Arkansas State University's Department of English, Philosophy and World Languages Presents
Delta Symposium XXVIII: Labor History and Contemporary Laborlore
Events will be on campus with on-line components. Unless otherwise notated, all events will be held at A-State's Carl R. Reng Student Union’s Mockingbird Room
Thursday, March 30
8:30 – 9:15 Legendary Laborlore
Opening Plenary Talk
Alan Brown (University of West Alabama): “Still on the Job: Lessons Learned from Workplace Hauntings”
Introduced by Rachael Isom (Director of Graduate Studies)
9:30 – 10:45 Laborlore and Public Presentations of History
Panel Session
Penny Toombs and Donna Shelton (Arkansas State University Heritage Sites) and Alexander Cole (Williams Baptist University): “Presenting and Interpreting Labor History Connected to the Southern Tenant Farmers Union”
Lauren Adams Willette (Arkansas Folk & Traditional Arts): “Community Minded: A Holistic Approach to Outreach and Programming”
Moderated by Adam Long
11:00 – 12:15 Media Representations of History
Research Presentations
Abigail Mock and Jacob Wicinski (Arkansas State University): “Perceptions and Political Views of Gen Z: An Exploratory Study”
Lillie M. Fears (Arkansas State University): “Phillips County, Arkansas: A Mecca for Black Blues and Entrepreneurship in Radio”
Moderated by Leslie Reed
1:30 – 2:30 Shop Talk on Documentary Film with Streaming Video
Screening of Bearskin, film by Tom Davenport and Mimi Davenport
Tom Davenport (Folkstreams) will be featured in an on-line discussion moderated by Gregory Hansen
3:00 – 4:45 Labor and Literature
Research Presentations
Amy Schmidt (William Baptist University): “The Twine that Binds: Race, Rice, and Land in Julie Peterkin’s Black April and Scarlet Sister Mary”
James Stannard (University of Essex): ‘The Southern Trickster and Capitalist Consumption”
Emmaline Williams (Arkansas State University): “Our Bodies, Our Selves: Women as Technology and the Annihilation of the Self in Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives”
Moderated by Marcus Tribbett
5:00 – 5:45 Some Sweet Day and Labor History
Readers Theatre
Presentation on a musical written by Si Kahn by the Delta Symposium Players
Coordinated by Jessica Tran and Emmaline Williams
Friday, March 31
8:00 – 8:45 Peeking into the Past in the Moment of Now – Three Locations in the Mississippi Delta
Research Presentations
Revis Edmonds (Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism): “The Disunion of a Timber Town: The Great Georgia-Pacific Crossett Strike of 1985”
John C. Fisher (Independent Scholar, Kennett, MO): “The 1939 Southeast Missouri Sharecroppers Demonstration”
Moderated by Ed Salo
9:00 – 10:30 Music History, Labor History, and Laborlore
Research Presentations
Olga Ponomareva (Mississippi Valley State University): ““Slave Songs and the Origin of Delta Blues”
Andrew Scheiber (University of St. Thomas): “The Un-Hunger Artist: Elvis as a Working Class Hero”
Joshua Youngblood (University of Arkansas Libraries): “‘We Do What We Can’: Lee Hays, ‘America’s Disinherited,’ and the Media of Arkansas Labor in the 1930s”
Moderated by Lauren Adams Willette
10:45 – 1:15 Keynote Presentation
Screening of Documentary Film Descendant
Kern M. Jackson (University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL)
Introduced by Cherisse Jones-Branch (James and Wanda Lee Vaughn Endowed Professor of History and Dean of Graduate School)
1:30 – 3:00 Labor Histories Across Delta Regions
Research Presentations
Vanessa Charlot and Marquita Smith (University of Mississippi): “Visual Representations of Black American Labor in the Mississippi Delta”
Gary T. Edwards (Arkansas State University): “Striving for the American Dream in the Antebellum Delta: A Story of Family Migration and Farming in Tennessee and Arkansas”
Ashley Steenson (University of Alabama): “Theodore Roosevelt and the Louisiana Delta”
Moderated by Faisal Mohammed
3:15 – 4:00 Musical History and Labor History
Research Presentation and Panel Discussion
Riva R. Brown (University of Central Arkansas) and Timothy Edwards (University of Arkansas at Little Rock): “‘Work to Do’: A Content Analysis of Songs about Workday Realities and Labor Relations”
Moderated by Bill Clements
4:15 – 5:30 Poetry Meet-Up and Tributary Preview
Poetry Reading
John Zheng (Mississippi Valley State University), Guest Poet
Creative Writing and Poetry Readings
Student writers and contributors to A-State’s literary magazine
Session Introduced by Kerri L. Bennett, Tributary Faculty Advisor
Moderated by Jessica Tran
7:00 – 8:00 Poetry Reading
Readings by Ed Madden
Introduced by Bryan Moore (Assistant Chair, Department of English, Philosophy, and World Languages, Arkansas State University)
A-State Carl R. Reng Student Union, Mockingbird Room
Reception to follow in Vaughn Lounge
Saturday, April 1
9:00 – 11:30 Tombstone Talk and Cemetery Tour
Presentation and tour by Jennifer Hardaway (Arkansas State University)
Visit to Jonesboro City Cemetery during this session
For those who only will take the tour, meet at 10:15 at the parking lot of St. Bernards Auditorium, 505 E. Washington Avenue
10:00 – 5:00 A-State Museum
Guests are invited to visit the university’s museum throughout the day
36th annual children’s art exhibition Through a Child’s Eyes on display
The Delta Symposium and the Arkansas Roots Music Festival are made possible with support from KASU 91.9 FM, A-State Heritage Sites, Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts, Native Brew Works, Judd Hill Foundation, Mississippi County Hospital System, and the Osceola/South Mississippi Chamber of Commerce.
