Extra Credit: Kansas Supreme Court Justices

On March 14, two justices from the Kansas Court of Appeals will be giving a public lecture on the principles of law at Pittsburg State University.  The Honorable Richard D. Green, Chief Justice, and the Honorable Karen Arnold-Burger will be presenting their lecture at 10:00 A.M. in the Governor’s Room of the Student Union.  The justices will also be available after the lecture to meet with students interested in careers in law.
Contact dbsamson@pittstate.edu for more information.

Extra Credit: Historical Recreation of Bloody Kansas Debate

I have to admit, I’m not entirely sure whether they’re going to recreate a period debate or try to use modern conflict resolution methods on reenactors. Either way, it could be interesting.

Kansas Settlers Try Again Beyond “Bloody Kansas”

Thea Nietfeld, Presenter

February 15 at 2:00 pm in the Balkans Room at the Overman Student Center In honor of Black History Month and  150th anniversary of Kansas statehood Sponsored by The Tilford Group, Student Diversity, & Campus Activities Center

Grounded in history and theory, this presentation engages participants with a situation that was formative for our regional culture in order to imagine alternatives for the future. The “Bloody Kansas” era used violence to terrorize political opponents, such as in the massacres at Pottawatamie and Marias des Cygnes Creeks.  By bringing Captain John Brown and other leaders to life, we can consider alternative approaches for their decision-making.

Thea Nietfeld is an experienced in conflict resolution and has done numerous public presentations on peaceful alternatives in conflict resolution and negotiation. Her work with labor unions and as a state volunteer mediator in Iowa and Oklahoma led her to focus on peacemaking in her work as Unitarian Universalist (UU) clergy. She teaches nonviolence at the college level and currently serves the UU Fellowship of Salina.

As always, extra credit requires attending the event and writing a 1-2 page summary/reaction paper.

Lost Sounds: the Rebel Yell

Recreating the sensory experience — sounds, tastes, smells, etc. — of the past is a fascinating challenge which historians have started to take much more seriously in  the last decade or so. It’s easier when there are examples to work from, but recording and photographic technology aren’t much more than a century-and-a-half old, and surviving early recordings and photographs are very rare and often don’t cover what the historian really wants to know. Sometimes, though, you get lucky. The Museum of the Confederacy — an educational and historical institution, not a memorial to the Lost Cause — has found several early recordings of the long-lost “Rebel Yell” and used digital sound technology to recreate the battlefield experience. Then, Civil War Reenactors took up the call, so to speak, and you can hear a 400-man brigade recreate the sound in the second video. [Via Kevin Levin]