Draughon Seminars in State and Local History launching this week
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The 2021 Draughon Seminars in State and Local History featuring Shari L. Williams launch this week with a presentation at the Irondale Public Library. Dr. Williams will give a talk titled “’Come Now, and Let Us Reason Together’: Cooperative Extension Clubs Empowerment of African American Farm Women and Girls, 1928-1965.”
Draughon Seminars in State and Local History are a series of lectures sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn. They are offered free of charge to public libraries, historical societies and other organizations around the state. Future programs with Williams are scheduled in partnership with the Bessemer Public Library, Prestwick Preservation Society, Florence-Lauderdale Public Library, Athens-Limestone Public Library, Madison Historic Preservation Commission, Birmingham Public Library and the Homewood Public Library. Organizations who are interested in scheduling a program may email cmdcah@auburn.edu for more information.
Williams is a historian of the modern American south, including the past, present and future of rural historic landscapes and cultural traditions in Alabama’s Black Belt with an emphasis on social history through the lens of race, gender and class. She is also a public historian. Williams is the first African American woman to be conferred a Ph.D. in history from Auburn. She is the executive director of the Ridge Macon County Archaeology Project which operates an interpretative center in Warrior Stand that offers educational programming focused on the history of the Federal Road through Macon County, multicultural migration and rural community development.
The Draughon Seminars in State and Local History series is funded by the Kelly Mosley Endowment in honor of Ralph B. Draughon, president of Auburn University from 1947 to 1965. Draughon was a historian with a deep commitment to both state history and public education.
Submitted by: Maiben Beard
