Eastern Kentucky University will host the 31st annual Ohio Valley History Conference Oct. 1-3.
The theme for this year’s conference is “The Sixties: A 50-Year Retrospective” and will feature a number of scholarly presentations on the tumultuous decade. Approximately 150 professional historians, high school teachers, librarians and graduate students are expected to participate.
Dr. Gerald L. Smith, professor of history at the University of Kentucky, will deliver the keynote address on the topic "Revisiting My Old Kentucky Home: Race, Memory and Civil Rights." Smith, the lead co-editor of the recently published Kentucky African American Encyclopedia, will speak at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, in the Perkins Building. Following the banquet, Smith and his co-editors will sign copies of their landmark work.
"The history faculty at Eastern hosts this conference every six or seven years," said Dr. Tom Appleton, EKU Foundation Professor of history. "We enjoy sharing our hospitality and showing off our campus to visitors. Although most people attending will be from neighboring states, this year we have speakers coming in from as far away as California and Washington."
All sessions will be held in the Perkins Building and are free and open to the public, with the exception of the Friday evening banquet. For more information, visit history.eku.edu/ovhc. Reservations for the Friday night dinner must be made by Sept. 29; contact Diane Tyer at 859-622-1287.