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LAWRENCE -- Hall Center for the Humanities at the University of Kansas, in collaboration with the Watkins Community Museum of History, will offer a second series of programs titled "Our History Part II: Listening to America/Lawrence, 1945-1972."
All programs will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday evenings, starting Oct. 9, at the Watkins Community Museum, 1047 Massachusetts St. A box supper will be provided free of charge with preregistration. This event is free and open to the public. Steve Jansen of the Watkins Community Museum will provide a short presentation on each occasion.
"We see this series as a new opportunity for a relationship between the community museum and the city," Jansen said.
Local residents who participated in events from 1945 to 1972 will add their observations to each session. Victor Bailey, Hall Center director, will moderate.
The first program, "Community Redefined: Has the Automobile Helped or Hindered?" will address how auto-mobility has affected the Lawrence community.
The series continues on Oct. 16 with "Race Relations: Free State Ideals and Jim Crow Patterns." The session will focus on how World War II provoked changes in the interaction between blacks and whites in Lawrence. Disparities in white/black population growth in recent decades will also be examined.
The third and final program, on Oct. 23, is "Colliding Values: Berkeley on the Kaw." This session will examine the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Lawrence and the University of Kansas were caught up in political and social upheaval. Wesley Sims Jr., a decorated veteran who protested segregation here in 1946, refused to leave the whites-only area of Lawrence's Varsity theatre. Swimming pool elections, conflicts at Lawrence High School and marches down Massachusetts Street continued the challenges in later years. Tim Miller, professor of religious studies at KU; Bob Shelton, associate professor of religious studies; and Roger Martin of the KU Center for Research Inc. will participate in the discussions.
Preregistration is required one week in advance of each session for the box supper only. To register or to obtain more information, please contact the Hall Center at (785) 864-4798, e-mail at hallcenter@ku.edu, or visit http://www.hallcenter.ku.edu.
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