As part of their Documented Rights Exhibit, the National Archives at St. Louis hosted a panel to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation draft. The panel featured an impressive group of St. Louis academic scholars and local community leaders. Panelists examined the following topics: the period leading up to the Emancipation Proclamation's passage; response to the proclamation; accomplishments in education since the proclamation's passage; and baseball great Jackie Robinson's military court martial for refusing to give up his seat on a bus. This program was held in conjunction with the Documented Rights civil rights eight-month exhibition which recently closed. Speakers: Lynne M. Jackson is the great-great granddaughter of Dred and Harriet Scott and founder of The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation of St. Louis, MO. Reverend Dr. Robert Charles Scott is the pastor of Central Baptist Church of St. Louis where Dred and Harriet Scott attended services in the 19th century. Moderator: Bonita Cornute is one of St. Louis' most distinguished broadcast journalists. She is currently a consumer affairs reporter with Fox 2 in St. Louis. Cornute is an award-winning journalist and the recipient of numerous awards for her work in journalism and her work in the community. Her career spans more than 20 years in the St. Louis area. Panel Speakers: Dr. Louis Saxton Gerteis is a professor of history at the University of Missouri-St. Louis where he specializes in 19th century United States history, slavery, emancipation, civil war, and reconstruction history. Gerteis will examine Missouri's role as a border state and events leading up to the drafting (1862) and eventual order (1863) of the Emancipation Proclamation. Mr. James Vincent, Sr. is the cofounder of The St. Louis African-American History and Genealogy Society (AAHS). He currently chairs AAHS's state committees for Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois. Vincent will discuss responses to the Emancipation Proclamation's passage. Dr. Priscilla A. Dowden-White is an associate professor of history at the University of Missouri-St. Louis where she teaches United States history. She specializes in African-American, African, and Latin history. Dowden-White will present a paper titled, Educating Missouri's Black Citizenry from Emancipation to Brown [Brown v. Board of Education,1954] Dr. Gerald Early is a professor of English and the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters at Washington University in St. Louis. Early will discuss baseball great Jackie Robinson's court martial by the U.S. Army when Robinson refused to give up his seat on a bus in 1944. Contact the National Archives at St. Louis Public Programming at 314-801-0487 or Wanda Williams at 314-801-9313 for more information.

Be the first to comment