History

A refreshing look beyond the distortions and rhetoric of the Islamaphobia industry in the US, Demystifying Shariah: What It Is, How It Works, and Why It’s Not Taking Over Our Country by Sumbul Ali-Karamali opens eyes to the rich & complex history & present of how Muslims try to faithfully follow God. Sumbul grew up in Southern California, and after becoming a corporate lawyer, she earned an additional degree in Islamic law.

The KKK experienced a "rebirth" in the early 1900's, growing virulently across the country, differently manifesting depending on the area. Dr. Michael Luick-Thrams is founder & director of TRACES Center for History and Culture, sponsors of the upcoming BUS-eum display & tour with 5 displays for 2020, Topic today is The White Cancer: America and its Ku Klux Klan, including the current 3rd wave which we are still in.

18 months ago we had the privilege of interviewing Chief Richard Quiet Thunder Gilbert, a deep visit about his place in creation, and that of his tribe, the Lenni Lenape people, and about their lessons of right relationship with the Earth.

Essential parts of our history have been willfully suppressed & ignored, but we can only be the best nation we can be by facing the facts - alternative facts won’t do. That has been the work of sociologist, historian, writer and teacher James Loewen.

Racism is deeply rooted in the USA, and entwined with religion. Katharine Gerbner, author of Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World, helps uproot the attitudes and untwine the prejudices in the hope of finding a clear way forward. Katharine is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Minnesota.

Robert B. Jones, Sr works joyfully to build bridges of understanding through music in an organization & project called Common Chords. Using tools of music, story-telling, history, & inspiration, Robert brings pleasure and insight to diverse audiences. Part of his richness is that he is also pastor of Sweet Kingdom Missionary Baptist Church of inner-city Detroit, where he seeks to inspire & heal the world in other ways.

Katherine van Wormer's book, The Maid Narratives: Black Domestics and White Families in the Jim Crow South draws on interviews from black maids and white women who had maids, to understand the reality of segregation, its norms, and its consequences.

There's a lot of questions, disgust & even despair about our elections, especially in this year's presidential contest. History teacher and recent congressional candidate Myron Buchholz can put the experience in context of 200+ years of democracy in the US. Why the electoral college, who could vote, how can people be prevented from voting, and do our votes count, historically and currently - these are some of the questions.

A visit with 3 people connected with UWEC's alternative spring break trip, the Civil Rights Pilgrimage. Kiersten Bauer has been a student participant in the pilgrimage twice. Jodi Thesing-Ritter is UW-EC Associate Dean of Students and teacher of Women's Studies, and she is the founder of the pilgrimage in 2008, and Bluegold Beginnings more recently.