2021 Hancock Symposium breakout session 2 on "Disrupting the Narrative: Why Civil War History Matters" by Amy Laurel Fluker, PhD, '08, Robert W. Reeder I Professor of History at Youngstown State University. 10:30 am September 16, 2021, Coulter Science Center room 304. History is not set in stone but is an ever-evolving narrative that reflects the values of the present. In 2020, for example, the Black Lives Matter movement inspired a dramatic and controversial reappraisal of Civil War history. This talk will explain how racial politics have shaped popular understandings of the war’s causes and consequences. It will illustrate how Civil War history has been used both to empower some and to marginalize others. Finally, it will reflect on the fundamental importance of history to our identities, culture, and politics. Amy Laurel Fluker ‘08, is the Robert W. Reeder I Professor of History at Youngstown State University in Ohio. After graduating from Westminster College in 2008, she received her MA and PhD from the University of Mississippi. Fluker is a historian of the United States specializing in the study of Civil War memory, with a particular emphasis on the intersection between regional identity and Civil War commemoration in the West. Her research interests include the Civil War era, Missouri history, women's history, and total war. Fluker is the author of Commonwealth of Compromise: Civil War Commemoration in Missouri. The 2021 Hancock Symposium on "Beyond 2020: Finding Opportunity in an Age of Disruption" invited Westminster students to actively and creatively examine the disruptions of 2020 in order to cast a vision for our collective future. If we needed reminders that life will serve up challenges none of us would have predicted, the year 2020 provided plenty. The great pandemic, heated protests over racial injustice, and a disputed election dominated the headlines. But other great disruptions troubled us at least as much: some as global as environmental disasters, others as personal as the loss of a job or a loved one in the midst of COVID-19. Disruption is often painful, but with it comes opportunity. When the familiar ways forward are blocked, we explore new ways, whether in science and technology, business and finance, politics and justice, or even in how we imagine community and relationships. Beyond 2020, we have the chance to break new ground, letting go of old paradigms and embracing new, innovative ways of working and living together. Learn more Westminster College: https://www.wcmo.edu

The public stream of the Youngstown State University Board of Trustees Meeting | March 4, 2020

Missouri State Museum was live.

As a part of the Missouri Bicentennial Video Series produced by Trails Regional Library and the University of Central Missouri, Dr. Amy Laurel Fluker shared her published work about the history and significance of the Confederate Home in Higginsville. This content was produced thanks to a grant funded by The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and administered by the Missouri Humanities Council.

As in 2016, the 2020 election year shined a spotlight on the Midwest. This conference continues a vibrant discussion which has grown significantly over the last six years, a collaborative conference designed to spark – and sustain – a revival of Midwestern studies in American historiography. Infused with the varieties of original research pursued by scholars from many different career paths and stages, this annual gathering strives to cultivate rigorous historical understanding of a complex, dynamic, and misunderstood region. Hosted for the seventh year by the Hauenstein Center in collaboration with the Midwestern History Association and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, Library & Museum, this conference will assemble a broad array of historians, literary scholars, and cultural commentators dedicated to rebuilding the field of Midwestern studies. In casting light upon the vast expanse of scholarly terrain available in Midwestern history to those willing to cultivate it in their minds, classrooms, and research centers, “The Midwest at the Intersection of Past and Present” will continue the project of rebuilding the intellectual infrastructure necessary for studies of the American Midwest to flourish.

The State Historical Society of Missouri's annual fall lecture was held via Zoom webinar on November 7, 2020 with speaker Amy Laurel Fluker, the Robert W. Reeder I Professor of nineteenth-century American history at Youngstown State University. Introduced by SHSMO Second Vice President and U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, Fluker discusses Civil War commemoration in Missouri as pursued most often by women and from both sides of the conflict. Fluker's book, Commonwealth of Compromise: Civil War Commemoration in Missouri, can be ordered from SHSMO's Richard Bookstore at https://shop.shsmo.org You can support more programs like these by becoming a member at https://shsmo.org/join Music: https://www.bensound.com

For Episode 9 of the U.S. Grant History Chat, Ranger Nick interviews Amy Laurel Fluker, Professor of History at Youngstown State University. Dr. Fluker discussed the Civil War in Missouri and shared some insights from her new book, "Commonwealth of Compromise: Civil War Commemoration in Missouri" (University of Missouri Press). This interview was conducted on June 30, 2020.