On Friday, April 14, 2023, from 1:00 to 6:30 p.m., a public symposium will be held marking the recent release of Left in the Midwest: St. Louis Progressive Activism in the 1960s and 1970s (University of Missouri Press). The volume is a first-of-its-kind anthology exploring the exceptional range of progressive social activism that took shape in 1960s–70s St. Louis. Bringing together four of the volume’s chapter authors and four organizers active in the era’s movement work, the event will offer innovative scholarship and vibrant first-hand accounts of a dynamic chapter of St. Louis history.

The event takes place at the historic former home of Berea Presbyterian Church (now St. Louis University’s “Il Monastero Center”), a hub for 1960s civil rights work that was adjacent to the storied LaClede Town residential complex. The symposium is free and open to the public (with free off-street parking), and includes refreshments plus a concluding reception with chapter-authors’ book signing.

Highlighting St. Louis narratives of the Black freedom struggle, gay liberation, environmental and feminist organizing, the peace movement, and beyond, the anthology and this symposium call into question St. Louis’s mid-20th-century reputation as a conservative and sleepy Midwestern metropolis while honoring the experiences of determined organizers who fought for equity and social change.

Co-sponsored by SLU’s Departments of American Studies, Women’s & Gender Studies, and African American Studies, and by Left Bank Books.

*SCHEDULE*
-- 1:00pm: Refreshments

-- 1:30pm: Opening remarks and welcome

-- 2:00pm: Chapter authors panel featuring:
* Heidi Ardizzone on St. Louis’s postwar civil rights movement
* Gretchen Arnold on feminist activism in the 1960s and 1970s
* Mary Maxfield on violence and lesbian space-making in 1970s St. Louis
* Ezelle Sanford III on African American grassroots activism to defend Homer G. Phillips Hospital

-- 3:30pm: Coffee break

-- 4:00pm: Activists panel featuring:
* Percy Green, founder of ACTION and St. Louis civil rights trailblazer
* Jim Thomas, founding chair of Pride St. Louis and co-founder and editor of the Lesbian & Gay News-Telegraph
* Zenobia Thompson, co-chair of the Committee to Save Homer G. Phillips Hospital And All Public Hospitals and co-chair of the Change the Name Coalition
* Kayla Vaughan, anti-war and feminist activist

-- 5:30pm: Reception and author signing