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Virtual Lecture: “The Shared Histories of German Immigrants and African Americans in Missouri”
December 4 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Free and open to the public but registration is required.
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A link to the Zoom webinar will be sent to you after registration.
Within the social and political context of nineteenth-century Missouri, Sydney Norton will examine the impacts of German immigrants who were dedicated to ending slavery, and who, in some cases, worked with African Americans to institute laws of social equality after slavery was abolished. Included will be political figures, such as Friedrich Muench, Arnold Krekel, and Henry and Augustus Boernstein. Cecilia Nadal will follow with a discussion of how the story of the German abolitionists inspired her to investigate the shared history of African Americans and German Americans. After analyzing their complex and evolving historical relationships prior to, during, and following the Civil War, Nadal will share insights gleaned from discussion groups she facilitated with urban and rural Missourians from both ethnic groups. She will discuss the importance of knowing this history of relationships in our society today as well as how this history shaped the direction of her play An Amazing Story: German Abolitionists of Missouri.
Cecilia Nadal is a sociologist, playwright and community engagement professional who uses arts and history to bring diverse cultural groups together to co-create and problem-solve. For the past six years she has organized and developed symposia and local dialogue groups on the “Shared History of German Immigrants and African Americans” throughout the State of Missouri.
Sydney J. Norton is an independent scholar, translator, and educator in St. Louis, who earned her doctorate in German literature and cultural studies at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. She is the editor of “Fighting for a Free Missouri: German Immigrants, African Americans, and the Issue of Slavery,” a collection of essays published by the University of Missouri Press in 2023.
This event is sponsored by the Max Kade Institute for German American Studies.