culture and maintained a folklife that was unique among Shaker villages. From the food they ate to the furniture they produced ... from the way they spoke to the methods in which they constructed buildings ... the Kentucky Shakers were set apart from their northern counterparts. Their story is colorful, humorous, heart-breaking, and fascinating.
Rural Kentucky Through the Lens of George H. Dabbs
George H. Dabbs was a Morgantown, Kentucky, photographer who worked from 1904 until 1934. Not only was he successful as a portrait photographer, but he was also a preservationist, capturing a quickly fading past. He left behind an incredible array of images that documented homes and workplaces, community events, disasters, and celebrations. His masterful work also included photographs of the last days of the colorful steamboat era on the Green River. Insightful, creative, and nostalgic, Dabbs’ art is a priceless look into the distant past of a typical small town in Kentucky.
Making Use of Ardent Spirits: The Kentucky Shakers and Alcohol
The Kentucky Shakers advocated a God-centered existence, seeking perfection in every aspect of their daily lives. While their communal experiment was built on the spiritual, the Shakers also delved into the temporal when it came to the production of alcohol. From whiskey-making to wine production, the Kentucky Shakers pushed the boundaries set by the sect’s leadership in New York. And the “ardent spirits” they manufactured weren’t just for customers.
Equipment needs: Screen, electricity, table for projector
Available as virtual programs: Yes
A Discussion of the Novella Eve's Daughters: a Saga of Kentucky's Holt Women
Eve's Daughters tells the history of six generations of women in one Kentucky family from the 1830s to the present. The family's story illustrates the common every day life of women who were creating families and trying to survive societal and family crises while carrying their families into the future. The book describes how the women adapted to profound technological advances, desperate economic conditions, and the gradual transformation of the United States and Kentucky into an urban nation. The book discussion will include looking at several topics/issues and how those topics defined life for most Kentucky women: family structure; settling and working the land; housing; modes of transportation; and necessary community organizations such as crossroads stores, churches, and schools.
The Fifty-Year-Old American Cultural War and Political Readjustment in Kentucky
This presentation briefly surveys the political history of the state up to around 1970. Then it explores how the now 50+-year cultural war over clashing definitions of racial justice and gender equality profoundly affected and rearranged political allegiances in Kentucky.
Equipment needs: Podium
Travel: Region 6
Available as virtual programs: Yes
He Said / She Said: How Gendered Communication Impacts Our Relationships
Men are socialized to speak with directness and confidence; women are socialized toward a softer, less direct approach. Unfortunately, these differences create misunderstandings and fuel an unnecessary battle between the sexes. Dr. Howell will describe specific gendered patterns that create problems both inside and outside the home. She will suggest minor changes for each of us to make in order to facilitate more effective communication and understanding within the home and the workplace.
Becoming a Writer When You Already Have a Day Job
Dr. Howell never planned to be a writer, but about 20 years ago after tackling a few minor writing projects, she was hooked. Since she had no intention of leaving the “day job” she loved, Dr. Howell had to work her new passion into her already full life. As a university professor, she already had summer breaks which allowed her time to write for several devotional publications, magazines, and professional journals. More recently Dr. Howell has written two books and is working on another. Along the way, she has learned a lot about carving out time to write what’s important, say no to what isn’t, and how to tell the difference. Dr. Howell will discuss how to assess writing goals while accurately assessing the time available, getting the most from writers’ conferences and books, and conquering negative self-talk.
Equipment needs: Microphone, podium, projector for PowerPoint slides
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Full of Faith; Full of Hope: The History and Legacy of the Underground Railroad in Northern Kentucky
There are many secondary sources written on the topic of the Underground Railroad, however there is only a limited amount of primary sources, as these types of illegal activities were kept secret during its operation to avoid detection. Therefore, people did not talk or write about the Underground Railroad in any significant way until the system of enslavement was outlawed by law with the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865. Also important is the notion that most students can obtain a more sophisticated understanding of history by learning about significant events that took place in the region where they live through a variety of traditional and nontraditional sources. This presentation will focus on these various sources in a snapshot discussion of the history and legacy of the Underground Railroad in Northern Kentucky from a variety of perspectives.
Let Freedom Ring for Everyone: The History of African Americans in Northern Kentucky
African American history in Northern Kentucky is complex, disrupted by enslavement trauma, war, violence, and migrations. For examples, in Boone County, in 1860, over 20 percent of the population was African American and enslaved. By 1900, less than five percent of the African American population remained. Whereas before the Civil War nearly 2,500 enslaved persons of color were held by hundreds of owners throughout the county, after the Civil War the former enslaved and their descendants lived in just ten communities scattered throughout the area. This presentations seeks to examine this history from a variety of perspectives in various regions of Northern Kentucky.
Equipment needs: Microphone, podium, and access to the internet of in an inside venue
Travel: Region 5
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Kentucky and the Music of America's Front Porch
In a time of great stress, economic and social concerns, even war, the comfort and imagery of America's Front Porch, the calming sense of family, neighbors and music is more important now than ever. To Michael Johnathon, Kentucky is the comfortable rocking chair on America's Front Porch. This is a performance and conversation about restoring that "front porch" feeling back into our hometowns.
Equipment needs: Suitable sound system, two mics (Sure 58 or equivelent) two mic stands
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Reflections on Five Wars: A Soldier's Journey to Peace
Colonel Fred Johnson (USA, Retired) served 29 years in the Army and deployed to Iraq twice and once each to Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Honduras. In his talk Colonel Johnson reflects on his experiences during both war and peace as a military officer, through his transition to a civilian and now as a veteran who has continued his service as a middle school teacher. This presentation was created to be tailored for specific events. Colonel Johnson can speak at Veteran's Day and Memorial Day ceremonies and occasions to commemorate military service and he can talk about the history of warfare and the effects of war on service members and families. Colonel Johnson can specifically address the affects of PTSD and moral injury as he experienced them and how he was able overcome the mental health challenges associated with the hidden cost of war. Colonel Johnson can also talk about his experience with the healing effects of art from his work as the co-founder of "Shakespeare with Veterans" where former service members used the words and plays of William Shakespeare as a means to confront challenges in transition from military experience. Colonel Johnson both educates and entertains and he has presented to audiences at the Wofford College TEDx, The Moth StorySlam, and with the Louisville StoryTellers in addition to his service with the Kentucky Humanities Speakers Bureau. Please check out his website fivewars.com for examples of his presentations.
Soft Skills in Hard Places: The Perryville Battlefield Leadership Experience
In his book Soft Skills in Hard Places, retired Army Colonel Fred Johnson makes the bold claim that soft skills, not technical abilities, were the most important factor in the success of both Union and Confederate leaders at the Battle of Perryville in 1862, the bloodiest clash in Kentucky during the Civil War. In this presentation, Colonel Johnson marches with the audience alongside the soldiers who fought for the Open Knob and Starkweather’s Hill and those that assaulted into the Valley of Death. The fate of Kentucky and the nation rested in the hands of Union General Don Carlos Buell and Confederate General Braxton Bragg, commanders who were technically and tactically competent, but lack the soft skills to be effective leaders. However, men like George Maney and John Starkweather, who did not have the benefit of the technical training afforded at the U.S. Military Academy, demonstrated aptitudes like thinking outside the box, initiative, and empathy. They were the leaders that provided the greatest opportunities of victory for their armies. Colonel Johnson also weaves in soft skill lessons from current wars and his own personal experience to show the enduring relevance of emotional intelligence in combat leadership. Having served with General David H. Petraeus, Johnson shows how, arguably the greatest General since WWII, expertly employed soft skills to great success. Johnson not only demonstrates the significance of soft skills on the battlefield, he provides a methodology to teach them to civilian business executives and their staffs so they can excel in the boardroom. Colonel Johnson can present similar talks on other battles in Kentucky based on the needs of the audience. He can also facilitate these talks on the actual battlefield for audiences with prior coordination.
* These talks can be tailored in length based on the needs of the audience. It can be as short as 20 minutes or as long as one hour.
Equipment needs: None
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Quilt Art: Examining the Narrative in Kentucky Quilts
Based on historical records, secondary sources, and oral history interviews with quilters across Kentucky, Johnson discusses 19th century quilts made by black women living and working on slave plantations, traditional quilts made by African American women of the 20th century, as well as contemporary art quilts made by women of all cultural groups of the 21st century. Her work explores women’s history, storytelling, identity politics, social activism, and empowerment. Her study of quilts in Kentucky is aimed at examining cross-cultural parallels in technique and assemblage, as well as revealing unique designs.
Roots and Branches: West African Aesthetics in African American Quilts
Knowledge is power! This presentation is designed to enrich, encourage, and engage elementary through high school students. It includes either a PowerPoint presentation or an exhibition booth.
The PowerPoint presentation includes photographs and links to video footage of African cultural groups making textiles. These are part of Dr. Johnson’s ethnographic fieldwork while studying in Ghana. This information is then compared with Johnson’s footage of African Americans making quilts. An interpretation of signs and symbols and their meanings are discussed. The exhibition booth includes one-on-one talks and display boards featuring photographs of African textile production and African American quiltmaking, along with handouts and sample textiles for students to see and touch.
Equipment needs: Screen, projector
Poetry: Image, Music, and Form
“But words are things, and a small drop of ink, / Falling like dew upon a thought, produces / That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” So wrote George Gordon, Lord Byron, about the power of written words. In poetry, in particular, every word counts. And words have not only meaning, but sound, shape, and association.
Drawing on poems from her latest collection, For Your Good Health, Drink Flowers, Libby Falk Jones will discuss ways that images, sounds, and arrangements of words convey ideas and feelings. Richard Taylor, former Poet Laureate of Kentucky, terms Jones's collection “a compendium of wonder” and “a testament of the heart.” Jones will also discuss how she’s worked with traditional poetic forms—sonnet and villanelle, ghazal and pantoum and sestina—to discover meaning. The presentation, which can be adapted to various lengths of time, will include suggestions for beginning and developing poems of your own.
Seeing Mindfully: a Contemplative Photography Experience
What does it mean to see mindfully? This presentation explores various components of seeing: receptivity, discovery, discipline, energy, perspective, form, and mystery. The program includes a slide show of more than 60 nature photographs by Libby Falk Jones. Photos were made at five national parks and at various Kentucky sites, including the Abbey of Gethsemani (home of Thomas Merton) and Madison County.
The slide show also includes words from photographers, poets, and philosophers, including Merton. Merton defined seeing as “being open and receptive to what comes to the eye.”
The slide show and discussion, which can be adapted to various lengths of time, are designed to help viewers deepen awareness, see with wonder and gratitude, and perceive the interconnectedness of all things.
Antarctica: Landscapes of Ice and Light (and Penguins!)
Imagine landscapes of ice, rock, water, and sky. Immense landscapes subtly-colored, with textured, geometric beauty. Landscapes with life: penguins, seals, Cape petrels, kelp, algaes. Landscapes with almost no human footprint. This slide show includes photographs of the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands by Libby Falk Jones, who visited them in the Antarctic summer of 2017. The presentation also includes ideas of Antarctica expressed by visitors over the past century. Antarctica has been called a place of “unimaginable beauty,” a “singular place,” a place that left “a restless longing in my heart.” This presentation, which can be adapted to various lengths of time, is designed to help viewers discover and connect with this “terra incognito” (unknown land) as the continent was first called, to experience what Beldon Lane calls “the solace of fierce landscapes.”
Equipment needs: Projector, podium, and microphone
Available as virtual programs: Yes
The Ghostly World
As the author of five nonfiction books about ghosts and hauntings, John Kachuba investigated well over 100 haunted locations all across the U.S. and internationally. In this presentation Kachuba shares his experiences at some of the more creepy and interesting locations. Kachuba will also talk about the various theories that attempt to explain ghosts. With enough advance notice, this talk can be tailored to include regional, state, national, or international locations and hauntings. The presentation will be illustrated with photos from Kachuba's books.
Shapeshifters: A History
This talk is based on John Kachuba's new book, Shapeshifters: A History. The nonfiction book explores the shapeshifter character and answers how and why it has appeared in cultures all around the world, from Neolithic times to the present day. It examines shapeshifters from many perspectives: historical, mythological, theological, psychological, and even pop culture. The presentation will be illustrated with photos from Kachuba's books.
Equipment needs: Projector, screen, table
Available as virtual programs: Yes
The Hostage Crisis that Gave Rise to the “Stockholm Syndrome”
On the morning of August 23, 1973, a man wearing a wig, makeup, and sunglasses walked into a prominent bank in Stockholm. He ripped out a submachine gun, fired it into the ceiling, and shouted, “The party starts!” This was the beginning of a six-day hostage crisis that would mesmerize the world and launch a new concept into the realm of psychology, hostage negotiations, and popular culture. This talk draws on David King's years writing the historical true crime, Six Days in August: The Story of Stockholm Syndrome, a SXSW SX Speaker Series Best Book of 2023 that has been featured on NPR, Time, Inside Edition, and Radiolab, with serializations and translations in a dozen languages.
The Trial of Adolf Hitler: A Haunting Failure of Justice
Fifteen years before the Second World War, a young Adolf Hitler took the stand in a packed courtroom in Munich. He faced charges of high treason and feared that his career was over. But the judge, a rightwing nationalist, strained, twisted, and outright ignored the law in the defendant’s favor. The chance to send Hitler into oblivion instead set him on his improbable path to power. The talk draws on David King's book, The Trial of Adolf Hitler, a longlisted finalist for the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize and the Cundhill History Prize—and featured in the Wall Street Journal, London Times, CNN, and elsewhere with translations into a dozen languages and film rights sold to a major Hollywood studio.
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Sharing the Magic! Storytelling for Leaders
Storytelling is how human beings have shared their values, culture, and priorities for generations. It is through stories that we share our humanity, vulnerability, authenticity—and that is why customers and stakeholders “buy” from us! As speakers or presenters, stories make us more engaging and memorable. Ditch the PowerPoint slides and tell a well-crafted story, and you will be remembered as a dynamic, powerful, exciting speaker! Sales and marketing teams become believable and likable. School and organizational leaders earn trust and credibility with their constituents.
FUEL for Success!
FUEL motivates and gives the tools for individuals and teams to accomplish their goals and get results. FUEL stands for Focus, Urgency, Energy, and Learning (from what works). Everyone leaves with the attitudes, inspiration, and tools to immediately become more effective and to accomplish more than they ever thought possible. Based on Dr. Lauk's 2012 book, FUEL for Learning!
Equipment needs: Microphone and projector
Available as virtual programs: No
My Old Kentucky Poem: Creating Our Myth through Folklore and Poetry
Much of Sarah McCartt-Jackson’s poetry draws inspiration from Kentucky folklore, using poetry to explore the stories, beliefs, and people of our pasts that live with us and haunt us in our present. In this presentation, McCartt-Jackson reads from her award-winning books and chapbooks, discussing her professional background as folklorist and poet, and how she weaves folk narratives, beliefs, and oral history of Kentucky and Appalachia into her poems. McCartt-Jackson also discusses how others can use their own family history in their creative expression.
Write Where You Are: Poetry and Place
We often teach writers of all abilities to “write what you know.” In Sarah McCartt-Jackson’s case, she writes of the places she knows. In this presentation, she reads from her newest books, highlighting how she uses poetry and place to explore deeper truths about people, history, wilderness, home, and cultural and physical landscapes in her poetry. McCartt-Jackson encourages audiences to experience place through sensory-based approaches, and discusses how to incorporate a rooted awareness of place into creative expression.
Equipment needs: Microphone
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Dark Tourism
If you’ve ever visited a site where hauntings, alien abductions, bigfoot sightings or horrific crimes have taken place, consider yourself a dark tourist. This is a new breed of traveler that many communities are targeting since these tourists often visit other attractions, stay overnight, and buy gas and food. For their upcoming book on Paranormal Kentucky, Marie Mitchell and Mason Smith have researched this marketing trend and will share details of their findings along with some of the dark sites they’ve visited themselves including the haunted Anderson Hotel in Lawrenceburg and Waverly Hills Sanitorium in Louisville.
Kentucky’s Battletown Witch in Meade County, Louisville’s Witches’ Tree and Other Ghostly Tales
Kentucky has the only case in the U.S. where a suspected witch was actually burned alive (the Salem witches were generally hanged). Marie Mitchell and Mason Smith researched the death of Battletown’s Leah Smock who still haunts her hometown. They’ll share that story (which will be included in their upcoming book on Paranormal Kentucky), along with other ghostly tales like the curse placed on Louisville’s Witches’ tree.
Mary Todd Lincoln’s Seances in the White House and Other Spirited Tales
Seances to contact dearly departed loved ones were quite common in the 19th century. Grief-stricken Former First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln held several in the White House to talk to her two sons who died young. Abe even attended one or two of her seances. Marie Mitchell and Mason Smith researched Mary’s desperate attempt to seek solace among charlatans for their upcoming book on Paranormal Kentucky. They’ll speak about seances and other spirited tales.
Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner: Life and Death Decisions
Simon Bolivar Buckner (1823-1914), a Munfordville native and West Point graduate, had a varied military career, fighting in the Mexican-American War and serving in the Civil War where he was the first Confederate general to surrender a major army (in 1862 at Fort Donelson), and the last Confederate general to repeat that same action (surrendering his troops in 1965 in the Trans-Mississippi).
Mason Smith, who in 1998 portrayed Buckner in a one-man play sponsored by a Kentucky Humanities living history grant, will share insights into Buckner’s choice to forego military glory through surrender, thereby saving his soldiers from slaughter. This talk will examine how Buckner came to make his decisions, which had major consequences.
Equipment needs: Projector for PowerPoint and microphone
Available as virtual programs: No
Practicing Empathy: Students' Stories Offer Instruction
Based off of Dr. Moosnick's book, Campus Candor: Students' Stories Unmasked, this talk examines empathy based on experiences gathering students' stories on college campuses. What is meant by empathy? Is it an unconditionally good emotion?
12 students worked with Dr. Moosnick to gather the oral histories of rural and urban students on the campuses of the University of Kentucky, West Virginia University, the University of Florida, and the University of Mississippi to build empathy among students from diverse backgrounds. The book was created in collaboration with three former students (Emily Keaton, Victoria Cruz-Falk, and Saturn Star-Shooter).
The book and the book process itself were efforts to overcome divides. What we found is that empathy is a working practice and long-term commitment.
Campus Candor: Students' Stories Unmasked
The recent Supreme Court ruling on college admissions has brought a focus on the importance of socioeconomic diversity on college campuses. But what does that diversity feel like for students themselves? With an emphasis on urban-rural divides and class differences, Dr. Moosnick's book Campus Candor: Students’ Stories Unmasked enlists students as oral historians to document the experiences of their peers at four public universities: Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, and Mississippi. What challenges do diverse students face in navigating their coursework, but also their social lives and campus traditions such as spring break, Greek culture, and parents’ weekend, especially students with limited family resources?
This talk delves into the emotionally resonant stories of students providing insight into the real situations on campuses that often are hidden from surface portrayals.
Equipment needs: Screen, internet access is helpful but not necessary
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Echoes of the Hills: Kentucky’s Traditional Music
Kentucky has been justly celebrated for its contributions to country and bluegrass styles, but a diverse and vibrant range of earlier musical traditions made the hills and hollers echo with song and dance long before these popular styles came into being following World War II. Ron Pen will explore Kentucky’s musical past through a talk illustrated by a PowerPoint presentation. A live musical performance of ballads, old time fiddle and banjo dance tunes, dulcimer songs, and shape note hymnody will animate the history and context.
Sweet Strains of the Dulcimer
In 2001, the Kentucky Legislature recognized the Dulcimer as our Commonwealth’s state instrument. The dulcimer’s roots are firmly planted in the soil of east Kentucky with the earliest instruments crafted in 1838 by Ely Boggs and “Uncle” Ed Thomas in 1870. Dulcimers created by McKinley Craft, Will Singleton, and Jethro Amburgey spread throughout the country from Hindman. Performers including Jean Ritchie and John Jacob Niles popularized the instrument during the folk revival. This history will come alive through a talk illustrated by a PowerPoint presentation, enhanced with a live performance.
Equipment needs: Chair without arms, projector and speaker setup capable of PowerPoint projection with a laptop
Available as virtual programs: Yes
"Work I Knew I Must": Factory Life for Women in Nineteenth Century
Divorce, supply-chain shortages, labor shortages, union talks—these are not new issues. In "Work I Knew I Must," a blended narrative of a factory owner, A.I. Root, and his employee Jane Cole, they together work to make their factory successful in spite of the personal and national challenges facing the country. Since women still struggle for equity in the U.S., this work is timely and the strategies that both Root and Cole can still benefit twenty-first century audiences.
Flower Power: Establishing Pollinator Habitat
Pollinators are in peril due to a variety of reasons, but one of the easiest to address landscape diversity. Having traveled around the world interviewing beekeepers and honey producers, Tammy Horn Potter includes intriguing slides of pollen grains from nectar-producing plants of some of the world's favorite honeys as well as photos and recommendations of local flora. Pollen is considered the "life-giving dust" to many pollinators, and this presentation focuses on the complexities of pollen grains, their beauty, and also the relative ease that many people can employ to diversify their surroundings with flowers that are beneficial.
Equipment needs: Microphone, projector, computer
Available as virtual programs: Yes
1812: Remember the Raisin!
Kentucky’s contribution in the War of 1812 was vital to the American War effort. This presentation shows how deeply Kentuckians were involved. The massacre at River Raisin gave rise to the battle cry of the war: “Remember the Raisin!” Governor Isaac Shelby left Frankfort to lead troops along the northern frontier and commanded victorious soldiers at the Battle of the Thames. Kentuckians answered the call once more to defend New Orleans. The epic battle on the sugarcane plantations below the city provided redemption for the young American nation.
The Cane Ridge Revival: The Great Revival that Transformed Kentucky
When people talk about the "Bible Belt" they might be interested to learn that its roots began in the great Cane Ridge Revival, held in today's Bourbon County. No one can deny that it changed lives and shaped Kentucky's (and the Deep South's) social and cultural development. Take a journey back to 1801. Find out what drew 25,000 people to Cane Ridge. Sing one of the old hymns that some folks claimed to "make the flesh tremble."
The Battle of Blue Licks
By 1782, the American Revolution was drawing to a close. Lord Cornwallis had surrendered at Yorktown and negotiators were hammering out the Peace of Paris. But war still raged for frontier settlers, American Indians, and Canadian rangers. On August 19, 1782, Kentuckians would suffer one of the worst military defeats of the war. Learn about the events leading up to the battle that some historians call "The Last Battle of the American Revolution."
Homemaking on the Kentucky Frontier
Take a journey back to 1811 and experience homemaking on the Kentucky frontier—"from the ground up." After clearing timberland, fencing off pastures, and planting crops, homemakers involved themselves in every aspect of building a home from available materials. Roofing, flooring, insulation, heating, water supply, and lighting were considerations then as now. Learn how frontier folk cultivated and preserved their food, made their clothes, doctored their families, and still found time for recreation and religion. Cooking on open hearths, hemp and flax breaking, heckling, spinning, weaving, and dyeing are examined. The audience will appreciate the severity of disease and how little medical knowledge existed in the early 1800's. Native American and folk remedies are discussed, along with frontier religion and recreational activities. Eddie Price displays utensils used by early Kentuckians and educates with a colorful PowerPoint slideshow.
Equipment needs: Computer, projector, screen
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Fancywork: Needlework, Quilting, and Crafts in the 1800s
For thousands of years, women were responsible for “plain sewing”—spinning, weaving, and sewing textiles for everyday use. In the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution produced factory-made fabrics, mass-produced sewing machines, and inexpensive ready-made clothing. These innovations gave average women time for “fancywork”—decorative sewing, crocheting, knitting, embroidery, patchwork and appliqué quilting, and craft projects. In this presentation, we’ll explore how factory-made sewing and craft supplies influenced trends like crazy quilting; how the ideology of separate spheres for women and men influenced decorating the home with fancywork; fancywork created to sell charity bazaars and fundraising fairs; and the wide range of fancywork including techniques not common in the 21st century such hair work, bobbin work, netting, and potichomania. This talk will include numerous examples of fancywork—pictures via PowerPoint and objects.
Cooking in Kentucky Before the Civil War
Cooking before the modern conveniences of electric appliances, pre-packaged foods, and modern recipes was hard work! In this presentation, Cynthia Williams Resor explores the lives of average women in Kentucky, free and enslaved, as they prepare recipes from early 19th century cookbooks such as Lettice Bryan's The Kentucky Housewife. Look over the shoulder of a Kentucky woman as she produces, preserves, and prepares food in a typical pre-industrial kitchen. What kitchen tools did she use? What foods were plain, everyday fare and what was prepared for special occasions? How did she juggle cooking and the other daily chores? The answers to these questions and more will make you appreciate a microwave!
Mourning in Kentucky in the 1800s
Mourning the dead was an important part of life in the 19th century. Cynthia Williams Resor will begin her time-travel tour of this culture of mourning in Kentucky cemeteries by examining the symbols on tombstones and their meanings. Explore customs and beliefs associated with death through the eyes of 19th-century writers and artifacts of mourning such as hair mourning jewelry, stationery, clothing. Finally, we'll visit the new funeral parlors of the late 1800s and memorial park cemeteries of the early 1900s to discover why mourning customs changed.
Equipment needs: PowerPoint projector, screen, display tables
Available as virtual programs: Yes
It All Comes from Dirt: Creating from the Land
Agriculture is the art of cultivating soil and seeds to make food. Poetry is the art of cultivating moments and memories to make art. We all have food memories woven into who we are and who we become, and for some of us those are tied directly into the land where our food comes from and how it is grown by the hands of those we love and by our own hands in the soil of a place where we are rooted. During this talk, which can be adapted to fit different lengths of time, we will examine the parallels between the art of cultivating soil and cultivating moments and perhaps take home ways to inspire seeds of poems on the page in our individual creative practices.
Who You Grow Into
Who You Grow Into celebrates a profound connection to the land, inspired by life on a generational family farm within Appalachia. This collection is a tribute to the stewards of the land before us and reflects deep gratitude for a relationship with place. These poems resonate with anyone who cares deeply about nature, environmentalism, sustainable farming, and the impact of climate crisis on our lives and landscapes.
Equipment needs: PowerPoint and a microphone
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Mose Rager: Kentucky's Shy Guitar Master
There are many country guitar legends—Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, and Eddie Pennington, to name a few—who trace the root of their music to Mose Rager. A Muhlenberg County, Kentucky native, he was known for developing a unique thumb-picking style. Mose worked as a barber and a coal miner when he wasn’t playing gigs with Grandpa Jones, Curly Fox, and Texas Ruby. Although Mose died on May 14, 1986, his sound lives on when modern-day pickers try to play “That Muhlenberg Sound.”
Crowing Hen: Cousin Emmy, A Kentucky Pioneering Performer
Before there was a Minnie Pearl, there was "Cousin Emmy." She styled herself as the first hillbilly singer to own a Cadillac. She was born in a log cabin in Barren County but by the 1940s, she was one of the top performers on the radio. She headed her own group, "Cousin Emmy and her Kinfolks" at a time when there were not many solo female acts. She also had a brief career in Hollywood, appearing in films such as "Swing in the Saddle" and "The Second Greatest Sex." Cousin Emmy could light up a stage and played almost two dozen different instruments. She was also the author of the classic bluegrass song, "Ruby." With her independent success, she paved the way for other female musicians.
Equipment needs: Projector for PowerPoint, microphone
Available as virtual program: Yes
Sallie Ward, the Scandalous Kentucky Beauty
Sallie Ward was a charmer. Her beauty inspired poems and duels. Born to wealth in 1827, she used it to advantage, ordering expensive clothes from abroad, setting new standards in fashion and, to the outrage of many, wearing rouge. Her storied marital career fascinated the nation as she went through four husbands, only the last outliving her. Her fortune destroyed by the Civil War, like Scarlett O'Hara, she recouped it by marriage, determined never to go hungry again. Newspaper readers and acquaintances alike found her endlessly fascinating, not least because she was strangely able to retain her beauty, or the illusion of it, to the end, which came in 1896. In his new book, Forever Belle: Sallie Ward of Kentucky, Runyon reveals some engrossing but hitherto unknown details of her life.
Mary Todd Lincoln's French Connection
"My early home was truly at a boarding school," Mary Todd Lincoln once wrote, alluding to the years she spent living at Madame Mentelle's School for Young Ladies in Lexington. Mary's mother had died, and she did not like her stepmother, finding a better one in Charlotte Mentelle, a brilliant and adventurous Parisian who braved the perils of the French Revolution and the Ohio frontier before coming to Lexington in 1795. She was a woman of strong opinions who cut her hair short and dressed like a man and scandalized her neighbors by walking miles a day through the streets of Lexington all while reading a book. From her the future Mrs. Lincoln learned impeccable French, as foreign visitors to the White House learned to their delight, and increased confidence in her own intellect and spirited independence. This talk, based on Randolph Paul Runyon's book The Mentelles: Mary Todd Lincoln, Henry Clay, and the Immigrant Family Who Educated Antebellum Kentucky, explores the influence of one remarkable woman on another.
Equipment needs: Well-lit podium and a stationary microphone
Available as virtual programs: No
Peggy Oakley...and a Pig...Go to War
On August 30, 1813, Margaret (Peggy) Oakley waited anxiously at Newport Barracks to draw the ticket that would determine whether she would join her husband, John Scott Oakley, and good friend Richard Menifee to Canada and war, or back home to the farm in Grassy Creek, Kentucky. Little Dick was pulling at one arm, and Mary Ann, just one year older, at her other. Both were hungry and tired. When Peggy let go of Mary Ann's hand to reach into Governor Isaac Shelby's hat and pulled out a slip of paper saying, "To Go," she was both overjoyed and terrified. She had just the one night to prepare for the trek to Lake Erie, then Canada. The next morning, her little family, along with over 4,000 militia, began boarding boats to cross the Ohio and head to Canada in response to the massacre at River Raisin. To everyone's surprise, a pig that had become a camp pet plunged into the river and swam across. The children were delighted. Throughout the next ten months, Margaret and the other camp followers served as nurse, cook, seamstress, huntress and laundress for the camp, while keeping one eye on her children and the other watching for Indians. During the War of 1812, Kentucky women often accompanied their husbands, children in hand, to battle. Nearly four of every five military age Kentucky men fought in the War of 1812, and over 66% of those that died were Kentuckians. Their wives, girlfriends, mothers were sharpshooters and were used to doing whatever needed to be done as frontier farm wives. My ancestor, Peggy Oakley, might have been one of those women. Learn what she may have encountered along the path her husband chose, and how, together, they fought the battle that ended the War of 1812.
My Dirty Life
Doris Settles has spent many hours digging in the dirt, and perhaps even more time encouraging others to do the same, giving keynotes and workshops all over Kentucky. Focused on the joys and benefits of gardening inside and out, Settles has done presentations at Juvenile Justice, Education and Mental Health conferences on the concepts behind the book No Child Left Inside addressing the "nature deficit" with nature and our society...especially children. Her picture books Leira Clara's Flowers and Leira Clara's Garden Journal encourage children to plant zinnias to spread joy. This talk includes a discussion of native and pollinator habitats, avoiding invasives, combined with a call to action to get outdoors and beautify and interact with the natural world. Settles is the author of five other books, serves as an Extension Master Gardener, is a co-founder and Vice President of Celebrate Lexington! nonprofit, and belongs to various herb and gardening societies.
Equipment needs: Screen, table, and chair
Available as virtual programs: Yes
Henry Faulkner: Kentucky Artist
Henry Faulkner, one of Kentucky’s best and best-known artists, exhibited his paintings around the country and in Europe. Born on a Simpson County farm in 1924, he grew up in an orphanage in Louisville and a foster home in eastern Kentucky. He lived for more than 20 years in Lexington, where he was at the center of a thriving gay community. A world traveler, prolific poet, and enthusiastic blues singer, Faulkner attracted famous friends (like playwright Tennessee Williams), and became famous himself, both for his artwork and for his unconventional behaviors (like taking his pet goat to gallery openings). He died in an automobile accident in Lexington in 1981. This look at Faulkner’s life and work includes a slide show of his colorful paintings and a short film about his just-as-colorful life.
Equipment needs: Microphone, screen and projection system for Windows Live Moviemaker, PowerPoint, and DVD
Leonard Roberts: Kentucky Folklorist
Born in Floyd County in1912, Leonard W. Roberts, who earned a Ph.D. in English and Folklore at UK, collected hundreds of folktales in Eastern Kentucky, many of them from Leslie, Knox, and Harlan counties. His collection, one of the largest in American folklore, is preserved in his eight published books and in archives at Berea College and at UK, where it represents a treasure trove for writers, storytellers, and students of Appalachian folklore, history, linguistics, and culture. This look at Roberts' life and work includes several examples of folk tales, told in traditional dialect, from Roberts' important collection.
Equipment needs: Microphone, podium, table for displaying books
Available as virtual programs: No
The Underground Railroad and American Memory
This presentation will provide a review of the Underground Railroad as the product of the work of black and white southerners committed to an evangelical cause of freedom written about in Dr. Turley's latest book Gospel of Freedom: Black Evangelicals and the Underground Railroad.
African Americans and the Civil War
In this presentation, Dr. Turley offers a focus on the role of black Kentuckians in the war of emancipation and freedom that changed the social direction of American society and instituted our current "Juneteenth" celebrations.
Julius Rosenwald Rural School Building in the Reconstructed American South
At the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction, one of the enduring goals of African Americans was the attainment of an education. Julius Rosenwald, the President of Sears and Roebuck joined forces with America's then African American social leader, Booker T. Washington, to secure that educational goal.
Black Lynching in America
The 1876 presidential election resulted in an election win for Republican presidential candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes. Hayes' election officially ended Southern Reconstruction, which was guaranteed when southern electors threw their full support behind Hayes' presidential campaign promise to immediately remove all federal troops from the newly "Reconstructed South."
Equipment needs: Laptop, projector, screen for PowerPoint
Available as virtual programs: No
Place and Past: Writing Through Sense Memory
Hiraeth is a Welsh word that has no direct English translation. It encompasses a mixture of emotions such as longing, yearning, nostalgia, and wistfulness, often tinged with grief and sadness over the lost or departed. As a writer, Judith Turner-Yamamoto has found that sense memory can be a powerful tool for evoking Hiraeth and accessing the past. In this talk, Turner-Yamamoto will share her experience of writing her novel, Loving the Dead and Gone (Independent Publisher Book Awards Gold Medalist for Best Southern Regional Fiction), and how she used sense memory to enter the live past. By immersing herself in the sensory details of her grandparents' barns, kitchens, and rooms filled with preserved foods, funeral wreaths, and the clothes of the dead, she was able to recreate a world that was rapidly changing as people left the farms for the prosperity promised by post-war manufacturing. Turner-Yamamoto will discuss how she employs sense memory in her world-building and how it helped her to convey a sense of place and time that is rooted in the past. By evoking the sights, sounds, and smells of a bygone era, she was able to create a vivid and compelling story that resonates with readers today.
Through her experience, she hopes to inspire others to use sense memory as a tool for exploring the past and experiencing powerful works of fiction. By tapping into our own memories and the memories of those who came before us, we can bring the past to life in new and unexpected ways, and perhaps even find a sense of connection and belonging in an ever-changing world.
Fractured Families: Storytelling through Trauma
In this talk, Judith Turner-Yamamoto will speak about writing Loving the Dead and Gone (Independent Publisher Book Awards Gold Medalist for Best Southern Regional Fiction), which found seed in her earliest childhood memory. The story is rooted in a family tragedy which conflated with later parental perfidies to become the novel. As writers, we tend to use our art to process and understand the emotions we're feeling. Through exploring my characters' internal dialogues, she was able to better understand the family members and the traumas that shaped her early life.
As humans, we all struggle with pain, family dysfunction and estrangement, loss, grief, and other emotions that are often difficult to express. However, sorrow, longing, and transcendence have long been associated with creativity. In this talk, Turner-Yamamoto will discuss the process of accessing the fictional inner life of a character to explain someone from your own history. Turner-Yamamoto will also share the tools and techniques that she has used to translate collective pain into language. Turner-Yamamoto hopes to encourage others to look at their own family stories as a source of material for their creative work. By doing so, we can better understand ourselves and the people who have shaped us, and perhaps even find some measure of healing through the act of creation.
Equipment needs: Microphone, lectern, table, projector, and screen
Available as virtual programs: Yes
World War II was on the Air
Did you know World War II was the first time Americans could hear news reports from the battlefields while the battles were still being fought? Radio made it possible. World War II was the first major war to occur after radio was developed. And, because World War II news was “on the air,” it reached audiences around the world faster and more dramatically than news of any previous war. It changed how news was reported, influenced how war was waged, and laid the foundation for today’s 24/7 news coverage. This presentation will include audio clips of World War II news reports by legendary broadcasters such as Edward R. Murrow, Harry Reasoner, Charles Collingwood, George Hicks, and others.
Equipment needs: Sound system that will accept audio input from a laptop, audio cassette player, or CD player
Music and Musicians in the American Civil War
This presentation is interspersed with Civil War era tunes performed by a small ensemble of musicians playing lap dulcimers, banjos, and other instruments. It focuses on the assertion of some music historians that the Civil War was “America’s most musical war” and perhaps “the most musical war ever, anywhere.” More than 2,000 new musical compositions were published in the first year of the war. Some 80,000 men served as musicians in the Union and Confederate armies. And, many of the Civil War’s favorite tunes are still popular today.
Equipment needs: Sound system with multiple microphones is helpful but not required
Available as virtual programs: No
The Journey to Women's Suffrage
U.S. Women's Suffrage was achieved through the convergence of many varied and winding paths. Before the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, many women could vote, but by 1807 that right had been abolished in all states. In the early 1800s, it was not considered appropriate for women to speak in public, and married women could not own property nor did they have rights to their wages if they worked, while women were also believed to be the moral center of family life. This position led them to advocate for Abolition, Temperance, Dress Reform, Prison Reform, Property Rights, Free Love and Free Thinking, and Spiritualism. Even the 1890s Bicycle Craze played a role! From Seneca Falls to the adoption of the 19th Amendment on August 26, 1920, this presentation highlights how women came to voice, learned to organize, and eventually achieved Women's Suffrage through decades of work and many, many intersecting movements, organizations, and events. Featured are a number of women beyond Stanton and Anthony who "rocked the vote" even before they could vote, such as Alice Paul, Victoria Woodhull, Ida B. Wells, Lucy Stone, and Kentucky's own Laura Clay.
Listening to Indigenous Voices: New/Old Revelations in Native American History and Culture
Did you learn in school about the first Thanksgiving, the Bering Strait, even that Columbus "discovered" America? Were you told that the North American continent was barely populated, and that indigenous peoples had little to no impact on the land? The past 40 years of research have drastically altered this picture. We'll look at migration theories, population estimates, how advanced peoples in the Americas were--there were cities larger than London with significant technologies. The oldest known human-made structure, near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is several thousand years older than the Egyptian Pyramids. We'll discuss how certain stereotypes developed and compare creation stories and philosophies that open different ways of being in the world. We'll listen to the Native voices that have been trying to give us this history and culture for a long time.
Equipment needs: Projector, screen
Available as virtual program: Yes
Driftwood: The Life of Harlan Hubbard
Writer, artist, and sustainability pioneer Harlan Hubbard (1900-1988) lived an unassuming life, only to find himself embedded in the historical memory of Kentucky. Based on the upcoming, comprehensive biography, Driftwood: The Life of Harlan Hubbard, this presentation brings to life the story of a man who, though beloved by his fellow Kentuckians, deserves broad recognition in the disciplines of American landscape painting, writing, and environmental advocacy. Hubbard stands as a rightful heir to the Transcendentalist ethos who, like his revered predecessor Henry David Thoreau, offers a vision for unique and responsible American lives. Author Jessica K. Whitehead guides her audience toward this vision, using rare and engaging resources to illustrate the Hubbard story.
The History of the Kentucky Derby in 10 Objects
Based on the object-based history of the Kentucky Derby from Jessica K. Whitehead, curator of collections for the Kentucky Derby Museum, this presentation explores the origins and development of the famous race through the Museum's collection of historic artifacts and archival materials. Through these physical touchstones of Derby history, audiences will discover the ups-and-downs of Churchill Downs' early years, learn about the essential contributions of Black Americans, Latin Americans, and women to the track's most famous event, and understand why the Kentucky Derby is so much more than a horse race.
Equipment needs: Microphone, podium, projector for PowerPoint shown from MacBook
Available as virtual program: Yes