Symposium
The Deutschheim Verein has conducted a statewide tour of the Symposium on the Shared History of Germans and African Americans this year. This well-received program will culminate in a special celebratory event in Jefferson City on February 17th, 2024 that is free to the public. The Symposium focuses on relationships between Germans and African Americans in Missouri, before, during and after the Civil War. Sociologist and playwright, Cecilia Nadal, who is organizing the event said, “There can be no greater example of the allyship between Missouri German immigrant abolitionists and African Americans than the start of Lincoln University and the dedicated efforts of these men to make the institution sustainable. When freedmen and slaves serving in the 62nd and 65th regiments of the United States Colored Troops expressed a desire to be educated their greatest supporters were prominent German Abolitionists Judge Arnold Krekel and Josef Anton Rieger. Both of these men worked tirelessly alongside United States Colored Troops Officer Richard Baxter Foster to secure a building, maintain it and persuade previously pro-slavery legislators to support the institution at the state level. Our desire to conclude the tour at Lincoln University is significant and symbolic! All one has to do is look at the current roster of professors, staff and students to recognize the continued relationship between these two major groups!”
Sponsors for this program include Lincoln University, the Missouri Arts Council, the Old Munichburg Association, Cross-Cultural Strategies Inc. and the NAACP. These organizations are vigorously targeting local community based organizations and churches in order to reach all members of the Jefferson City community. These sponsorships are intended to help us reach diverse community and audience members within the Jefferson City area.
The Symposium will take place on Saturday, February 17 from 2:00 PM-4:00 PM at Martin Luther King Hall in the Pawley Theater located at 812 E. Dunklin St., Jefferson City, MO. The Symposium will feature presentations of African and German American history, music and excerpts from Nadal’s play An Amazing Story: German Abolitionists of Missouri. Symposium speakers include Dr. Gary Kremer, executive director of the Missouri State Historical Society; Nadal; Dr. Sydney Norton, author of German Immigrant Abolitionists: Fighting for a Free Missouri; and Dr. John Wright author of 12 books on African American history in Missouri. Essays by these speakers are featured in the recently released anthology Fighting for a Free Missouri: German Immigrants, African Americans, and the Issue of Slavery (University of Missouri Press).
In addition to the Symposium the Deutschheim Verein and our collaborators are asking citizens of the Jefferson City area to send in family or personal stories about relationships between Germans and African Americans. Participants will receive an invitation to share their stories in an intimate group session. For more details visit deutschheimverein.org/shared-history/ or email info@gitana-inc.org.