In order of presentation

Opening Keynote: "Racial capitalism and human migration in the history of St. Louis"

Walter Johnson

This paper seeks to build upon and advance work done on the history of racial capitalism in North America.  It argues that much of North American history has been framed by imperial, capitalist, and racist histories that are organically related by not identical to one another. Using examples drawn from the history of St. Louis, it suggests that migration history is essential to the understanding it seeks.

"Animated waters and the circulation of Indigenous instruction"

Joanna Hearne

While water as setting and as mirror have driven animation technologies in mainstream American animated features (requiring, in Disney's 1937 Snow White, the enormous resources of the multiplane camera), contemporary Indigenous productions activate another relationship of viewer to screen and viewer to water, converging to form a new Indigenous screen imaginary that connects instruction with care. This article traces the integration of North American Indigenous animation aesthetics with interrelated relationships and obligations around water and water protection. Drawing on examples from an expanding corpus of short animated productions, I argue that Indigenous ways of envisioning water present viewers with instruction towards action: water conveys a teaching. Following Lenape critic Joanne Barker's turn to water as an analytic – "a water that (in)forms, a water that instructs" – I explore Indigenous animation of water as both pedagogy and technology, a conjunction that foregrounds human creative authorship even as it decenters the human in favor of water as a teacher.

"Queer kinship and migration: A reflexive essay"

Derek Munson

This article will use queer migration and queer temporality theory to frame a self-reflexive narrative about my biographer/subject relationship with Lanford Wilson, an award-winning playwright and Missouri native. During the course of my research on Wilson's life and work, I discovered unique connections and parallels in our life trajectories: Wilson and I both grew up in the Ozark Mountains of southwest Missouri in neighboring small towns, Wilson during the 1950s and me during the 1980s; we both endured the trauma of "coming out" young and joined the queer diaspora as teenagers; and we both left Missouri to reimagine our lives in large queered urban enclaves where gay culture and the possibility of relational and sexual fulfillment were more available. In addition to staging queer identity quests that led us beyond the borders of Missouri, Wilson and I also followed similar career paths in a theatre industry that also demanded migration. My project thus investigates this shared queer migratory journey and how it informs my relationship with Wilson as a subject, while asking how the geography of "home" informed our life decisions to stage queer migrations out of small Missouri communities and into large metropolitan cities, and more broadly, how one might investigate the performative nature of traumatic displacement and memories of a place and time.

"Transnational Myanmar refugee youth identities: Digital diasporas and embodied heterogeneity" 

Rose Metro, Joseph Decker, Ma Maysi

How do refugee youth remain connected to their homelands and their communities despite displacement? We used a snowball sampling method to recruit and interview 15 ethnically diverse "1.5 generation" Myanmar refugee-background youth who arrived in various parts of the US as children or teenagers between 2008 and 2015. This unique population has roots in Myanmar and its borderlands, but came of age in the US. Through a series of three interviews with each participant over the course of one year, as well as digital ethnography methods, we have found that these young people maintain strong bonds with multiple "homelands" through digital networks, in-person gatherings, and trips back to Southeast Asia. Almost all of them include in their professional ambitions the desire to give back to communities in and displaced from Myanmar through health, education, or other fields. Their intersecting identities—"refugee," "citizen," "American," "Asian," "Burmese," as well as the multiple ethnic identifiers they embrace—embody the "entangled ways of life" that Anna Tsing (2015) describes. Building on Tsing's (2015) insight that "disturbance brings us into heterogeneity" (p. 161), we use a Critical Grounded Theory approach to generate the concept of "embodied heterogeneity." Embodied heterogeneity describes the mosaic of identities and experiences, the many-things-at-onceness, that these young people exhibit. In this qualitative study, we place the voices of participants in conversation with each other to illuminate the social landscapes and digital borderlands in which they make homes for themselves despite displacement and precarity.

"Exceptional Mexican American youth and their immigrant parents: Motivating and supporting academic success"

Theresa Torres

Alejandro Portes and Ruben Rumbaut's longitudinal study of the children of immigrants from 1992-2002 found that, of the 77 immigrant groups they covered, only five were in a downward spiral. Among these were Mexican American youth, the largest second-generation population, of which 48% did not complete high school. Portes and Rumbaut then focused on the exceptional youth of this generation who were successful in their ability to advance academically and economically within one generation. Their work forms the basis for my historical research into my own family, and the impact that one prominent relative made on the educational outcomes of the third, fourth, and fifth generations of Mexican American youth living in the Midwest from the 1960s-2024. Bruno Torres was a photojournalist who graduated from the University of Iowa and received an Internship with United Press International (UPI) that launched his successful career with this news agency. Torres often spoke to me and my third-generation cousins about his career, sharing his coverage of important historical events, e.g., the 1968 Civil Rights March on Selma, the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee, four Olympic Games, and Mohammed Ali's knockout of Cleveland Jackson. As our aspirational leader, Bruno Torres's mentorship greatly affected my family's outcomes: Of 32 third-generation cousins, more than 40% graduated from college during the 1960s–1980s. My presentation of characteristics and contexts that support exceptional second-generation youth will then focus on UMKC college students from immigrant families together with my work on the Bruno Torres public history project, which aims to support the academic success of immigrant youth and their successive generations.

"'I never expect to be as well satisfied in any other c[o]untry as I was in this:' Displaced civilians in Civil War era Missouri"

Diane Mutti Burke

The displacement of civilians became a humanitarian crisis in the South during the Civil War, but the situation was particularly acute in politically divided regions such as Missouri. Multiple factors contributed to wartime civilian migration, including political violence, troop movements, guerrilla warfare, military occupation, economic deprivation, and the disintegration of slavery. It was a tortuous road for most refugees as they navigated the wartime landscape. Displaced white Missourians (both Unionists and Confederates) sought shelter with family and friends elsewhere, in urban areas where they might find protection or employment, or in the West where they believed they could make a fresh start – and evade the military draft. Enslaved Missourians fled their enslavers in large numbers in search of protection and help in Union army encampments, neighboring free states, and urban centers such as St. Louis. Philanthropic organizations and the Union army provided aid to some indigent refugees, but host communities did not always welcome them. There simply were not enough resources to help all of those in need and white refugees were typically treated better than Black refugees. While some Missouri refugees came home in the war's aftermath, many others chose not to return to the war-torn state.

"Digitizing Missouri's past: The migrant networks of nineteenth-century German American newspapers"

Dunz-Keck

Missouri played a pivotal role as a publication hub for German-American newspapers in the nineteenth century, reflecting the rich confluence of migration patterns and ethnic communities. This article examines the digitization of these newspapers, particularly those from rural areas, which remain underexplored in migration scholarship. By focusing on lesser-known publications, this study sheds light on the ways in which German-American communities across Missouri navigated the challenges of assimilation, identity, and transnational connections. These rural newspapers not only offer unique insights into the local dynamics of migration and settlement but also situate Missouri within a broader network of German-language publications that spanned the United States. Through this lens, Missouri emerges as a vital node in a national system of German-American communication, culture, and community-building. The article highlights the significance of digital archives in uncovering these histories, offering a new perspective on the role of the state's rural press in shaping narratives of migration and belonging in both regional and national contexts. Ultimately, this study contributes to the broader understanding of how migrant voices were articulated and preserved in print, enriching the historical record of German-American life in the U.S.

Day Two Keynote: "In migrations, out migrations, reparations, and repatriations: Lessons from the American confluence"

Stephen Aron

The migrations in and out of what became the state of Missouri from roughly the 1730s through the 1830s and the relations between migrants from different parts of North America, Europe, and Africa within what I called the "American Confluence" are principal concerns of my 2006 book bearing that title. My talk/essay returns to that historical ground to extract lessons we might take from the variety of relations between peoples and from the complications these raise for how we frame studies of "settler colonialism." Important as this past is, my presentation is also about the present, for the expulsion of Indians from Missouri in the first third of the nineteenth century remains a matter for twenty-first-century public policy. The history now inserts itself into discussions about reparations, especially as these inspire "land back" movements. And in my current position as the director of a museum with one of the foremost collections of Native American art and artifacts, it presses a different kind of reparations in the form of repatriations that will diminish the holdings of museums and, of more significance, alter the relations between museums and Indigenous communities.

"What remains of German ethnicity after five generations? Reflections on identity and formative experiences in a rural (ethnic?) enclave: Becoming a midwestern immigration historian, by way of Mizzou"

Walter Kamphoefner

By the late twentieth century, German Americans had joined the ranks of invisible ethnics, if not invisible immigrants, who were often assumed to have been mainstream on arrival and long since submerged in the Melting Pot. And yet, in rural areas of the Midwest and Texas, there were areas where the German language still remained in use past World War II, and where some vestigial ethnic identity has lasted into the twenty-first century. Having grown up in such an enclave, I reflect on three interacting, non-mainstream components of my own and my family's identity—German, rural, and anti-ecumenical Lutheran—and how they contributed to my own academic interests and career. The social currents of the 1960s opened up academia as never before to people who grew up outside the academic mainstream. As was the case with many ethnic historians who study their own group, we were motivated by the fact that what we read in Oscar Handlin and elsewhere did not match our own personal experience. I show how we went about setting the record straight.

"Heartland Asian American story"

Huping Ling

This paper delves into the chronicle of St. Louis's Chinese American populace, tracing its evolution and maturation over the past two decades. It begins with the intricate cultural, socioeconomic connotations encompassed within the symbol of the dragon, shedding light on its role. Concurrently, it probes the dynamics of political empowerment among the Chinese American community in St. Louis. Proceeding along a temporal trajectory, the paper unfurls the historical tapestry of the Chinese American presence, a tapestry that finds its origin in the mid-19th century. Subsequently, it meticulously scrutinizes the representation of these individuals and their society across both media and scholarly narratives, elucidating the interplay between perception and reality. A perceptive examination of the demographic landscape from the turn of the millennium to the present day is then undertaken.

"The Bosnian community in St. Louis: Memory, migration, and the vexed inheritance of genocide" 

Benjamin Moore, Rebecca van Kniest, Adna Karamehic-Oates

Drawing on the extensive documentary resources of the Center for Bosnian Studies, this essay examines the relationship between migration, individual and collective memory, and cultural identity through the lens of St. Louis' Bosnian refugee community. The great majority of the city's Bosnian Americans either fled the Bosnian war and genocide in 1990s or descend from those who did. For St. Louis's Bosnians, any act of memory—be it burying a loved one, building a mosque, or narrating an oral history—is fraught with profound moral and political implications. After surveying sites of Bosnian cultural memory in St. Louis—including cemeteries, restaurants, and community commemorations and celebrations—the authors turn to the Center's collection of oral histories to reveal a vital and changing relationship between recollection and belonging. As the oldest generation approaches the end of its lifespan, younger generations are left to grapple with a legacy of genocide and forced displacement. As time passes and memories fade, the questions of identity are becoming only more acute, complicated by genocide denial in Bosnia-Herzegovina and islamophobia in the U.S.

"The shared histories of German immigrants and African Americans in Missouri"

Sydney Norton, Cecilia Nadal

Within the social and political context of nineteenth-century Missouri, German specialist Sydney Norton examines the contributions of German immigrants who dedicated their lives to ending slavery, and who, in some cases, worked with African Americans to institute laws of social equality after slavery was abolished. We will investigate the contributions of key political figures, such as Friedrich Muench, Arnold Krekel, and Henry and Augustus Boernstein, who, in their actions and writings, helped mobilize members of the German community to support Abraham Lincoln and fight for the principles of democracy. Sociologist and playwright Cecilia Nadal will follow with a discussion of how the story of the German abolitionists inspired her to investigate the shared history of African Americans and German Americans. After discussing their complex and evolving historical relationships prior to, during, and following the Civil War, Nadal will share personal insights gleaned from discussion groups she facilitated with urban and rural Missourians from both ethnic groups. She will explain why this history of relationships is crucial for our society's well-being today. Nadal will also discuss how this history shaped the direction of her play, An Amazing Story: German Abolitionists of Missouri, which toured in St. Louis, Washington and Hermann.