Speaker Series

All Clarke Speaker Series events are free and open to the public. Please contact us at Clarke@cmich.edu or 989.774.3864 if you need accommodation.

A reception in the Clarke Historical Library will follow each talk.

Fall 2023

Delia Fernández-Jones
Department of History, Michigan State University


IN-PERSON EVENT
7:00 p.m.
October 10, 2023
Sarah and Daniel Opperman Auditorium, Park Library

Generations of Latinos have shaped the culture of the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Relating some of the stories she gathered for her new book, Making the MexiRican City: Migration, Placemaking, and Activism in Grand Rapids, Michigan (University of Illinois Press, 2023), Dr. Fernández-Jones will talk about how Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Tejano communities in Grand Rapids came together to respond to social, racial, and economic challenges.

In wintertime, a Casual close-up outdoor headshot of Delia Fernandez-Jones from the Department of History at Michigan State University.

 

Book cover of the book title

Catherine Cangany, Executive Director
Jewish History Museum of Michigan


IN-PERSON EVENT
7:00 p.m.
October 26, 2023
Sarah and Daniel Opperman Auditorium, Park Library

In April 1910, the prices of kosher meat in Detroit soared. Inspired by events in New York and New Jersey, local Jewish women organized and enforced a boycott of kosher meat, even opening a co-op market to help feed the community, taking on the Gilded Age robber barons’ ‘beef trust.’

Closeup headshot of Executive Director Jewish History Museum of Michigan Catherine Cagany on a dark background.

Jack Dempsey
"Midwest Woman Speaks:
The Civil War Story of Ellen Woodworth"


IN-PERSON EVENT
7:00 p.m.
November 30, 2023
Sarah and Daniel Opperman Auditorium, Park Library

Historian Jack Dempsey will share his research into Ellen Preston Woodworth and her husband, Samuel, who left a record of their experiences during the U.S. Civil War; their correspondence and other manuscripts are held in the Clarke Historical Library. Dempsey’s new book, When Slavery and Rebellion Are Destroyed: A Michigan Woman’s Civil War Journal (University of Georgia Press, 2023), connects the experiences of this couple to the national struggle over slavery and freedom.

Casual headshot of historian Jack Dempsey outdoors wearing a plaid shirt and sunglasses.

Book cover of the book titled