“Confluences” Cairo, IL

?       Richard Kuenneke (DeepRoar Content): “A Gathering of Stories: The Mound City National Cemetery”—Cultural documentarian and filmmaker Richard Kuenneke will share various narratives from the history of the Mound City National Cemetery in Pulaski County, Illinois. The cemetery, which was associated with one of the largest Union military hospitals, is the resting place of hundreds of Civil War veterans from Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky, including more than 300 members of the United States Colored Troops, as well as people who served in the military throughout the late 19^th, 20^th, and 21^st centuries. Their stories, as well as those of people who have maintained and managed the cemetery, provide insights into many facets of our regional and national histories.

?       Betsy Brown & Laura Varner (General John A. Logan Museum): “Southern Illinois Civil War Stories: Three Women’s Perspectives”—President Betsy Brown and curator Laura Varner of the General John A. Logan Museum in Murphysboro will present a dramatization of letters exchanged between families from southern Illinois who were embroiled in the Civil War and Mary Logan, who ventured to Cairo in an effort to reach her husband, John A. Logan, when he was mistakenly listed as having been killed in the Battle of Fort Donelson. They will also discuss the possibility of developing a museum trail in southern Illinois to facilitate mutually beneficial cooperation among museums throughout the region.

?       Darrel Dexter (Regional historian, educator, and author): “Famous Visitors to Cairo”—Historian and author Darrel Dexter, recently retired from Egyptian High School in Alexander County, will recount visits to Cairo, Illinois, by nationally and internationally renowned figures—including multiple Presidents and other influential elected officials; military officers; authors and artists; journalists; religious leaders; and social reformers and civil rights advocates—from the late 18^th century to the present. Their engagement with Cairo both reflects and contributes to the community’s multifaceted significance at the national level.

?       Questions, comments, and discussion will follow each presentation.

?       Kesiena Obue (Southern Illinois University Carbondale): “Charles Dickens’ Cairo, Illinois: A Prophetic Confluence of Past, Present, and ‘A Christmas Carol’”—Theatrical writer and director Kesiena Obue will illuminate parallels between Charles Dickens’s observations from his 1842 visit to Cairo and his creation of the setting of “A Christmas Carol,” arguing that his critique of Victorian England’s wealth disparity is equally applicable to the racial and economic struggles of Cairo during much of its history. Her directorial reimagination of “A Christmas Carol,” set in 1920s Cairo, amplifies these connections by positioning Scrooge as a figure of unchecked commercial greed and the Cratchit family as emblematic of Black resilience in the face of systemic oppression.

?       Nathan Lynn (McCracken County Public Libraries): “The Mary Wheeler Collection: A Lower Ohio Valley Folksong Archive”—Nathan Lynn, a local history specialist with McCracken County Public Libraries in Paducah, Kentucky, will explore folksongs and related primary sources compiled by Paducah-based musicologist Mary Wheeler (1892–1976), author of Roustabout Songs: A Collection of Ohio River Valley Folk Songs and Steamboatin’ Days: Folk Songs of the River Packet Era. The collection, maintained by McCracken County Public Libraries, features songs and images shared with Wheeler by residents of western Kentucky who worked as roustabouts and chambermaids on packet boats in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

?       John Shoptaw (University of California, Berkeley): “Blues Haiku: Music, Poem, and Place”—John Shoptaw, raised in rural southeast Missouri, is a poet and educator whose work has appeared in nationally significant publications. He will read and discuss selections from his poetry, including “Blues Haiku,” which draws upon the natural and cultural landscapes of the Confluence region. As its title suggests, it synthesizes the three-line AAB blues form with the three-line Japanese haiku form. He will also read from “Wahite,” which is patterned after hymn forms and named for a Missouri Bootheel drainage ditch where, as a teenager, he was baptized into his girlfriend’s Delmo Independent Missionary Baptist Church.

?       Questions, comments, and discussion will follow each presentation.