Negro History Week began in the 1920s and, by the 1970s, it was known as Black History Month. Each February, our country celebrates the achievements of Black people and their role in history. But what value can be derived from segregating the study of Black history from the study of white history or Native American history?
Our esteemed moderator and panelists will lead a discussion about the power of history in our lives. Plus, one luck attendee will win a copy of McCormick's book, Some Were Paupers, Some Were Kings.
Moderator:
Mark McCormick is the director of strategic communications for the ACLU Kansas as well as an historian, novelist and sought-after speaker. He is a member of the Kansas African American Affairs Commission and the former executive director of The Kansas African American Museum.
Panelists:
Gretchen Cassel Eick is an award-winning author and professor of history at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. Eick spent 14 years as a foreign and military policy lobbyist in Washington, D.C.. She was awarded two Fulbright Scholar awards (to Latvia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) and a Fulbright Hays travel grant to South Africa. Her book, Dissent in Wichita: The Civil Rights Movement in the Midwest, 1954-1972 won three awards, resulted in two museum exhibits, and in 2009 a Telly-Award-winning documentary film about the first successful student-led sit-in, the 1958 Dockum Drug Store Sit-in in Wichita.
Pastor Robert Johnson has 25+ years of pastoral leadership experience in a variety of ministry contexts. He currently serves as the pastor of St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Wichita and is a board director of Kansas Interfaith Action.