Keynote speaker’s study of civil rights and racial justice in America is essential to understanding of modern U.S. history, especially as it concerns Florida, notes Saint Leo assistant professor Daniel DuBois.
Members of local historical societies, researchers, museum curators, and college students are invited by the Florida Conference of Historians to attend the group’s 2022 annual meeting, to be hosted from Friday, February 25, through Sunday, February 27, on the campus of Saint Leo University.
The university is located in the east Pasco County town of St. Leo, just north of Tampa and accessible from Interstate 75, Exit 285, four miles east of the interchange at 33701 County Road 52. Parking on campus is free.
Early registration is open until February 18, with advance fees ranging from $40 for college students to $125 for full-time, employed professionals. An opening reception is slated for Friday evening (February 25) at the Hilton Garden Inn-Tampa Wesley Chapel, which is about 20 minutes from the campus.
On Saturday and for part of Sunday, historians who research and teach at Florida colleges and universities, along with other scholars, will participate in panel discussions and share individual research findings from a wide variety of topics from state, national, and international history.
A sampling of subjects from the conference program includes:
According to Dr. Daniel DuBois, the 2022-2023 president of the historians’ group and an assistant professor of history at Saint Leo University, a highlight of the weekend will be a keynote address Saturday evening from the prominent author-teacher J. Michael Butler of Flagler College in St. Augustine. Butler is the Kenan Distinguished Professor of History at Flagler, and his areas of expertise include civil rights history, U.S. Southern history and cultural history.
“We are very excited to welcome Dr. Butler as the keynote speaker for this year’s Florida Conference of Historians,” DuBois said. “His scholarship on civil rights and racial justice in America is essential to our understanding of modern U.S. history, especially as it concerns Florida. Dr. Butler’s commitment to service and community engagement is also exemplary and reflects the best of what historians can do to promote a deeper and more truthful engagement with the past among the public.”
More program details and registration information can be found at the website for the Florida Conference of Historians: http://www.floridaconferenceofhistorians.org/annual-meeting.html.
For more information or special accommodations, contact: Megan Case, events and special programs administrator for Saint Leo University’s College of Arts and Sciences, at (352) 588-8401 or megan.case@saintleo.edu.